Persona 4 Golden Review - Thoughts + Feelings

Finally played through and finished Persona 4 Golden. Everyone kept telling me how great it was and you know what? They were right.

I actually own the original version on PS2 but never got around to it. I actually started playing Persona 3 back when that came out but never finished it so P4 was also placed in the backburner. Years later after Persona 4 Golden came out, I picked it up at launch but I still didn't play it. I was dreading the length and didn't want to abandon it like I did with P3. Yea, it was stupid.

Anyway, after the Persona 5 trailer was released recently it sparked my interest in the game again. I also got a PSTV as a gift for Xmas so I could play it on my TV instead of the Vita. This gave me another reason to finally check it out. It was a perfect time for a marathon since a snowstorm had been giving me days off and nothing else to do. And so it began...

Well, I played the game blind for my first playthrough because I wanted to be surprised. I checked a guide for dungeons I got stuck in but mainly chose whatever decision I thought was right. After a major marathon session of 41 hours and 28 min in 3 days, I hit one of the Bad Endings. That shocked me since I had no idea there were multiple endings. Well, that was a challenge for me to replay in NG+ and get the True Ending. I used a guide so it took about the same length as my blind run even with skipping cutscenes I watched before. Oh man, it was worth it. Not only was the True Ending route longer than expected, but it featured a lot of great moments and has one of the most satisfying endings in all of video games.

This game is truly special and is one of the most uplifting experiences I had in a while. The messages about friendship, family, helping people etc really made it quite a refreshing experience. While the murder mystery helped hook me into its main story, it's all the daily life scenes with the characters that really shined. So many of these scenes were super well-written and hilarious. I literally laughed out loud every time during these funny scenes. They were so well directed and animated. There's also a lot of touching scenes and conversations that I found pretty relevant even today. Gender issues and self-identity was a really interesting part of the story. I was also really intrigued with how they dealt with it. It was pretty honest and thought-provoking at times. Other games should totally take a look at how P4G handles it. Every character I met were really well developed and were more than what they seemed. I really liked that.

I think my only gripe with the game were the dungeons. They weren't fun to navigate or explore. I enjoyed the combat somewhat but the dungeons took too long and were quite repetitive even with the occasional conditions. Thankfully, the ability to lower the difficulty made them a nonfactor. All the sidequests and various random tasks were simple and not too bothersome. One nice touch were the many costumes you could collect. Not only did it change their look, but it also gave them new animations and win poses. They even talk about them if you initiate conversation with them in the dungeon sections. Really great optional dialogue where they chime in on what you're wearing.

The localization was super great. I'm glad I played Golden over the original because they added a ton of extra scenes not found in the original. The amount of extra content is huge and made the game longer than expected during my second playthrough. I'm super curious on how the original game ended so I'll probably check out a LP for that in the future.

And the English VO was excellent. Every character was cast perfectly and made the dialogue even better with their timing. I really loved the characters because of their performances. What a great crew that you end up really caring about. This game also has one  of the most adorable child characters in all of games. I dare you to find someone else as cute and adorable as Nanako-chan. No, don't bother. It's impossible. ^^;

I also need to point out that the soundtrack is amazing as well. Every track is great and never got tiresome. Everything from the intro to the end credits was fantastic. It really gave the game its own identity and is super pleasant to the ears. I really loved the music. Great stuff.

Overall, I'm now in love with the Persona world. I'm going to restart and try to beat Persona 3 now. After that, I'll jump into the Arena fighters and also Persona Q. I really can't wait to see how their story continues in the crossovers. I might also check out the anime since I'm curious how certain scenes played out in animated form. If you haven't played this game, check it out! It's awesome! :D

The Snow and USPS Frustration

So it's been snowing a lot lately around here. I'm frankly sick of it but we have more tonight and another big storm tomorrow. Hopefully it's the last one for Winter because there's frankly no where left to put all this shit.

Also, I've been pretty frustrated with USPS concerning my package deliveries lately. I am particularly annoyed with them for the past two weeks. My Amazon Prime two-day shipping packages have been continually delayed which is irritating to say the least. I can understand that the weather is involved but UPS and FedEx seem to be doing fine at delivering my packages on the estimated delivery dates. But USPS has failed.

I decided to file a complaint through their website and actually got a response back from my local post office the next day. I could tell the USPS rep wasn't exactly happy trying to explain themselves but at least they tried to tell me why it's happening (sorta). It's pretty lame though. They said that they're usually given two extra days to deliver something and said I was right that the weather was affecting them. But this completely negates why I chose Amazon two-day shipping in the first place. In any case, I'm glad they got the message cuz I've let them off the hook too many times before. I hope they fucking wake up and get it together. If UPS/FedEx can get their shit delivered on time then USPS should try too. This isn't the holidays and the weather has been pretty clear so I'm not sure why packages that have been sent recently suddenly get delayed when they reach my local post office.

 I hate my local post office.

LiK's 20 Favorite Games of 2014 + Other Things

Note: I am gonna include games that were released before 2014 and they are listed in no particular order. I wasn't able to play everything in 2014 so there are a lot big games missing in this list. You might see them for my 2015 list though.

Steins;Gate (PC)- This wasn't really much of a game. It's purely a visual novel and what a novel it was. This game has one of the greatest stories ever told. Super smart and full of emotional moments. I was sucked into its world and loved all the characters I met. The Japanese VO in combination with the soundtrack was just perfect. I literally had tears welling up a few times. The twists and revelations were super well done. Even if you watched the anime, you should check out the game for all the additional scenes and alternate endings that are absent in the anime. It's a wonderful journey and definitely should be played by everyone who loves good science fiction. Superb. I can't wait to replay the localized PS3/Vita versions coming out this year.

