The Backlog Check-in Vol. 240: 8/6/22: Cult of the Lamb Edition

[argyle]

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.

Not happening this time. Even if by some miracle I did decide to stop playing Xeno 3 - which ain't happening - I have Horizon Forbidden West waiting in the wings.

I've been playing since the first game came free with my Nintendo Power subscription in 1989 or 1990, long time.

I sold my NES back in the day & bought a C64 because a good friend of mine had one. Often wondered how my gaming trajectory would have changed if I hadn't, pretty sure I would have been a bigger DQ fan & gotten into JPRGs in general a lot sooner.

I finished Inside last night... yeah, things got verrrrry weird at the end, lol.

Then it was on to...

Awwwwww yeeeaaahhh!!!!!

[crimson_tide]

Just missed the post fam Phase . Yes, $15 is perfect for SFV. There are a ton of characters to dick around with and please please PLEASE do not download A Shadow Falls. Thank you.

And don't get me wrong, I tend to hold RGG to a ridiculous high standard that they typically clear with relative ease. There's still a lot more Lost Judgment to go, it's just not immediately gripping like all their other stuff. Yagami is growing on me (his hatred of the handyman matching my energy helped immensely). He just comes off like a cool uncle trying to be cool and it's not effortless. Normally they pull that off without trying. I don't have a problem with him being a dude as long as he's not a dick. He's not, Yagami just lacks an immediate hook. Ichiban had the DQ thing and that hair moment. I was there for that. Kaz is Kaz. Hell, even the cop and the baseball player had hooks even though I didn't like them initially. Yagami never really had a hook that got me. I would be fine with Kaito taking over the series.

Actually, the old man brought up dismissing the story in Saints Row which is fine. It's a big dumb sandbox. However, I only kept playing because I loved what they did with the characters in the story. They challenge themselves a lot breaking tropes and that's why this reboot is necessary. They took it to its logical extreme, dealt with a lot that other games would never (Shaundi. That's all I will say). They kept it fun throughout. I very much picture had Judgment focused on Kaito, they could have made a more compelling character and challenged themselves to not just make Kazuma all over by doing what they and Volition do very well which is challenge themselves to not just follow convention but push the boundaries. I will play the Saint Row reboot when it's cheap of course but not just for the sandbox but because I am sure they have a good story in there too. And dicking around in Lost Judgment is fun, I just want Yagami to be...something besides cool.

[Phaseknox]

Not happening this time. Even if by some miracle I did decide to stop playing Xeno 3 - which ain't happening - I have Horizon Forbidden West waiting in the wings.

You don’t plan on finishing Xenoblade Chronicles 3 in a couple of weeks? I’ve had Horizon Forbidden West waiting in the wings since launch, same with Dying Light 2 (which I’ve played a little of both) but I’m still buying Saints Row on day one because it’s more of what I’m in the mood to play right now.

I sold my NES back in the day & bought a C64

Often wondered how my gaming trajectory would have changed if I hadn't, pretty sure I would have been a bigger DQ fan & gotten into JPRGs in general a lot sooner.

You had to sell your NES to get a Commodore 64? That SUCKS!!!! I always owned most game systems in the past. When I was a kid during the Atari, Intellivision and ColecoVision days my parents bought me an Atari 2600 for Christmas, and later they bought me an Intellivision and ColecoVision from garage sales. I was older during the NES, SMS and C64 days, and worked and bought most of my own gaming stuff then. The Wii, Wii U, Switch and Xbox One are the only game systems that I haven’t owned from then until now. I don’t own a PS5 or Xbox Series X now either, but they’re the current consoles and I plan on getting a PS5 when Grand Theft Auto VI comes out.

Yes, $15 is perfect for SFV. There are a ton of characters to dick around with and please please PLEASE do not download A Shadow Falls. Thank you.

A Shadow Falls is free, so of course I’m going to download and play it out of curiosity.

[argyle]

Don't regret getting the C64 (I have a LOT of fond memories of that thing), but yeah, I do regret selling my NES...and my boxed game collection...still stings.

So I don't know if you guys have heard, but this Fran Bow game is good. Like, I mean REALLY good. It's not a super long game, but it's not one of these 2 hour dealies either - I'd guesstimate around 10? Whatever it was, I blew through it in a couple of work days. That story is dark, and disturbed, and VERY well written, and just keeps you moving forward. And even tho it ends on a more open ending, it's MUCH better done in that regard than Inside was because it gives you enough to chew on. Gameplay is point & click adventure, but even that was done much better than I've seen done in recent memory. Fantastic puzzles and a great balance of items that are sometimes used immediately, sometimes not used for a while, sometimes used more than once (these stay in your inventory unlike the one-use items) and very occasionally are red herrings that aren't used at all. I had to get a hint on 2 puzzles - the door code in the first chapter (I had tried every combination of the numbers I could think of except for one, which I wrote off as not being it, and it turns out that was it ) and once in the second chapter that ended up being a spot I hadn't clicked on. Oh, and I watched the solution to the sliding block puzzle mini-game because I *hate* those things. But there was none of that insane Monkey Island / Grim Fandango insane "logic" that no human would ever think of - everything made sense once you figured out the solution. And like Izzy said, it's hard to believe the whole game was made by 2 people. Fantastic, very highly recommended. Any PC will run it, and it's currently $3.xx on Humble Bundle.

