I will try it. I started L.A.Noire today. Then I’ll probably take a nab at Rogue
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let me begin by saying thanks for your well wishes and interest in what mysteries do our backlogs contain and what are we playing now.
now for the games:
- kingdom hearts 2 (my wife is catching up on the story)
- call of duty warzone (super fun to pass the time, but can be stressful also)
- dark souls 1 (I just got into the series, I beat demon’s souls previously)
- fire emblem blazing sword (hard mode playthrough)
and that is it for now, my backlog is tremendous and i’m chipping away at it bit by bit.
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I feel like I’ve seen a bunch of people playing ACIII lately. I loved that one (maybe my favorite of the series?) so it’s cool to see others finally experiencing it!
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I have played AC I, II, Revelations, Brotherhood, Black Flag (bit of a backlog there though, side missions were too repetitive) and now III. And I agree that out of all of them, this is my favorite too. Maybe it’ll be a tie between brotherhood and III, but I enjoyed most of them.
The world is beautiful, the mechanics are original, side missions feel vital to the story. Also the naval contracts are amazing, if not better than AC Black Flag. I’ve always liked the franchise, I have even read the books and played the handheld versions. So it feels good to experience it.
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Interesting to see love for AC III, as it is among the worst of the franchise for me, only above the first game. I think the recent popularity may be because it was recently free somewhere (Epic, I think? I got a copy of the remaster when I got Syndicate there, so it might be it), so some people might have decided to take a shot at it.
I never played Unity and Rogue (not sure if I’ll ever do, honestly) or Odyssey, which I already own and should play soon enough. My top3 would be Brotherhood, II and Origins, with Black Flag very close to them. Syndicate and Revelations are alright, but nothing special.
I played Odyssey like it was the only game I owned. I absolutely loved it and I felt that it took the franchise an a much needed direction towards more than just tailing people, and waiting. There was so much waiting that you had to do in previous games (I never played Origins) that I would often get bored doing the same mission type, instead of having a bit of variety with how I approach things.
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I guess my main “quarantine” game has been Yakuza 0, which kind of works perfectly for a long, meaty game filled with a hundred different things to do, many of which you can spend plenty of hours on. If you get tired of one thing, there are dozens of other things to occupy your time with.
I’ve been working this whole time though (essential worker), so it’s not like my hours at home has changed much.
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I’ve only been playing the Final Fantasy VII Remake during the quarantine, though this may have happened regardless. Maybe I’m old-school (I am), but I think good hack-and-slash games or JRPGs (with really immersive stories and worlds) are perfect for these times. And I’m sorry to hear that you didn’t like Xenogears @Prin. It’s my favorite game, but it’s certainly an odd bird. This may be beyond the pale of this thread but: what did you like about it and what did you not care for?
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The funny thing about Xenogears is that the more I think about it, the more I come to a realization that I didn’t outright hate it but I expected more. I really liked how bold it was. I never knew what to expect and that was exciting, especially with how cookie cutter a lot of AAA games can be nowadays, even in the realm of RPG’s whether from Japan or Western developers. The only other game that I can think that decided to be a bit different would be Nier: Automatica.
The main thing I didn’t care for that I feel is valid is not only the obvious choice of Disc 2 being a bonafide slideshow, but what all the time wasting. Everything needed to load, and it didn’t do it quickly or even at what would be considered a reasonable pace. Whenever you wanted to access a menu, whether it be your own menu or a store menu, they were all developed in ways that were not intuitive. You decided to sell some items, then you want to buy, but instead of being able to switch to the buy option, you have to basically back out, trigger the shopkeeper dialogue again, then choose buy. They were all most little things that I feel can easily or could’ve easily been fixed with a bit more time, and Square’s 2 year development schedule did nobody any favors with this game.
I feel that if they took the time, they could easily remaster this game like they did for FF VII and make it truly worthy of being considered one of the greatest RPG’s of all time. That is all simply just my opinion though.
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@Prin - One of my great hopes is that Xenogears will be remade, but I think Monolithsoft is making Xenoblade games instead. The original, at least, is a much better made game, even if the narrative is not as in-depth as Xenogears.
But you’re right, the design of certain aspects of Xenogears could have used a few more hours of revision. The game is only half finished, and you can see the holes. Not just the second disc but parts of the battle system, the menus, side stories that aren’t fleshed out, gears that aren’t playable. It’s too bad. Reading the guidebook Perfect Works is pretty enlightening if you want more backstory, too. It’s awesome.
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I have delved a bit into the guidebook and I have to agree, the backstory and overall story they planned to tell was very interesting, but the execution left a lot to be desired. I will say that even typing this, I can’t help but remember all of the exciting moments from the game, which is kind of funny. I almost feel like my opinion on this work will soften over time, ut we shall see.
Have you played Xenosaga at all? I have 1 and 2 and have wanted to check it out, but I have also heard it just wasn’t as good as Xenogears but has replicates of the characters and plot points, etc.