DanganRonpa: Trigger Happy Havoc (Vita) - What a revelation! One of the most intriguing stories with a bunch of really interesting characters dealing with a twisted situation. If you love game series like Ace Attorney or Zero Escape, you'll feel right at home. The music is excellent and is one of my favorite soundtracks of all time. Not only that, but the localization is one of the best. The English dub is fantastic and truly one of the highlights. It's awesome and everyone should check it out.

DanganRonpa: Goodbye Despair (Vita) - Oh hell yea! Props to NISA for bringing out the sequel only a few months after the original was released. The story is still crazy and dark. While I didn't fall in love with the new characters as much as the original, the way this story is connected to the original is pretty brilliant. Once again, excellent localization and the dub is even more improved over the original. My only gripe is that some of the new/altered minigames actually ruined the pacing of the class trials. They're a bit slow or hard to play. Anyway, if you loved the original, don't miss out on this. It's crazy.

Bayonetta 2 (Wii) - HOLY SHIT! This game was incredible. While I loved the first game, the sequel is a huge improvement over it. Not only do you get more crazier moments and insane bosses, but the way they're spaced out is pretty well done. Super exciting and fun to play. The combat is improved and smoother than the original. The story was actually pretty good too. The way they tied it to the original was very clever. My only gripe was that the final boss fight from the original was tons more epic than the sequel. But this is definitely one of the best action games ever made. Also, the first game was included which was a nice bonus.

South Park: Stick of Truth (360) - This was one of the funniest games I played in 2014. Some of the situations and moments were laugh out loud hilarious. I really enjoyed the writing and dialogue. While the gameplay got a bit stale towards the end, it was amazing to see how close this game looks/sounds like the show. It was really well done and anyone who likes RPGs and South Park will have a good time.

Dead Rising 3 (Xbox One) - Really fun and the story had some great revelations for fans of the series. I really liked all the weird/crazy weapons they came up with and the amount of zombies on screen at once was insane. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it and I welcomed some of the changes to the game progression.

Sunset Overdrive (Xbox One) - Super fun with some funny moments. It's a great looking game and full of color. I enjoyed the twists to the way certain missions and story beats were done. My only gripe would be that I wanted more side stories and some characters should've been fleshed out. But overall, it was tons of fun and I loved the light-hearted nature of the world. There were some genuinely clever ideas for some missions which I appreciated.

Dark Souls II (PS3/PC) - While this game was no where near as atmospheric and well told as Demon's Souls nor as challenging and well thought out as Dark Souls 1, it was still fun. Co-op is better and I enjoyed the improvements to the certain game systems that plagued the previous Souls games. But I wish the lore was better and I really wish the characters and bosses were more memorable. It's definitely missing that magic without the Miyazaki (original director) in charge. I'm not sure if I'll bother with the enhanced rerelease this year yet. Maybe...

inFamous: Second Son (PS4) - While this may be my least favorite game in the series, it was still fun and I enjoyed all the new powers. It's also visually impressive. I was particularly impressed with the lighting and animations. I didn't like Delsin much until the end and he's only likable if you stick with the Good side. Speaking of the characters, I wish they were more fleshed out. You don't really get a lot of side stories which was disappointing. But overall, it has its moments. I also recommend the standalone DLC: First Light if you want more. That was lots of fun too and had a better character.

Wolfenstein: The New Order (PS4) - Really fun game with a surprisingly great story. I didn't think I would care about the characters but I did. I really enjoyed the stealth as well as the shooting. It had some really terrific moments worth experiencing. Killing Nazis never gets old.

Watch Dogs (PS4) - While people may like to cry about the graphical downgrades it received for final release, I still had fun with it. This game has the BEST gunplay I've experienced in an open-world game. Hell, the shooting was better than a lot of third-person shooters, imo. It's super tight and snappy. Traversal was also smooth as silk. I also really enjoyed messing with the enemies by stealthily hacking things to distract them or take them out. Those were pretty creative levels. While the story was blah and no one was really likable, the gameplay was fun and I hope we see a much better sequel as a result.

Destiny (PS4) - This might be my most played game of 2014. I literally played it for months since launch while ignoring other games in my pile. I really love the core shooting mechanics and this game actually got me to be social again with folks online. The Raids were a big part of that. Yea, the story is nonexistent, the mission designs are awful, the constant changes to the system from updates is a pain and the bugs/glitches are embarrassing. But there's something that's hooked me and I'm still playing it to this day. I play with a dedicated group of people and leveling the gear and getting the loot has been the new goals that's kept us playing. I'm also still loving the PVP as well. The way I've been playing this game reminded me of my days of playing Counter-Strike, Starcraft and Diablo II. I'm not sure when the spell is broken but even with all the flaws, I'm still addicted to this game.

Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (PS4) - So they took the Batman Arkham games and combined them with the Assassin's Creed games and mixed them in the Lord of the Rings world and what do you get? Awesomeness. The combat was really fantastic and never got old. I enjoyed every new ability I unlocked. I also loved the Nemesis system which was a gamechanger. While the story wasn't the greatest ever, the way they tied the lore to the books/movies was pretty cool. One major gripe I had was this game's world wasn't very pleasant to explore. I wish there were more NPCs to talk to and more people to help. That would've helped the game's story a lot more. I look forward to the sequel.

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (PS4) - Fantastic campaign. I really loved the spectacle and all the new futuristic powers and weapons. The story was a good popcorn flick and lots of fun. While I hated some of the QTE BS within certain sections, they were kept to a minimum. Kevin Spacey really added quite a bit to the story. It's also a beautiful game with some of the most realistic faces I've seen in a game. Whatever they used for the facial capture and rendering, keep using them. They looked damn good. I didn't bother with the MP so I have nothing to say about it.

