The Backlog Check-in Vol. 61: 3/2/19: Devil May Cry 5 Edition

[Phaseknox]

Played: Firewatch, Oxenfree

Finished: Firewatch

Playing: ?

I played Oxenfree which seemed like an interesting 2D side scrolling adventure game at first, but in reality it's more of an interactive story since the gameplay elements are almost nonexistent beyond walking your character around the environments, talking with other characters and turning a portable radio dial. The art style is somewhat appealing and the voice acting is decent, but the story is a convoluted mess. Despite probably being close to the end, I stopped playing because I had no desire to play it any longer. To me it seemed like yet another pretentious indie game made by non-gamers who wanted to win indie game awards with a creative story, but it proved that creative doesn't always equal good.

I played Firewatch after I quit playing Oxenfree, and it proved to be better but still ended up being somewhat disappointing in the end. It begins with the story being told via text, and you get to make choices that somewhat determine what happens but I played the beginning again to make different choices and the outcomes were all the same. I thought that they might play into the game itself, but they don't so letting the player make choices is basically pointless. The same is true for playing the actual game as well, you can make different dialogue choices but they just result in different responses from the person that you're talking with but don't impact the story at all.

The game is an interactive story, or a walking/talking simulator as I've heard it called. It's played from first person, and has an appealing cel-shaded art style. There's some slight environment interaction beyond just walking around the environments, but not much. You spend the majority of your time in the game walking, and talking with someone on a walkie-talkie. But the story makes it work, and I really enjoyed playing it out. Unfortunately, the end deflates the entire experience.

Devil May Cry 5 comes out next week:

[argyle]

Games added: Q.U.B.E. 2 (switch), Dust: An Elysian Tale (switch), Gravel, Nioh & The Long Dark

Last week: Finished nothing, played mainly Yakuza 0

This week: More Yakuza 0

I've just hit chapter 4 of Y0, and I've really gotten into it. Was definitely what I was in the mood to play.

There's another little game releasing next week as well. I admit it's more obscure than RBI Baseball, but I figured I'd mention it because some of you guys might have heard of it before.

[isthatallyougot]

Still playing Dark Souls 3 and loving it. I got invaded by a guy a couple days ago and the fight went on and on with neither of us able to finish the other off, and then unfortunately I got invaded by a second player. I wasn't participating in any covenants at this point, so I got no help. Needless to say I got wasted fighting two human players along with making my way through my own hostile environment. The PVP has never been the highlight of these games for me, but it always does get the blood pumping when you get that invaded message.

As for the game of the week, I wouldn't play RBI when Super Mega Baseball (1&2) is an alternative, but maybe it's gotten better.

And Devil May Cry 1 & 3 are both two of my all-time favorites, but I won't be picking up 5 soon because I've yet to even get to 4. I ought to do that this year though.

[Phaseknox]

I started playing Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, but I quit playing because I couldn't wrap my head around the controls. You control both brothers in the game simultaneously, one with the left stick and the other with the right. I was struggling with this so much that I couldn't enjoy the game despite liking the graphics and platforming/puzzle gameplay.

I was in the mood for a more laidback gaming experience yesterday, so I started Broken Sword 5: The Serpent's Curse. I really enjoyed The Sleeping Dragon (the third in the series) on Xbox, but I didn't get to play the next game in the series (The Angel of Death) because it was PC only (like the first two games).

Unlike the two previous games that offer 3D polygon graphics and player controlled character movement, The Serpent's Curse goes back to the original point-and-click control scheme and has 2D graphics. It feels like an old school point-and-click adventure game for this reason, but I kind of prefer the more modern look and feel of the previous game that I played (The Sleeping Dragon) and what I've seen of The Angel of Death since this one seems a little more antiquated in terms of look and control.

The game can be a little too talk-y at times where conversations go on longer than necessary which makes them feel drawn out, but I like the story, characters, art and puzzles. It even offers a hint system so that if you get stuck on what to do you can get hints that start out vague to eventually telling you outright what to do. So far I've only needed to use this a couple of times, and the vague hint was enough. But it's nice to know that I can rely on this if I get stuck as opposed to having to go online to look up the solutions.

Dust: An Elysian Tale (switch)

I'm curious to hear what you think of this when you play it, because I really liked it at first but it wasn't long until I found the pacing to be a little slow (long stretches of nothing really happening), the gameplay/environments to be repetitive and the challenge to be a little harder than I would have liked even on easy setting so I quit playing.

There's another little game releasing next week as well. I admit it's more obscure than RBI Baseball, but I figured I'd mention it because some of you guys might have heard of it before.

Very funny. I went to the GameStop site to find out at what games were coming out next week, and Devil May Cry 5 wasn't in their March releases for some reason. Anyway, this is the DMC5 edition now.

Still playing Dark Souls 3 and loving it. I got invaded by a guy a couple days ago and the fight went on and on with neither of us able to finish the other off, and then unfortunately I got invaded by a second player. I wasn't participating in any covenants at this point, so I got no help. Needless to say I got wasted fighting two human players along with making my way through my own hostile environment. The PVP has never been the highlight of these games for me, but it always does get the blood pumping when you get that invaded message.

Should I play it offline so that I don't get invaded, or are there benefits to playing it online such as seeing messages from other players and other players helping you fight bosses? I played the first two Dark Souls games offline because I wasn't online with my Xbox 360.

As for the game of the week, I wouldn't play RBI when Super Mega Baseball (1&2) is an alternative, but maybe it's gotten better.

