Grabbed Sega Ages Shinobi. Another blast from the past. This was one I always played as a kid and wished would come to NES ( I was under 10yo). Gonna go through Arcade mode then mess around with the new additions to the game, with the new costumes. This will probably be one of my top releases for the year. Some of the bullshit in this game is hilariously cheap though, haha. I love it!
Wind Waker is awesome! I still remember my friends reactions to the reveal, I said I liked it since I loved Jet Set Radio and Fear Effect at the time. They pretty much wrote off Nintendo after that which was funny since, they were in the Nintendo camp during the 16-bit era. The expressions they were able to convey and the sailing are a lot of fun. I really like the island aspect of the levels. They make everything feel nice and tight.
The Forest Haven was a lot of fun with the verticality in it. Really excited to see more. Right now I’m in the middle of a storm that I belive is story related.
Holy smoke that Triforce shard collection was no joke, haha. Taking a break and going to beat it tonight. Game has been awesome. Definitely my favorite Zelda visually, just nudging out BotW.
A lot of things aside from the Koroks reminded me of BotW. Outset Island reminded me of Hateno Village with the two ladies gossiping and scolding you, the lead up to the village. The kids playing hide and seek, and the NPC that like to ‘just walk and explore’. The Korok leaf was another one.
The sailing was cool, but never did grab the faster sail or extend my wallet. Some aspects were made longer because of that but I enjoyed being in the game world.
I’ve been at this motherfucker all day it seems. Obvious shit is flying over me, just as much as the not so obvious stuff. I’ll never did outcome a Zelda game without fully committing to it again.
I forgot you could scale the rope from your hook…right after I scaled a rope… >_< The mazes kicked my ass too and felt claustrophobic. I liked that they made you really commit to every inch of progress, for better and worse.
Edit: Game beat. Bad ass and I’m sad it took me this long to play it. The U enhancements were awesome and will always make me love dual screen gaming. It’s a shame the OoT didn’t receive a remaster on the U.
Horizon Zero Dawn
Finished the Ultra Hard NG+ playthrough a while back.
Detoured into The Frozen Wilds DLC to pick up another set of unique mods…
The inflated prices for item stuffs on UH was lolz, as was the re-balancing of attributes for atk/def stuffs.
NG+ wasn’t too bad, provided you had a good amount of resources going into UH, but a UH NG playthrough would likely be rough from start to finish.
I might do a no-Bow run, someday… but not before I get more unique mods first, lol.
Yakuza 4 is the current game. I was going to start up a Zelda game (either NES or ALTTP) after Yakuza 3 but decided to ‘just check out 4 for a little bit…’
I’ve unlocked 3 of the 4 characters and am loving them. I was having a hard time at first with Saejima, who is the brute character but eventually came to grips with him. Each chapter is broken up into multiple parts, so I’m currently on Chapter 2 but have probably put around 10 hours with a 1 % completion rate, lol.
Really loving the detective Tanimura. He has a counter based gameplay where you flash blue while reversal frames are active. Think Aoi from VF but with wide swings and more readable animations while attacking.
I’ve noticed the VF5 assets within these games which is cool.
Where I’m at in the story, this seems like pre-cursor to Yak 0, as in similarities are there with character setups and story beats. I’m like liking the exploration side of this one as well. Being able to explore rooftops and the sewers is really cool.
I explored the sewers in Yak 6, and the texture work with sound quality made me feel like I was there when I played it. Just…shudders, but in a good way.
Just tried this one out. Its similar to that one game…Dungeon Fighter Online. But I was playing offline. Even got an AI buddy. Seems like its pretty easy doe. Maybe once I get further it will get tougher.
I still been playing a lot of Synthetik. Its the first game Ive enjoyed playing online in many years outside of MW2.
I checked out this game Bullet Girls. Fuckin’ weird. No sound in this here video.
Resident Evil 3 (remake)
Got the Platinum Trophy for this a while back.
Overall, it was okay… Could’ve been better, IMO.
Having played Resident Evil 2 (remake) before this as a warmup probably set the bar a bit high (lol), but playing Resident Evil 3: Nemesis afterward really hammers in a bias toward the OG version where some things are concerned.