Zelda: A Link Between Worlds (3DS) - Really fun and polished game. This might be one of my fave Zelda games in the series. I loved the old school simplicity mixed with some modern changes. The music is excellent and the 3D effects were well done. Nothing else to say, it's great.

Fire Emblem: Awakening (3DS) - What a great SRPG. The story was really well done and I loved all the characters in the game. The localization was great and added a lot to the dialogue. While I admit I dropped the difficulty down to Casual to enjoy all the optional dialogue and characters, it didn't take away from the fun factor of the battles. It's pretty damn cool how the story unfolds depending on whether you're male/female and who you choose to romance and form relationships with. Lots of replayability.

Ace Attorney Investigations 2 [Fan Translation] (DS) - Yea, I'm including a fan translation because this game was damn amazing. The story continues where the original AAI left off and the way it's told is even better. Better cases and revelations kept me going. The way certain older characters from the series were brought back was genius. It's definitely one of the best games in the Ace Attorney series and shows Edgeworth at his finest. And of course, the fan translation was pitch perfect. They captured the feel and sounds of the official localization perfectly. They even came up with some great English names and even did English VO with fans. Really impressive job! Grab this online and play it because it's a damn shame Capcom hasn't bothered doing an official English localization for this game at all. Fans shouldn't miss out on this.

Bioshock Infinite: Burial at Sea Episodes 1 & 2 (PC) - I was actually surprised how little people remembered about this DLC since Episode 2 came out in 2014. Not only does both parts work together to form a really great story but it also manages to tie into all the previous games in the series really well. The gameplay is also refreshing enough in Episode 2 that it felt like a different game. If you're a fan of the Bioshock series, it's pretty much a must-play and great end to the franchise if they don't make anymore. The ending was bittersweet. Godspeed Irrational Games.

Blackwell Epiphany (PC) - The final game in the Blackwell series. It was great and the revelations were pretty shocking. The finest entry in the series. I've loved this series and it's sad that the creator had finally ended it. I love Rosa and Joey. They're great characters with a lot of heart and soul. If you haven't checked out this awesome series of adventure games, make sure to start with the first and play them in order of release. You're in for a treat.

The Wolf Among Us Season 1 (PC) - Really great new series from Telltale. While some parts weren't the best, I found myself enjoying the majority of the entire season. Lots of intrigue and interesting characters. I loved the look of the game and the music is excellent. I never read the comics but I will check them out soon all because of this game. I can't wait to see what happens in Season 2.

Most Disappointing Game

Halo: Spartan Assault (Xbox One) - Got this free from the Games with Gold deal and boy was I glad I didn't pay for this. Super disappointing game. The gameplay was fine but forcing limited ammo on a twin-stick shooter made it a chore to play through. The missions were also very short with nothing really going on. I was pretty bored by it and that's the worst thing I can feel about a game. Hopefully the follow-up is better because this was definitely not worth my time. Skip it.

Most Surprising

The Room & The Room Two (iOS) - I heard great things about these games but I was surprised how much I got into them. I got the first one free and I loved it so much that I immediately bought the second one. The game looks great and the touch controls were very intuitive. The puzzles were fun to figure out and the hint system was actually helpful without spoiling. Very well done. I look forward to anything else this developer makes.


Games I need to play in 2015 once I break my Destiny addiction

Dragon Age: Inquisition
Far Cry 4
Assassin's Creed Unity
Lords of the Fallen
Professor Layton vs Phoenix Wright
Persona 4 Golden
D4
Kickstarter games I backed

Thanks for reading.

Destiny: My Journey for Flawless

So when I first started Destiny, I didn't really expect to earn a lot of the trophies in the game. I didn't expect to play online with people or join a group on a regular basis. But it turned out I ended up playing a lot more with a dozen different people over the days quite often. Most were from NeoGAF in particular. I'm pretty active in the DestinyGAF thread so I got to know a lot of fellow Guardians there.

As I started to accumulate more and more trophies from just playing the game, I ended up focusing on the Flawless Raider trophy. One of three trophies left for the Platinum. So what the hell is it about? Well, the only way to earn this trophy was to complete the Raid without ANYONE in your Fireteam dying. Yup, basically any deaths will kill your progress. This includes disconnects or leaving the game and coming back afterwards. You need to play through the entire Raid in one go. Checkpoints are meaningless. Because of the strict requirements you not only have to play with an experienced group of players, but you also need a group who are dedicated enough with their time to play the whole way through in one sitting. Not too easy considering most guys I played with had families or jobs to deal with so setting up a time to play together was quite a hassle. Anyway, I was able to find people to play with me so it was fine.

The first time I attempted this was with my main Raid crew. We played together often and had completed the Raid a few times together so it was a no-brainer. A few members actually got the trophy already. I was asked to join during their original attempts but I had no faith in the infamous platforming section at the time so I abstained. Well, guess what? It turned out I screwed up that section in my first attempt. I did the platforming fine but I slid off the ledge and died. What made it worst was we decided to finish up the Raid and we had no issues so if I didn't die we would've gotten it right there. The next few retries were a few dumb deaths by random people and one of the other guys also fell off at the ledge. People gave up and the run was dead and that's when the nightmare began.

