The Backlog Check-in Vol. 241: 8/13/22: Madden NFL 23 Edition

[Phaseknox]

It's probably the most disappointing game I have played since P5 Strikers.

Persona 5 Strikers isn’t good? I was going to buy since it’s fairly cheap now, is it not worth getting?

[crimson_tide]

I paid full price, I didn't dig it. However, it's not bad. They just talk. A LOT. Much like P5, every character present must comment on everything. And they are all present after about 3 hours. It's way too long too, should have been a tight 25-30 hours. It was closer to 45 I think? The actual gameplay was fun...on merciful mode. I found the combat on normal too much to manage since SP is still a concern in this musou game for some reason. But it's mostly that there is too much talking and not enough outside of combat going on. They give you some Persona but just a little. The final boss left a bad taste. But to end on a positive, the dungeons, other bosses and of course music (any soundtrack that features Life Will Change and Last Surprise can't disappoint and Daredevil is sweet too) are pretty good. And your characters are all useful throughout. Party management is pretty simple too. It just didn't click for me but it might for you if it's ever $20 or something .

[argyle]

There’s no need to be vague, we’ve all played it here.

No, we haven't.

I thought that you played it back when it came out, and that’s when you made your avatar a Dragon Quest slime. But now I remember that you played it, but didn’t finish it. I think that there were a few games around that same time such as Darksiders III, Ni no Kuni II and The Outer Worlds that you played, but didn’t finish. You’re as bad as me when it comes starting games, but not finishing them.

Yeah, I do get sidetracked sometimes, not gonna lie.

There’s no need to be vague, we’ve all played it here.

No, we haven't.

That is wild. I think I became a fan of both Dragon Quest and argyle because of an IGN PS2 board recommendation of DQ VIII. I thought you were really into the series.

Fun fact: DQVIII is the only DQ I've ever finished. I do want to get back around to XI, but there's a lot of stuff I *want* to do - we'll see what happens.

j, are you going to buy Saints Row on day one? I’m going to and cane might as well, so that will be three of us here buying it on day one. Maybe argyle will too, he often says that he’s not going to buy games on day one but still does anyway.

Update:

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I have some credit stockpiled & it turns out Callisto comes out later than I thought. We'll see...

[crimson_tide]

I started mainlining Lost Judgment. It's a complete disappointment. I am so tired of the school stories and then the last one is some kind of hostess thing and no. I'm out. I refuse. After 50 hours, there has been very little to show for it. They are all mostly done, I just don't want to give them anymore of my time, they are so boring. I can see what they were going for but it just doesn't work. And this plot. Wow... it's just not good. At all. I made it to chapter 10 and should be wrapping up tomorrow. This is just a swing and a miss for me .

I will still play the Kaito Files DLC. Because Kaito is the only mofo with a chinstrap beard I **** with .

[Phaseknox]

I paid full price, I didn't dig it. However, it's not bad. They just talk. A LOT. Much like P5, every character present must comment on everything. And they are all present after about 3 hours. It's way too long too, should have been a tight 25-30 hours. It was closer to 45 I think? The actual gameplay was fun...on merciful mode. I found the combat on normal too much to manage since SP is still a concern in this musou game for some reason. But it's mostly that there is too much talking and not enough outside of combat going on. They give you some Persona but just a little. The final boss left a bad taste. But to end on a positive, the dungeons, other bosses and of course music (any soundtrack that features Life Will Change and Last Surprise can't disappoint and Daredevil is sweet too) are pretty good. And your characters are all useful throughout. Party management is pretty simple too. It just didn't click for me but it might for you if it's ever $20 or something .

I can get it for $17 which is relatively cheap, but I’m still unsure if I want it based on your impressions. I know that you’re a big Persona 5 fan, so the fact the you didn’t really like Persona 5 Strikers is a bit concerning. You obviously liked it enough to finish it, but your overall impressions of it aren’t very positive. Of course there’s a chance that I will like it more than you, but there’s also a chance that I won’t. I don’t think that the character conversations will bother me too much, but you said that there’s not enough outside of combat going on which is a concern of mine. As you know I stopped playing Dusk Diver because I found primarily fighting waves of enemies through same-y dungeons and not much else outside of that kind of repetitive. The dungeons look more varied in Persona 5 Strikers which is good, but I still want to do more than just dungeon crawl for 45 hours. Decisions, decisions.

Update:

no-maybe.gif

I have some credit stockpiled & it turns out Callisto comes out later than I thought. We'll see...

[canedaddy]

I will still play the Kaito Files DLC. Because Kaito is the only mofo with a chinstrap beard I **** with .

That's one more than me.

Sorry to hear that one flopped with you. I'll still give it a shot if I like Judgment... which I'll play after Yakuza 6... whenever I get to it.

[argyle]

Speaking of games I haven't finished, I gotta finish Like A Dragon before the end of this year.

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[jfissel]

I started mainlining Lost Judgment. It's a complete disappointment. I am so tired of the school stories and then the last one is some kind of hostess thing and no. I'm out. I refuse. After 50 hours, there has been very little to show for it. They are all mostly done, I just don't want to give them anymore of my time, they are so boring. I can see what they were going for but it just doesn't work. And this plot. Wow... it's just not good. At all. I made it to chapter 10 and should be wrapping up tomorrow. This is just a swing and a miss for me .

I will still play the Kaito Files DLC. Because Kaito is the only mofo with a chinstrap beard I **** with .

Hey man, you tried. You'll have to let me now how the DLC turns out.

[Phaseknox]

I finished Ion Fury, and it was a great time from start to finish. It’s one of the best straight-up FPSs (no adventure/RPG elements) that I’ve played in a long time. It’s a love letter to fans of 90s FPSs like Duke Nukem 3D and Shadow Warrior (which I am), and it delivered. It was a lot longer than I was expecting it to be, it took me roughly 15 hours. And it was really challenging even on its easy setting which I dropped it to after starting it on its normal setting because normal was more like hard, and easy was more like normal.

Being a somewhat long and challenging game with a fairly tough and lengthy end sequence brings me to my biggest complaint with it... the ending. It was deflating, and unfortunately somewhat soured the overall experience for me. And I’m not simply talking about the ending itself, but how abrupt that it is. The game is quite lengthy for an FPS, and you as the player go through quite a lot to finally reach the end and go up against the main villain just for it to give you a couple of rudimentary still images and a generic white text on a black background end credit sequence immediately after the main villain is defeated.

Slight ending spoilers... the facility that you’re in at the end starts to explode after you defeat the main villain, but instead of you actually getting to escape which would have made the ending more exciting and satisfying it simply fades to black and shows a couple of still images of your escape. A total missed opportunity, and a disappointing end to an otherwise great game.

[canedaddy]

It’s a love letter to fans of 90s FPSs like Duke Nukem 3D and Shadow Warrior (which I am), and it delivered.

You're a Shadow Warrior?!