The Backlog Check-in Vol. 205: 12/4/21: Halo Infinite Edition

[Phaseknox]

Yeah, no thanks.

I don’t think that Scarlet Nexus would be your thing, but I think that argyle, crim and izzy might like it since they’re big Japanese game fans.

Edith Finch was wild. I expected a walking simulator with a good story that just took place in the house, and man does it go beyond that. Some very smart gameplay twists there.

Now I'm getting my SRPG fix with Fell Seal. It's excellent so far... a high-quality ripoff of FF Tactics/Tactics Ogre.

Good to hear as I have both, and I’m looking forward to playing them.

[crimson_tide]

Fam phase is CORRECT!... Scarlet Nexus is most definitely my jam...but alas, it is a Bandai Namco game. It would have wormed its way into my library at some point regardless because I own so gosh danged many Bandai Namco games anyway. I am also a sucker for boss fights so I look forward to it someday...when Scarlet Nexus is like $15 for the complete edition .

Played:...Knack 2. Which she hated. So I deleted it (it's like 30+ gb and it's...Knack 2). The qte's ain't her jam at all. I don't think I seriously played anything else except starting to pick at Persona 3 portable and going back to Yakuza 4. Also, Soul Calibur 6 went and got itself deleted for being boring. Extremely boring.

Bought:...I forgot. I bought something
. I think Darksiders and the DC Supervillains dlc because....the child wants to play it. I need to get her her own PS4 this Xmas I think .

This week: More Yakuza 4.

Soooo...Yakuza 4 last night got me out of my funk of not being able to get into something. I had forgotten how nifty Akiyama's substories and general vibe is. I also bought all the cool kicks so now I am humming along. Might skip the hostess stuff this run and go for a quick playthrough for once. It's ticking all the boxes right now .

[Phaseknox]

Fam phase is CORRECT!... Scarlet Nexus is most definitely my jam...but alas, it is a Bandai Namco game. It would have wormed its way into my library at some point regardless because I own so gosh danged many Bandai Namco games anyway. I am also a sucker for boss fights so I look forward to it someday...when Scarlet Nexus is like $15 for the complete edition .

I played Scarlet Nexus for 35 hours so it had to be doing something right, and I kind of regret rage quitting it at the end but I watched a video of the final boss and I’m convinced that I would have rage quit during it if I got to it.

I’m not a fan of big drawn out boss battles in games, and that’s what Japanese games are notorious for. That’s not to say that I don’t like boss battles, because I do. But I prefer them to be bigger tougher enemies that have one life bar, and that can be defeated by learning their patterns. Not something that can insta-kill me in one hit, and that has multiple forms each with long life bars. That’s overkill IMO, and not fun. Unfortunately those are the type of boss battles that seem to be in most Japanese games these days, and why I’ve been less interested in them compared to in the past because they make me want to rage quit. Western games usually have what I consider to be more reasonable and less drawn out boss battles, they make them tough without going overboard.

[canedaddy]

I don’t think that Scarlet Nexus would be your thing, but I think that argyle, crim and izzy might like it since they’re big Japanese game fans.

I'm a fan of good Japanese games. Two of my favorite series are Dragon Quest and Yakuza, and there are tons of others I've loved.

Speaking of which... why has there been no talk here of Tales of Arise? (If there was I missed it.) It's been a while since I've seen a JRPG get so much praise. I've only played one game in that series and it didn't click with me, but I'm going to check out this one when it's cheap.

[Phaseknox]

I'm a fan of good Japanese games. Two of my favorite series are Dragon Quest and Yakuza, and there are tons of others I've loved.

Speaking of which... why has there been no talk here of Tales of Arise? (If there was I missed it.) It's been a while since I've seen a JRPG get so much praise. I've only played one game in that series and it didn't click with me, but I'm going to check out this one when it's cheap.

I didn’t mean to make it sound like you’re not a fan of Japanese games because I know that there are many that you like, I meant more that you don’t like the anime style of Japanese games as much which something like Scarlet Nexus is.

We all just seem to have our own personal preferences when it comes to games. Argyle and crim seem to prefer Japanese games to Western ones while I kind of prefer Western ones partially because I’m a big fan of open world games. I like a lot of Japanese games too, but they’re just not really my preference these days like they were in the past.

As for Tales of Arise, we talked about it a little here. Argyle got it and shared some impressions, but I think that he stopped playing it because it was too much of a time commitment at the time. I was hoping that it was going to be $30 or less during Black Friday/Cyber Monday, but it was $40 which is a little more than I want to pay. I’m going to buy it when I can get it for $30, or less.

[canedaddy]

As for Tales of Arise, we talked about it a little here. Argyle got it and shared some impressions, but I think that he stopped playing it because it was too much of a time commitment at the time.

Ah, I see now that argyle said he'd play it. Didn't see any impressions though. I'm old, internet searches are hard.

[jfissel]

This week: More Yakuza 4.

Soooo...Yakuza 4 last night got me out of my funk of not being able to get into something. I had forgotten how nifty Akiyama's substories and general vibe is. I also bought all the cool kicks so now I am humming along. Might skip the hostess stuff this run and go for a quick playthrough for once. It's ticking all the boxes right now .

I need to play 4 again sometime...Akiyama's awesome.

[jfissel]

Edith Finch was wild. I expected a walking simulator with a good story that just took place in the house, and man does it go beyond that. Some very smart gameplay twists there. Thanks for the recommendation, jfissel.

Glad you liked it, it's certainly an interesting game!