Bungie had announced they would patch Atheon to try and stop the cheeses and also randomly teleport players. In its prepatch state, people were able to push Atheon off to easily defeat him and teleporting was predictable and easy to manipulate. Well, Bungie didn't like that so they came up with a patch to "fix" it. In any case, after my first Flawless attempt failed, Bungie decided to push out the patch the NEXT day while I was trying to get it with another group. We got disconnected when the patch kicked in when we were more than half way there. Boy, what a clusterfuck. The new patch not only didn't fix the cheesing (people found other ways to push him off) but it also introduced a flurry of new glitches that broke the Atheon fight even more. What was possible became almost impossible for all the wrong reasons. The glitches during Atheon's fight were bad enough already but it became even more common after the patch.

During the next few days and maybe even weeks, many people I played with tried and tried to get the trophy without success. Their horror stories were numerous. It was either they ended up with a bad player or encountered a random glitch that had ruined their chances towards the end of their run. I kept trying as well and we kept hitting something that would kill our run over and over until it became a joke. But we didn't want to give up simply because we knew we could do it and we wanted to get it. I'm not gonna lie, it became quite a bonding experience. Oh the sad stories we could tell...

A few guys I knew wanted to try again yesterday and I joined them on a whim. What was funny was that there was only one guy I had played with the most in our party. Three other guys were guys I had only played with a few times and two new guys joined us. In fact, the new guys never even tried the Flawless run before so I wasn't even expecting much from them. We went through the Raid as usual while coaching the new guys the methods we learned from all our past efforts. When we finally got to the platforming section, we made it through with no problem. The new guy decided to use a risky move to get by but he made it and that was scary, lol.

Once we had completed the platforming section, we spent a few minutes forming our plans with the new found glitches and any other possible glitches. It was pretty nerve-wracking but we had a good leader. Once it started we only had a few close calls with the enemies but we did fine against the first half of the fight. Atheon finally appeared and we stuck with our plan. But it turned out the glitch was a bit helpful here. Atheon didn't teleport any of us so we kept clearing out the Supplicants and kept shooting him. We didn't get Time's Vengeance as a result so it was taking a bit longer than usual to shave off his life bar. We had to take him down asap before Enrage started (an annoying part where he would summon even more minions to overwhelm players). What was funny was that once we had him down to a sliver of life, he decided to teleport two of us. We kept shooting and then I finally heard someone scream "HE DIED!" We waited a few more seconds and there it was...

I can't tell you what a relief it was to finally obtain one of the hardest trophies in the game with the stupid glitches in the way. I was really happy it was finally over. My group was ecstatic. I've never worked so hard for a trophy like this. It required time, patience, skill, communication, teamwork and a lil bit of luck with the glitches. I think this was the intent of Bungie for the trophy but the stupid glitches really made it harder than originally intended. Hopefully they fix their game but I'm happy we got the trophy through such circumstances. It really was quite a memorable experience in all my years of gaming.

 

Now I'm going to have to level up two other classes and get that Platinum. Maybe I'll play some other games finally, lol...

Destiny Review, Thoughts + Impressions

So it's been roughly 3+ weeks after Destiny launched and its been the only game I've been playing. I was going to write about my thoughts earlier but I didn't want to do it before checking out the infamous Raid.

I'll be discussing several distinct modes and my thoughts about them. I don't think I've ever played a game this fun and found so disappointing at the same time. The core gameplay is excellent and lots of fun but the rest can be hit or miss. Let's discuss them...

 

Story - What story? It's nothing more than a bunch of random words and terms mixed in with some cutscenes. The "story" doesn't exist. We get some background to the world and some lore but there's no cohesive plot or narrative. It simply doesn't exist. This was pretty disappointing considering how much they built up the world from the prologue. 

What's even more annoying about this world is that NONE of the NPCs in the Tower has any meaningful dialogue with you. They don't introduce themselves and don't even bother having a single line to give you a larger sense of the world. Bungie should've allowed you to have a dialogue tree to learn more about this world and make the Tower seem more alive. It's nothing more than a hub with some vendors. It's so lifeless and no one has any personality. What a missed opportunity.

But because the world gives you zero info about the world, you're required to earn Grimoire cards that give you background information to enemies, items and locations instead. But earning these cards is tedious and having to read them through Bungie's website or companion app is laborious. The interface is so tedious. You're forced to dig through them to read each one at a time. Who thought this was a good idea? Why couldn't they offer this info in the game? Why didn't they include a terminal or codex in the game instead? It's baffling that Bungie did this.

Anyway, the "story" sucks and it should not be the reason you're playing this game. The Story missions are nothing more than tutorials and a way for you to level up to get to the other modes which are the real game.

Patrol - Basically free roam mode for people who want to grind or farm for things.  Nothing interesting in this mode unless you want to play some Public Events with people or enjoy checking out the graphics.

Crucible - This is basically the PVP mode. You get the standard deathmatch mode and some other modes with some twists but they're all pretty similar. It's either 6v6 or 3v3. This mode is a lot of fun and it's where people can definitely play the game for long stretches. I've had a lot of fun with a good team and killing guys is always satisfying when you do well. I'm not a fan of some weapons and supers because they seem overpowered. FU FUSION RIFLES! They also need more maps and I'll expect it in future expansions. Most of the maps are fine except for Bastion and First Light. Horrible horrible maps that should be excised from this mode, stat.

Strikes - These are basically the same levels from the Story except rejiggered to be like dungeons. But there isn't a lot of difference. They can be fun if you have a team of friends but still doable with random people. They can be fun or super frustrating depending on your level and difficulty you choose. I've had some good fun but there isn't enough of them and they get old super fast. The only reason to grind through them is for the loot and other rewards they offer. I'm hoping for a lot more variety of new Strike missions in the future because I'm frankly bored by them now.