I have Super Mega Baseball, but I haven't played it yet. I'll get SMB2 as well when it's on sale since I like arcade-y baseball games.

Devil May Cry 1 & 3 are both two of my all-time favorites, but I won't be picking up 5 soon because I've yet to even get to 4. I ought to do that this year though.

The only two Devil May Cry games that I really like are the first one, and DmC. I'm not sure that I'll get DMC5 since pure action games aren't really my thing now, but I might when I can get it for $20 or less.

[jfissel]

Finished: Nothing

Now Playing: Assassin's Creed: Origins DLC

Added to Backlog: Nothing

Current Backlog: 32 games

Still working on the last DLC for Origins. Hopefully, I can knock that out this week and move on to another great game in my backlog.

[isthatallyougot]

Should I play it offline so that I don't get invaded, or are there benefits to playing it online such as seeing messages from other players and other players helping you fight bosses? I played the first two Dark Souls games offline because I wasn't online with my Xbox 360.

It just depends on what you prefer. Personally, I don't read the messages because I don't want to have any guidance. (Unfortunately, sometimes placement alone is a bit too much of a hint though.) But if you play offline, you'll have no PVP elements at all - messages or invaders / co-op. I couldn't imagine playing offline because I like getting invaded sometimes - just for the thrill, but some certainly prefer it that way. I wish there was an option just to turn off messages while remaining online, but I don't think that's available, at least that I've been able to find.

[jfissel]

I started playing Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, but I quit playing because I couldn't wrap my head around the controls. You control both brothers in the game simultaneously, one with the left stick and the other with the right. I was struggling with this so much that I couldn't enjoy the game despite liking the graphics and platforming/puzzle gameplay.

Yeah, it can be weird in the beginning. I controlled one at a time for a while until there were instances where simultaneous inputs were necessary.

[argyle]

I couldn't wrap my head around the Brothers controls either. I get what they were going for thematically, but gameplay wise it was just too cumbersome for me to get into.

Just hit chapter 6 in Yakuza 0. Still really enjoying it - I have a few nit-picky complaints, but certainly nothing that seriously affects my enjoyment.

[Phaseknox]

I stopped playing Broken Sword: The Serpent's Curse because it was boring. The story, characters and puzzles are all fairly dull. In each part of the game you're basically stuck in a good looking but static 2D hand drawn area that consists of one to two screens, and you do a lot of talking and moving the cursor over things to look at and interact with. You don't proceed to another area until you complete all of the required tasks and puzzles in the area that you're in. I don't think that old school style point-and-click adventure games where you stay on static screens moving a cursor around to interact with things and figure out puzzles are really my thing anymore. The genre evolved for a reason.

I started playing Deadlight, and it's a solid 2.5D side scrolling action platform game that looks and plays good. It's another zombie game, but has a somewhat different feel to it compared to a lot of other zombie games since it's side scrolling. Everything about it is well done, the melee and shooting combat (which is used sparingly), the platforming and occasional puzzle solving. It has some set pieces and scripted events, and it can be scary. My only real complaint is with the main character's voice acting, it's bad. He sounds like a poor imitation of Solid Snake from the Metal Gear Solid games.

Despite enjoying Deadlight, I stopped playing it to play Dark Souls III. I haven't played too much yet, but enough to have some early impressions. The art design, graphics and music are all really good, and the gameplay is solid (except kicking). It starts off a bit more lenient than the first two games (especially the original) which makes things a little easier to ease into, but not by much as the first boss is the challenge of later bosses in other games. I liked the interconnected design of the first two games, but this one seems to have you teleport to new areas via a bonfire. I'm worried that this might make the world feel a little less organic since you're not physically traveling to each part of it.

So far I'm really enjoying it, but I'm fairly certain that it will become too much for me and I will have to ultimately quit playing it just like I did the previous games which is a shame because I like everything about them except for their brutal difficulties.

Should I play it offline so that I don't get invaded, or are there benefits to playing it online such as seeing messages from other players and other players helping you fight bosses? I played the first two Dark Souls games offline because I wasn't online with my Xbox 360.

It just depends on what you prefer.

It turns out that I have to play it offline because I don't have a PS+ membership. I thought that the Dark Souls games were free to play online, but I guess not.

[isthatallyougot]

Despite enjoying Deadlight, I stopped playing it to play Dark Souls III. I haven't played too much yet, but enough to have some early impressions. The art design, graphics and music are all really good, and the gameplay is solid (except kicking). It starts off a bit more lenient than the first two games (especially the original) which makes things a little easier to ease into, but not by much as the first boss is the challenge of later bosses in other games. I liked the interconnected design of the first two games, but this one seems to have you teleport to new areas via a bonfire. I'm worried that this might make the world feel a little less organic since you're not physically traveling to each part of it.

So far I'm really enjoying it, but I'm fairly certain that it will become too much for me and I will have to ultimately quit playing it just like I did the previous games which is a shame because I like everything about them except for their brutal difficulties.

Phase brother, I love ya man, but if the first boss seems like a later-stage boss of other games, you may be in for a sh*t sandwich.

And if you keep playing, you'll see that things are very interconnected, don't worry. You don't have to fast travel from bonfire to bonfire at all if you don't want, so I'm not sure I understand.

(And yeah, kicking takes some finesse.)

I hope you stick with it. I know you're not the most patient of gamers, but maybe this can be your opportunity to stretch the limits that define you.