Locations
Jill’s apartment building was an interesting backdrop/event for the start of the game, especially since it introduces Nemesis early. Granted it was a chase sequence, it was pretty good until the last hallway area, where I felt the movement control felt questionable when compared to other hallway/corridor sequences (RE2make alligator chase; some The Evil Within segments) that have better movement actions/prompts relevant to the section.
Rendezvous/parting with Brad at Bar Jack, Dario’s warehouse, and the parking garage sequence was alright. It would’ve been nice to have been able to go back to revisit the bar and the warehouse at a later point in time, IMO.
The subway station was cool; the various movie posters were a nice touch. I kinda hope one of those ends up being a new game project, or something.
The Uptown Shops area felt pretty streamlined, if anything, and is the site area for a few Nemesis encounters. Fair amount of backtracking through this area, though. Some places/points feel somewhat familiar to OG RE3 stuffs, despite them mostly being backdrops.
The power substation area was… interesting.
Didn’t particularly care for the sewers area as it felt somewhat familiar to what was in RE2make, in regards to enemy spawns to some extent.
I kinda liked the demolition site area, despite it being mostly a chase sequence with a boss fight at the end.
The chase sequence from near Kendo’s Shop back to the subway station was alright, despite the backtracking through the Uptown Shops area.
RPD visit could’ve been a much better experience, IMHO. I feel one possible problem is that the location is completely separate from everything else. The main problem, I think, is with who ends up going there (it isn’t, Jill).
I kinda liked the waterfront area, despite it only being a lead-in to the Clock Tower Plaza boss fight.
The hospital area was pretty good, I think. The siege defense event at the end was alright.
Underground warehouse was whatever, though having it being a lead-in to the final areas is okay, not so much as an extension from the hospital, anyway.
Didn’t particularly care for NEST 2 as a whole, as it felt too familiar to RE2make’s NEST, IMO.
The disposal/railgun sites had interesting design elements, if anything; the former looking kinda like an arena, the latter looking like a staging/testing area of sorts.
Having location names being shown/mentioned in the subway station office for route stuffs made me think how interesting it would’ve been if some of those places were actually realized (Fox Park, for example). Like, having paths to either the RPD or the hospital would’ve been nice; mainly for scenario stuffs for “That Guy”, if anything.
Nemesis
I think the Nemesis encounters were okay, despite being split up into various categories:
cutscene - Scripted performance stuff; most of the time, Jill is evading Nemesis’ various attacks, otherwise some other cinematic flair.
QTE - Button prompt success-or-fail scenarios; few in number, however.
encounter scenarios - Mostly chase sequences (point A to point B stuffs) but you can choose to engage/confront Nemesis to either slow/delay him or for supply crate stuffs. Most notable being the Nemesis (w/ rocket launcher) chase.
boss fights - Forced showdown encounters with Nemesis.
Nemesis (w/ flamethrower) - Probably my favorite boss fight overall. Nemesis (w/ rocket launcher) would’ve been cool, but was better suited for the chase sequence portions. It was a pretty good showcase of Nemesis wielding a weapon at that point in the game.
Nemesis (Stage 2) - One of my least favorite boss fights, partially due to Nemesis’ appearance/form. However, it’s mostly due to what I feel is an uncharacteristic behavior on Nemesis’ part; where he runs away to circle Jill at range in the environs. For something that’s constantly in pursuit of Jill, it’s an out of place action, IMO. The mine rounds gimmick was whatever, as well.
Nemesis (Stage 2.5) - Same sentiment as the Stage 2 boss fight, but now with couch quarterback audibles from “That Guy”, besides some area gimmicks. I prefer the OG version of this boss fight, where the acid debilitated Nemesis accordingly through repeated exposure.
Nemesis (Stage 3) - Mostly a set-piece boss fight, if anything. Didn’t care too much for Nemesis’ appearance/form here either, The railgun parts were cool though, despite Jill not saying “The Line”, lol.
The supply case drops from the Nemesis encounters were kinda underwhelming, as well.
The 1st/2nd supply cases had parts for your starting handgun, the 3rd/4th were ammo drops (IIRC; shotgun shells, flame rounds).
It would’ve been nice if there were more drops; maybe even for a new weapon, or something.
Nemesis (Stage 2/Stage 3) look like they would be better suited for a Souls game, IMO; the former looking like some sort of foul beast, the latter looking like some sort of demonic entity.