Raid - Ah yes, the mode to end all other modes in this game. This was a breath of fresh air after the monotony and grind of the rest of the game. You need to be level 26 just to participate and it's a challenge on Normal even with a higher level Guardian. This mode doesn't allow matchmaking so you're basically forced to team up with friends or people from the Internet who want to participate. It's a hassle getting people together and while I understand Bungie's logic for this, they should've allowed a low level version with randoms. I don't understand why this mode was locked away for 99% of the players out there. It's tough but once players reach close to level 29 or 30 in the future, the Normal mode shouldn't be a huge problem for players especially Raid vets who simply want to replay through it for the Raid exclusive loot.

So what is it? It's basically a long dungeon with several unique areas and enemies/bosses you won't find anywhere else in the game. The game has several surprises and traps to screw with players. They were devious and entertaining to solve. It boggles my mind that nothing similar to this dungeon design was in the main game. It's much more cohesive and felt like a lot like the designers put a lot of effort into it. There's a really great feeling when you beat a tough area with a bunch of people working together. It's a feeling that only a specific amount of Strikes can even compare to. You really learn to bond with your crew.

My main gripe with Raid is how damn buggy/glitch it is. The final boss part in particular had a lot of glitchiness that caused death and frustration. That section was hard enough as it was and having to deal with random bugs made it irritating. It's so buggy and repeatable that people are actually compiling a list of what to do to avoid them. Bungie, fix it!

I also want to give a few tips regarding the Raid if you're interested in trying it out:

1) Get together with friends or people online who you can rely on. People dropping out can be deadly so try to form a good posse with whoever you can.

2) Try to get one or two people minimum who are Raid vets. While it may seem fun to go in blind as a group, having a few people know what to do or know the strategy to beating a boss is much better. It doesn't ruin the experience and you have a guide who can help you with not only the bosses but also finding the hidden chests. FOR THE LOOT!

3) Mic is not 100% required if there are a few guys already talking. I played through the entire Normal Raid without a mic and it was fine. Just have a plan ready beforehand and do your role and you'll be fine. Heroic Raid on the other hand got me to finally use my mic. But if you know what to do, you can go mic-free for that as well.

4) Look up strategy guides or walkthroughs beforehand. Sometimes people aren't able to clearly explain what to do or what they want you to do so it's highly recommended you check out guides or video walkthroughs for a tough section if possible. This is especially true if you're a noob who jumped into a random part to help out a friend. It'll kill long-winded explanations and confusion.

5) Take breaks. It's fun and challenging trying to do the entire Raid in one session but by the time you reach the end, your crew might be fatigued or need a break especially if you had to retry a lot in one section. If you're team leader, try to allow some breaks after tough sections. The checkpoints were given for a reason.

6) Finally, make sure you're leveled and equipped for it. While the lowest level allowed is 26, it's best to go in with 27 and 28s. Try to max out all your guns that you use the most often. Also try to upgrade your armor and abilities as much as possible as well. They make a big difference in your survival and ability to dish damage. Legendaries/Exotics are a must.

Hopefully some of those tips help you guys out.

Overall, Destiny is a really fun gorgeous game with awesome gunplay but the mission/level designs were lackluster and pretty bland aside from the Raid. The lack of a coherent story/plot and small amount of Strike missions were incredibly disappointing. There just doesn't seem to be enough content as it is right now for me to recommend a purchase to people. Expansion packs and other DLC have been announced and I hope they're worth it. I DO recommend getting the soundtrack though. The music is fantastic and one of the best OSTs this year.

So yea, it's weird how much I enjoyed the game these past 3+ weeks but I'm also incredibly frustrated with the bone-headed decisions and lack of content in the final game. I'm hoping the game has legs because they're pretty short right now. Personally, I'll stick with it for now because I'm still hooked to certain aspects of the game.

Watch Dogs, ACIV Revisited and Walking Dead S2 Ep4 Reviews + Thoughts

Watch Dogs [PS4]

Completed the main campaign and I really enjoyed the overall game. The main story itself was meh but everything else was solid. I didn't find Aiden's motives that interesting and most of the characters were assholes. I didn't really hate anyone though but I was pretty indifferent to them. There were some good concepts and ideas for this world but the actual story wasn't very interesting at all. I'm pretty sure this is just a foundation for greater things in future sequels. I also want to point out that the VO was excellent. Everyone was great. There were a few standouts for some characters in both cutscenes and their audio logs. Really impressive stuff. 

I really enjoyed the different missions and I was pretty hooked on some side stuff. The Investigations in particular were pretty intriguing. I really liked how they all have a conclusion. The puzzle-like elements to hacking and using the cameras to explore and hack an area was great and I hope to see more elaborate versions of these missions in its sequel. It was really fun creating traps by hacking various things. It felt like I was playing a Dungeon Keeper-type game. It was one of my favorite parts of the game.

The gunplay might be one of the best in any open world game. In fact, Watch Dog's gunplay is on par with a lot of other great third-person shooters. All the guns felt different and were really fun to use. I was pretty impressed with it because gunplay in most of my favorite open-world games like GTAV and Sleeping Dogs were pretty shitty. Whoever worked on the gunplay in this game deserves an award. Driving was a bit hard to figure out until someone told me to stop trying to control the camera. Once I did that, driving became fun. The camera does a pretty good job following behind your car when you do turns etc. I also really enjoyed using motorcycles in this game. Unlike other open world games, your bikes can take a lot of damage and you don't instantly fall off them in every collision. Very good.

