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 On 01/01/2018 at 02:51 PM by daftman See More From This User » |
Games Beaten
-Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen (DS)
DQIV's initial strength comes from its unusual narrative structure. Getting to play each character's story first before they all come together is really cool and let's you get to know them well. The Hero's quest is a little more typical of the genre and the back half of the game can be a little too vague. The battle system isn't terribly deep and the game is rarely difficult, though the final boss fight was very satisfying. But it was such an enjoyable game. I loved playing it.
-Yakuza Kiwami (PS4)
Once you realize how much there is to do in Yakuza Kiwami (most of it optional!), it's almost overwhelming. A gritty Japanese crime drama wraps around what is basically an excellent 3D version of River City Ransom that lets you get as deep into its world as you want. The game balances its serious narrative with great moments of utter silliness. The four brawling styles allow for quite a bit of variety in the fighting, and the abundance of side content means you're never without something to do.
-Super Mario Odyssey (Switch)
Super Mario Odyssey lives up to its name in sheer scope. With 999 Power Moons to get, I have plenty more adventuring to do. The game looks and sounds amazing, of course, and is a joy to play. A few special moves rely on motion controls, which can be finicky at times, but they have not deterred my enjoyment of the game. Since finding a Power Moon does not remove you from the game world, the game has a great flow which can just eat up the hours. Odyssey is different from Galaxy but just as fun.
Games Bought
December turned out to be a very robust month for acquiring games, perhaps more so than any month this year. Things started out with my wife downloading Stardew Valley on the Switch. What a perfect fit for that console! For my birthday I got Super Princess Peach for the DS (her only solo outing) and Cave Story+ (Switch), which I've wanted to play for a long time. Then for Christmas I got another game in that same category for me, Axiom Verge: Multiverse Edition (Switch). Trying to decide which of those to play first will be tough! I also got Prey (PS4), one of the year's unsung gems that I have already started playing. We got my five-year-old son, who plays on the Wii U all the time, Mario Party 10 and he's been eating it up like candy. Post-Christmas I picked up Titanfall 2 (PS4), new for $10, because I've always wanted to play through its single-player campaign, and River City: Rival Showdown (3DS), one of the recent excellent follow ups to River City Ransom. My wife bought Horizon Zero Dawn (PS4), a game I have no interest in but that she has wanted to play since it came out (she is playing it right now as I type this).
River City: Rival Showdown
December was also a busy month digitally thanks to Sony's holidays sales on PSN. I got Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight (PS4), an action game that looks pretty cool, and Undertale (PS4/Vita) in the first week of the sale and yesterday I downloaded Overcooked Holiday Bundle (PS4). I also finally remembered to check that Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment (Wii U) had downloaded. I'm looking forward to playing that sometime.
Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight
That just leaves PS+, a mixed bag as usual. It was nice to get Darksiders II: Deathinitive Edition (PS4). Maybe one day I'll actually play through that series! The other highlight was forma.8 (PS4/Vita), a scifi metroidvania-ish game that I nearly bought earlier this year in a sale. Procrastination pays off again! 
Interesting beyond that was the Syberia Collection (PS3) and XBlaz Lost: Memories (PS3). There is a Vita version for that latter one and I wish Sony had given us that instead but oh well.
Now Playing
-Super Mario Odyssey (Switch)
I've got a lot of Power Moons still to find!
-Prey (PS4)
I'm really enjoying this scifi adventure so far. It definitely channels a BioShock sort of vibe...in space!
-Destiny 2 (PS4)
The special year-end event, The Dawning, has brought a nice aesthetic change to the game. And lot of snowballs!
-Overcooked Holiday Bundle (PS4)
My wife and I tried this out last night after the new year rolled and oh man, what a hoot. I can only imagine how zany this game gets with four people!
I thought Super Princess Peach was pretty rare. Is that true? I have it, I was just wondering.
I wish I had three people who I could play Overcooked with. It's a fun game, but you really need a bunch of people to really enjoy it.
I just reviewed River City: Rival Showdown. Here's a link to it:
http://www.gamerdad.com/blog/2017/12/29/river-city-rival-showdown-3ds/
I don't think Super Princess Peach is that rare. It'll just cost you as much as a new game.
Good review of Rival Showdown! I hope the time limit doesn't cause me too much trouble.
I'm more tempted now to try Yakuza Kiwami, or any Yakuza game for that matter.
I'm playing through 0 now, and to me they sound like the same game aside from story. I would just get whichever is cheaper of 0 (prequel to the series) or Kiwami (remake of the first entry). I don't know how I completely missed these when they're on #6 in the main series next year!
I may have to rent #6 when it comes out.
Kiwami seems like the perfect entry to the series, and I've heard you'll appreciate 0 more, even though it's a prequel, if you already have an understanding of who the characters are and how they relate. But that's most important if you tend to really get into stories (I do). Can't go wrong with this series!
I have been reveling in the PSN sales, too.
Let me know how your wife likes Horizon Zero Dawn. I'm thnking about spending some Chrstmas money on it.
I think Horizon looks pretty boring (or "pretty" and "boring," to be more precise lol) but my wife loves it. She's just gobbling it. If you're into open world games in general, you will probably like it.
I never played a Yakuza game, but with GiantBomb talking about 0 in their year-end podcasts I did pick that game up because it was on sale. Looking forward to it.
Enjoy Prey. There is one mission that I think comes up as a side mission later in the game that should be completed ASAP because it makes the final portion of the game significantly more enjoyable. I don't remember what it's called, I'll have to look into it.
I plan to get Yakuza 0 sometime in the next couple months (hopefully I don't get too distracted with other games) and then Kiwami 2 should come out at some point (it came out in Japan last month).
I like the story and world in Prey enough that I'm trying to do everything I can as it comes up, so hopefully I'll get that side quest down that you're talking about.
Prey is amazing if a little uneven. There were parts where I was like "this is definitely finding a place in my greatest of all time, and others where I wanted to uninstall it and never touch it again - and I'm only 12 hours in. I think the positives definitely outweigh the negatives though.
God, I have sunk way too many hours into Destiny. Firstly, the main story is actually a ton of fun this time around, and feels like what Halo 4 and 5 should have been (with some obvious differences to make it more Halo-like). Then I spent way too many hours in Crucible because it's the only multiplayer shooter I've ever actually been good at, usually getting around 2.0 or 3.0 K/D. And oh boy is it pretty.
And yes, I have seriously enjoyed throwing snowballs at my friends, much to their dismay.
Momodora is excellent, and if you like it you should absolutely play Hollow Knight, which I think is actually secretly maybe the best Metroidvania that's not Super Metroid or Aria of Sorrow.
Haven't played Kiwami, but I did really get into Yakuza Zero quite a bit and loved it.
I have spent an embarrassing amount of hours on Stardew Valley...
I've heard Hollow Knight come up several times recently. I think it's coming to the Switch. Would probably be a good Switch game 
I am definitely looking forward to playing Yakuza 0! And Sega hasn't announced that Kiwami 2 is coming West yet but surely they'll bring it out before too long.
Really liked Momodora, even though I beat it in a day. I also played and beat Darksiders 1 last year and really enjoyed it. Can't say the same about Darksiders 2 though, I made it half-way through that one and gave up on it.
I am not at all opposed to a game that can be beaten in a day! What didn't you like about Darksiders II?
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