Enemies
Zombies were okay; semi aggro and decent groupings.
Nemesis Parasite Zombies were kinda interesting; like a pseudo Las Plagas thing.
Dogs were whatever; had like 6 total, IIRC.
Hunter Gamma were kinda weak; Flame Rounds devastate them.
Hunter Beta weren’t that bad; Acid Rounds > weakpoint follow up wrecks them, as do grenades.
Pale Heads were around…
Drain Deimos were just gimmicks; insectoid-like appearance, parasite status grab that needs a green herb to heal/recover from (lol), and a limited area of activity.
I think spiders could’ve worked in either the sewers or the power substation, IMO.
The Grave Worm could’ve probably worked… somewhere.
Weapon stuffs
NO FREEZE ROUNDS… SERIOUSLY, WTF.
NO MAGNUM REVOLVER…
Mine Rounds were an interesting gimmick, if anything. I kinda liked using them for preemptive spawn AOE stuffs.
CQBR Assault Rifle w/ mods was pretty good, despite it being only available in the scenarios of “That Guy.”
The railgun was pretty nice; a portable version should’ve been a bonus weapon, IMO.
RAI-DEN was pretty cool bonus weapon; ‘weakpoint only’ effectiveness was interesting, despite the low ROF/cooldown, otherwise it would’ve been too good, lol.
HOT DOGGER was okay; perfect dodge counters take some effort to set up, with positioning being an issue for the follow-up attack. Interesting extra melee option, though.
Samurai Edge (Jill Custom) was nice to see as a bonus weapon; too bad there wasn’t an infinite version.
Bonus Shop
One costume only… WTF. They couldn’t follow the RE2make bonus costume model, or something? Jill’s faux OG RE3 costume should be available outside of pre-order BS, if anything.
Having the Lock Pick/Bolt Cutters early is kinda nice.
Hip Pouch stuffs were welcome, considering there’s so much stuff one could potentially carry in one’s inventory.
The S.T.A.R.S. Field Combat Manual is a nice upgrade for Perfect Dodge stuffs
The coins (Assault, Iron Defense, Recovery) were an interesting addition, with the buffs being quite significant should you have two of them in stock, despite inventory space stuffs (2 slots).
WTFLOL at the Crafting Companion Reloading Tool being a bonus item. How you gonna have gunpowder mixing make sense in the regular game without this present? lol.
Infinite Ammo Case should’ve been a bonus item here, like in OG RE3, IMO.
Make it cost at least 100,000P and take up at least 2x2 inventory slots.
Misc.
Jill looks great. Julia Voth still the best “Jill”, IMO.
I think alternate event scenes should’ve been a thing like in OG RE3; like “That Guy” meeting an ill-fated Murphy, Jill slapping “That Guy”, or even Nikolai meeting an untimely end from Nemesis.
Despite the naming conventions, Nightmare and Inferno difficulty modes offered a change in pace from Hardcore; namely more aggro zombies, alternate enemy placement/additions, some item change up placements, etc. RPD stuffs and some chase sequences were pretty notable, IMO.
Perfect Dodge stuffs was alright, relatively lenient timing to execute (IMO), though I kinda got tired of seeing the dodge evade roll after a while. Kinda wish Jill had a push/shove variant for zombies, though. It’s a very YMMV scenario thing; crit bonus chance is nice but you already have FOV LOS targeting so… Post-dodge positioning can be an issue sometimes, since you have options (front, side, behind), which may result in obstacles/walls getting in the way of your LOS.
Mercenaries Mode from OG RE3 should’ve made a comeback here. It would be pretty interesting if all of the Uptown area was opened up for exploration, or have different areas as stages, or something. There’s enough chars to make it work, if anything.
For the bits of “That Guy” being an onscreen NPC with Jill, it was quite surprising to not see them team up against some zombies, or even Nemesis.
No Blue Herb was lolz. But then again, nothing poisoned you, so yeah…
I think a flashback cutscene with the UBCS team would’ve been good; mainly to highlight Mikhail’s convo with Nikolai in the subway train and to see how FUBAR it went for the group.
Earning points to spend in the Bonus Shop wasn’t too bad; if you were savvy enough, it was quite possible to earn a bit over 100,000P before starting Hardcore, just by doing whatever record challenges for points outside of the other game mode specific ones.