I loved the atmosphere of the game. I've never been to Chicago but I really liked the different areas and I enjoyed exploring the city and the suburbs. It felt alive and I was impressed that it was always full of people doing their own thing. I found myself just taking my time and absorbing in the world. All the random calls/texts/emails you hack into added a lot of humor and personality to the game. Most of the people you end up hacking have some weirdo secret or issue which was humorous. Sadly, one of the worst things about this game is the radio station music. I hated 90% of the songs they chose. I hated them so much that I ended up turning off the radio entirely. On the other hand, the original soundtrack was awesome. 

Overall, I really enjoyed the game. The gunplay, traversal, hacking, exploration etc were all solid. The main story was hit or miss but at least it wasn't complete shit. I still enjoyed various moments and certain characters that popped up. If you enjoyed Ubi's other open-world games like the Assassin's Creed series, you should definitely give this game a chance. Recommended.

ACIV: Black Flag [PS4] + Companion App [iOS]

Speaking of the AC series, I actually beat this game last year but I decided to jump back in after they had patched the UPlay bug with the PS4 version. If you didn't know, UPlay did not work at all if you had more than 100 friends. It was a pretty stupid bug that kept me from being able to redeem my UPlay rewards and also prevented me from being able to play Kenway's Fleet. I can finally check out this feature months after its release.

I have to admit, Kenway's Fleet is awesome and added a lot to the game's main gameplay. It made earning money much easier and also made capturing ships fun. You end up playing a minigame where you can battle ships and trade goods for money. I was pretty hooked on it. And guess what? You can download an iOS app that allows you to not only play Kenway's Fleet but the also allows you to check everything you unlocked including Animus database entries and  game stats. It's an awesome app and I recommend anyone playing the game to check it out asap. I hope AC: Unity has a similar app.

I also found out I had a few glitched trophies that never popped up and that motivated me to restart a new game to get them. Replaying a Memory did not work. Thankfully they weren't that far in so it only took me a couple of hours of speedrunning to get them. So if you had the same problem like me, just start on a new save and you can get back any glitched trophies. I didn't have any trouble unlocking other trophies from doing side stuff so I assume the UPlay bug had something to do with it back when it was released.

Anyway, while I was trophy hunting, I also managed to find all the Elite plans, fully upgrade the Jackdaw AND I destroyed all four Legendary ships. It was a lot of fun and I was glad I revisited the game at this time. I already enjoyed the game back when I beat it but playing it again and completing these optional objectives shows how much I still love the game. I'm pretty impressed with how much work was done for areas and locations that most players will probably never bother checking out. ACIV is still a great game.

The Walking Dead S2 Episode 4 [PS3]

Another great ep with lots of tense moments. Some pretty good dialogue and tough choices. I'm not really sure what will happen next but it's been a long journey. Looking forward to seeing how it all ends.

Ace Attorney Investigations 2, Wolfenstein: TNO and The Wolf Among Us Ep 5 Reviews + Impressions

The Wolfenstein Among Investigations :p

 Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth 2 (Fan Translation) [DS]

Wow, what an incredible experience. AAI2 ranks as one of my favorite games in the entire Ace Attorney series. Dare I say that it's probably in my personal top three! Edgeworth really shines in this installment and we really get into his head more. He develops and grows in ways that were unexpected. AAI1 was a bit of a mess in its story and pacing but AAI2 fixes all that with a stellar story that is full of great twists and revelations. The story was really great and has one of the all time best villains in the series. It's just that DAMN good. The first three cases were a bit bloated in some spots but the rest were paced really well and gripping. 

I also loved how there were so many cameos and returning characters from the Phoenix Wright trilogy. Their appearances were quite welcomed and fit into the story quite nicely. It was pretty amusing seeing how Edgeworth dealt with them compared to Phoenix. Really quite a treat for long-time fans.

The gameplay remains largely the same as in AAI1 but the addition of Logic Chess added some challenge and fun to the Testimony segments. The game felt a bit more linear in its Investigation segments compared to the first game but it made the game less of chore and moved the story along much more quickly. Overall, gameplay is much improved.

I also need to point out that this was beautifully localized by the fans. The text, graphics AND voice acting were all excellent. I didn't find a single typo and the way they localized all the names and titles for the new characters and locations were really clever and well done. They fit into the established world quite nicely. Hell, it's so good that if Capcom took this fan translation and slapped sold it here, I would gladly buy it as the official release. The fan translators deserve major kudos for their hard work. I love them all.

Overall, I loved it. It was just pure joy and I can't thank the fan translators enough for giving me the chance to play through such an amazing game. Capcom, shame on you for denying us English speakers one of the best Ace Attorney games in the series. Get with it.

 

 

Wolfenstein: The New Order [PS4]

 

This was a huge surprise even after all the praise it got from reviewers. I was totally shocked at how good the story was and how much I cared about the characters. The cutscenes and voice acting were really quite excellent and well done. Frankly, I didn't mind if the game had even more story because the world was pretty well realized and I really wanted to see more of it. The pacing was also fairly fast-paced and never dragged.

The game was also really fun. All the guns (except for the autoshotty) felt great. I wasn't a huge fan of being forced to pick up all the ammo and armor but it wasn't too bad. The stealth was also quite fun and very simple. It's really quite satisfying stabbing Nazi fools silently in the head. It never gets old. I also loved the exploration segments in the rebel base. It added a lot of atmosphere and flavor to the game. The sidequests were a good break from the main game. I really enjoyed it and wish there were more of it.

 

The difficulty does spike in some levels and they really fucked me up. It was fairly problematic especially against some heavy enemies who can chew down your health quickly. I had to dial down the difficulty cuz I really wanted to see where the story went. Playing a FPS for the story? Yea, it happens. But I also loved mowing down an army of dudes like a badass too. That was entertaining.