[Phaseknox]

I do regret selling my NES...and my boxed game collection...still stings.

I regret selling my Neo-Geo and game collection for it (I had a lot of games). Have you seen what those are worth now? Talk about still stinging.

[crimson_tide]

Hold up...I only beat Tekken 7 arcade with like 2 characters. Guest characters. Guess what? Guest characters don't have endings...holy schnikeys, I have so much Tekken 7 left! Tekken endings are so nuts, I can't wait, YEAH !!!!!!!

[isthatallyougot]

And you'll definitely win in the casino, just save a lot after. There are trophies and unique items available there so you need to win big!

Last night I figured I'd spend a little time in the casino after doing some other stuff, and not long after I plopped myself down in front of the slots, that happened. And it happened when I was at max bet (for that machine) and on a silver spin that doubles winnings. I think it was 200,000 tokens on that spin alone. Needless to say, I redeemed them for some nice goodies.

No spoilers.

Don't regret getting the C64 (I have a LOT of fond memories of that thing), but yeah, I do regret selling my NES...and my boxed game collection...still stings.

I had a C64 and an SNES as a kid, but I did very little gaming on the C64. I'll just say I had a dad who wasn't a fan of the hobby and was adamant that I "do something with my life". "But I'm just a child..."

So I don't know if you guys have heard, but this Fran Bow game is good. Like, I mean REALLY good. It's not a super long game, but it's not one of these 2 hour dealies either - I'd guesstimate around 10? Whatever it was, I blew through it in a couple of work days. That story is dark, and disturbed, and VERY well written, and just keeps you moving forward. And even tho it ends on a more open ending, it's MUCH better done in that regard than Inside was because it gives you enough to chew on. Gameplay is point & click adventure, but even that was done much better than I've seen done in recent memory. Fantastic puzzles and a great balance of items that are sometimes used immediately, sometimes not used for a while, sometimes used more than once (these stay in your inventory unlike the one-use items) and very occasionally are red herrings that aren't used at all. I had to get a hint on 2 puzzles - the door code in the first chapter (I had tried every combination of the numbers I could think of except for one, which I wrote off as not being it, and it turns out that was it ) and once in the second chapter that ended up being a spot I hadn't clicked on. Oh, and I watched the solution to the sliding block puzzle mini-game because I *hate* those things. But there was none of that insane Monkey Island / Grim Fandango insane "logic" that no human would ever think of - everything made sense once you figured out the solution. And like Izzy said, it's hard to believe the whole game was made by 2 people. Fantastic, very highly recommended. Any PC will run it, and it's currently $3.xx on Humble Bundle.

Glad to hear you enjoyed it. What you mentioned about the inventory is something that I'd forgotten about, but *was* really well done. And for sure, all of the puzzles were reasonable/logical to solve, and in this style of game that is much appreciated from my perspective. But minus the structure, Fran Bow was one of those rare games that has wormed its way into my mind and stayed there for years simply due to its narrative and atmosphere. As much as I enjoyed Little Misfortune, it didn't live up to their first work. A bit of a sophomore slump I suppose, if only moderately so. But anything Killmonday games produces is an auto-buy from me after their first two.

[crimson_tide]

Ok...j...what even is Lost Judgment? I am on chapter 5 now and this is flipping insane. What are they on about? The chapter is titled Double Jeopardy...but this is not what double jeopardy is. At all. At any place on the planet. Also, criminal justice is not determined by overwhelming public sentiment based on a couple viral videos. They have completely lost the plot at the moment for this utterly ridiculous reveal. DQ Builders 2 is sitting right over there looking real good for my big end of summer game if they don't fix this in...I will give them two chapters...

[canedaddy]

Ok...j...what even is Lost Judgment? I am on chapter 5 now and this is flipping insane. What are they on about? The chapter is titled Double Jeopardy...but this is not what double jeopardy is. At all. At any place on the planet. Also, criminal justice is not determined by overwhelming public sentiment based on a couple viral videos. They have completely lost the plot at the moment for this utterly ridiculous reveal. DQ Builders 2 is sitting right over there looking real good for my big end of summer game if they don't fix this in...I will give them two chapters...

You might have mentioned this, but just curious... did you play Judgment before Lost Judgment?

[crimson_tide]

Indeed I did old man... that's part of the issue . Nothing is happening with Yagami in terms of development and the central mystery is so convoluted this time I can't seem to hit a groove like I did before. The last one had a really strong premise and this one just kinda keeps jumping around and dropping big things but they just aren't landing. Could just be me honestly but I just am not into the plot at the moment and the characters aren't compelling me either. When Yakuza loses the plot (like 80% of the time it does), I still like the cast and side stuff long enough to get back to the plot eventually. I do dig huge parts of the game but the story and Yagami just are glaring issues hence my numerous posts .