The game has a really interesting perks system and lots of collectibles which makes the replayability pretty high. I do plan on replaying the game on the Uber difficulty for fun and for a specific story reason. I also want to level up my guy to see how powerful he gets. But aside from the difficulty spikes, the game is fun to play.

 Overall, this is one of the best FPS games this year. Great story and characters too. Lots of great moments and some really satisfying gameplay. Definitely worth playing!

 

The Wolf Among Us Episode 5 [PC]

Ah, so it finally ends or does it? This has been one of my favorite Telltale games by far. The writing and characters were great and really fun to interact with. The final episode of Season 1 was pretty satisfying. Most of the questions were answered but some mysteries still remained. I'm sure some of the dangling threads will continue in Season 2. 

My only gripe with this ep is that it was way too short. I really enjoyed it but it ended way too soon. I'm hoping Season 2 fleshes out the relationships more and also spends more time letting us explore the world.

 

Overall, the final ep and the entire season in general was really great. Bigby is one of the best characters ever. I've never read the comics but I'm really interested now and might check it out in the future. Bring on Season 2!

 

Alphas and Betas and Fan Translations, OH MY!

Been playing some games but they're not the usual titles you will find in stores right now.

                   

Destiny Alpha [PS4]

Played a good chunk of the Destiny Alpha with some bros online over the weekend. It definitely played and felt like Halo but the mission/level designs were very similar to Borderlands. It was fun but the Alpha couldn't provide a lot of content so missions and enemies/areas got a bit repetitive after a few hours. The Tower (basically the hub/home base) was interesting. It became third person and the sci-fi-ness of the look made roaming around the area felt like Mass Effect.

The graphics were pretty but not overly impressive. I have to admit that the characters' faces in the character creation screen looked gorgeous and detailed. I hope the final game retains all that detail because it looked less impressive when I was checking out the Tower. Audio was fine and there were some good music. The online was pretty great. No lag or any weird issues like that so that was pretty solid. There was a strange bug where one of my friends didn't show up in my list and I couldn't hear him talk at all. But it's an alpha so not a big deal.

Overall, I'm interested in checking out the final game. I wouldn't mind jumping into the beta when that starts but I'm not too hard up on that if I don't get it. I'm really hoping the final game has a lot more variety with its missions and I hope the story is interesting enough that lone wolves can enjoy it too.

    

Battlefield: Hardline Beta [PS4]

Um, I totally forgot to check it out after I got a key from a buddy. It ended yesterday. Oh wells...

Ace Attorney Investigations 2 (Fan Translation) [DS]

I own the Japanese copy of this game but haven't played it because I suck at Japanese. So after years of waiting, the fan translation for this game is finally done (sorta, technically still beta)! All five episodes have been finally translated for us. Capcom has been incredibly reluctant at localizing this game for some pretty stupid reasons and their community managers made a lot of empty promises about it too. They won't even offer us a digital version like with AA5 and that sucks. The reason why fans have been so crazy over this is because AAI2 is a direct sequel to AAI. AAI had already set up a sequel in its ending so not being able to finish Miles Edgeworth's story was incredibly frustrating. But thanks to dedicated fans online, we can finally enjoy the game without resorting to some shoddy guide or half-baked Wiki articles. We can finally enjoy the story as it was meant to be enjoyed. We can play through the story!

I'm only in case 3 currently but I'm already impressed with the story so far. The first episode started off with a bang and hasn't let up. The pacing seems to be better than the first game and I'm really liking the situations way more. I was really surprised when characters from the Phoenix Wright trilogy appeared. Some of them were just cameos but others were a major part of the story. It was really cool seeing what happened to them after the PW trilogy ended. Long time fans are gonna love it.

The fan translation has been stellar as well. They've managed to convey the same feel and speak that the Capcom localizers did. What's really impressive is that I haven't encountered a single typo so far. Even Capcom's more recent efforts with AA5 were plagued with really stupid typos. But AAI2 has been clean so far. I'm also super impressed with all the localized graphics and English dubs they did. They did a fantastic job redoing the graphics that had Japanese text and altering them into English. The fans also did all the voices for the new characters which blew mymind. It totally worked and felt professional. I'm really enjoying it and will probably do a separate impressions post or review when I finish it.

If you want to get your hands on the fan translation, just go HERE and follow their instructions. I will not provide any details beyond that. Once again, thank you fan translators SO much for doing what Capcom won't do for us!

The Wolf Among Us Ep 4, Killzone: SF, One Finger Death Punch Thoughts + Impressions

Killzone: Shadow Fall [PS4]

I finally got off my ass and played this game. I bought it at launch but didn't get around to it for whatever reason. There were just too many other games I wanted to play first. I beat it over the weekend and it was pretty lengthy

The graphics were pretty amazing. I found a few glitches with the ragdoll physics but overall, it's a beautiful game and a technical marvel. Really impressive vistas and very detailed. Audio was inconsistent though. Sometimes the gun audio was cut out and the surround was suspect. It seemed to have some of the same audio issues as Killzone 3. Not really sure what's going on with them. Killzone 2 had superb audio and I feel like they could never recapture that installment's audio mix. Strange. The music for Shadow Fall was great. It was a highlight for several levels and sounded cool. Wish there was more of it though.

One major gripe I had with the game were the mission/level designs. They went from good to just plain awful. The open-ended design was a good idea but it didn't seem like they went far enough with them. You get punished for trying out alternate methods to a mission sometimes. They make it seem open but the enemies in some areas will automatically notice you no matter how stealthy you want to be. There are even some areas where you must follow specific instructions or risk failing the mission which sucked. I also found it very easy to lose your way in a level and end up dying because you didn't know a certain part of the level is off-limits for no apparent reason. It's pretty hit or miss and I found myself a bit frustrated or bored by some of the areas. It seemed like devs weren't really sure what they wanted to do with the some of the areas. It's pretty much the weakest aspect of the game and that's a shame. 

On the other hand, the weapons felt great and were fun to shoot. I never got tired of using certain weapons including many of the Helghast ones. But I did find it odd that we didn't get some more interesting guns considering this game takes place decades after the previous game. The default gun wasn't even that great, imo. It felt weak and the long range mode was cumbersome to me.

As for the story, it's an okay continuation and possible end to the series. The characters were okay and much more relatable than the previous installments. I didn't find the majority of the characters that interesting except for Echo. She was badass and reminded me of Forty-Five from SOCOM4. Probably the only character I gave a crap about in the whole game. Overall, decent story that is pretty to follow with no characters that are idiotic like Rico from the previous games.

Um, I guess I went on longer about this game than expected. Anyway, it's worth playing for Killzone vets just to see how the story wraps up. I haven't played the MP but I heard good things about it, but I doubt I'll invest any major time with the MP.

The Wolf Among Us Episode 4 [PC]

This was a really good episode with major push forward for the plot. There were some good moments and I'm really curious how they will end this. While I didn't find it as great as the previous episode, I was still satisfied. There isn't really too much for me to say about it.

Overall, it's another great one and I can't wait to see how it wraps up.

One Finger Death Punch [PC]

I haven't heard much about this game from any major game sites at all. I first heard about this game when Giant Bomb did a few videos about it. It's a shame that not many major review sites checked out this game because it's FUCKING AWESOME.

Seriously, this game is a lot of fun and pretty simple. You only need to use two buttons to kick the ass outta stick figure men with various badass martial arts moves. It's animated beautifully and never gets old. I'm not sure who animated the moves but they did a stellar job. You gain various power-ups as you progress and they also have some pretty cool effects. 

The music is also pretty great. I'm not sure if they're from some stock music database or original but they do add a nice amount of badassery to every stage. 

Overall, this game rocks and you guys should check it out. If you're still not sure about it, check out this Giant Bomb Quick Look. Once you watch it, you'll understand why it's so great.

The Blackwell Epiphany and Transistor Thoughts + Impressions

I need to point out I played these games right after another and it was pretty amusing. Both games feature a female lead with a male companion who refers to the lead as "Red". It was a pretty weird coincidence. Cute though.

The Blackwell Epiphany [PC]

Ah man, completed this game and it was quite a journey. For anyone unaware of this game, this is the fifth and final installment in the Blackwell series. It's a 2D point-and-click adventure game where you play as a woman with a ghost as your companion. I don't want to reveal more of who and why simply because the story is one of the major things I loved about this series. The puzzles are usually simple and make sense most of the time.

So like I said, Epiphany is the final game  in the series and Dave Gilbert (the man behind this series) did an amazing job tying up loose ends that have been dangling since the first game. The story was amazing and full of twists and revelations. It's not only the most well written in the series but it also has the best voice acting in the series too. I really enjoyed all the new characters and locations. Long-time fans who played every game in the series will be satisfied with how this ends. 

This installment is also both visually and musically the best in the series as well. The animations have improved quite a bit and the music is great throughout. The voice cast was perfect as well. Gilbert did an amazing job directing them and choosing the best lines. I was very impressed with the VO.

Overall

What can I say? If you've been playing the series from the start, PLAY THIS. If you're interested, check out the previous games in the series before playing this one. I'm going to miss Rosa and Joey but I'm also excited to see what else Wadjet Eye Games comes out with. I salute you Dave Gilbert for creating one of my favorite adventure game series of all time. *salute*

Bonus

A few people have expressed interest to me about this series after I mentioned it and they wanted to know what order they should be played in. Understandable since they aren't numbered. So here's the list:

1) The Blackwell Legacy

2) Blackwell Unbound

3) Blackwell Convergence

4) Blackwell Deception

5) Blackwell Epiphany

Enjoy!

Transistor [PS4]

I also finished this game and it was a lot of fun. I really loved the world and characters. The art is absolutely amazing and pure eye candy. I wanted to take screenshots of every area and cutscene. Hell, even the UI is well designed. So beautiful. The music is also excellent and very haunting. It gave the world an ethereal feel.  Simply scrumptious. The VO was also quite excellent for not just the Transistor but also a few other characters as well. Really good stuff.

The combat was just loads of fun. The ability to fight in real-time AND semi-real-time was really cool. All the Functions that you can equip as secondary skills or passive abilities added a ton of flexibility to how you wanted to fight. It's really deep and complex and added a lot of replayability. Speaking of which, there's Recursion Mode for anyone who wants to replay through the game with tougher enemies. It's basically NG+ but also adds a few extra tidbits to the story that makes it well worth playing through at least once. I only played a bit of Recursion Mode but I can tell there were some alterations to the interactions already. Anyone who played Bastion's NG+ mode will probably know what I'm talking about.

The story is pretty interesting but may be a bit hard to understand because of the way it's told. I found most of it pretty easy to figure out but there are questions that still lingered after I finished it. I'm not sure if Recursion Mode will answer them all but I'm happy with the way it was presented. It's like a puzzle and I think players will have a good time discussing about it. The ending was satisfying which made me glad.

Overall

Supergiant Games has done it again. I loved Bastion but Transistor is definitely an improvement in both presentation and gameplay. The game is challenging, fun and is a visual/audio masterwork. I wonder what they'll do next? Anyway, I highly recommend it!