Revisiting LOK Defiance & Blood Omen 2

 After blasting through LOK Soul Reaver 1 & 2 and finding it to be an.... interesting experience (for my feelings), I decided that I would go and play LOK Defiance and Blood Omen 2, just to reconcile my feelings for them.

Again, at the time, I very much enjoyed the experience.  Admittedly I did find Blood Omen 2's controls a little janky and slow, the chunky gameplay and combat all worked well enough, the story seemed engaging and overall it was a decent game.

Defiance, I loved.  I especially remember being impressed with the graphics.  I remember being slightly annoyed with the sound effects. I remember being engaged with the the gameplay.  

How do I find them now?

Tets plays: Fatal Frame II - Part 1 of ??

 So after plaowing through Soul Reaver, kinda plodding through Defiance and Blood Omen Two, and smashing through Jedi Fallen Order, I decided I would give a game a try that I have been thinking about for a long time:

Fatal Frame (series).  I did some googling and general impressions are that 2 is the better of the lot, so I decided to go with this one.  I'm generally not into survival games, I dislike weapon management games intensely so Resident Evil never really grabbed me and  I feel that jump scares are just cheap.

I did thoroughly enjoy Silent Hill 1, 2 and 3 however.  The disturbing surreal nature of those game did tickle my fancy a lot.    I had read that many publications seemed to rank Fatal Frame 2 as the scariest game ever.  Whether this was at the time, or what, I dunno, but I have started it.

Here are my thoughts:

Tets Finishes Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order

 Not so long ago, I was playing Star Wars Fallen Order and I typed this post as I struggled at the start of the game.  The other day I finished it and I shall continue with my thoughts and my final wrap up.

It was decent enough, probably a 7/10 if I were to score it.

Tets Plays Star Wars Jedi Fallen order

 

Chilling on mah couch.

I like me some light sabre swinging action and would love a game like The Witcher, but Star Wars-y.  Is this the one?

Revisiting LOK Soul Reaver

 

When I was in the peak of my gaming time, a lovely little game captured my imagination and I really, really liked it.  That game was Soul Reaver.  It played somewhat like Tomb Raider, but had a connection to the action-RPG of Legacy Of Kain: Blood Omen(BO), a cool, edgy vampire story.  

Soul Reaver played very differently to BO, but the voice acting of the main characters, was incredible.  The main Characters being Raziel (your guy), The Elder God and Kain.  Their efforts raised what was a fairly simple premise of betrayal and revenge to something much more epic than it had any right to be.

Development was shaky and the game ended up having a lot of stuff cut from it and a "To Be Continued..." ending.  Which is something I always hate.  Nevertheless, I did play it on PS1, and then again on Dreamcast.  The series did this a bunch of times and the story continues over 5 games and is very convoluted as there is time travel and changing of the future and shenanigans going on all over the place.  Even after I finished the final game, I was still fairly unsure of the plot... Who was the main bad guy and what their motivation was to ruin the land of Nosgoth and destroy the Vampire race etc etc.  

The games are:

• LOK: Blood Omen
• Soul Reaver
• Soul Reaver 2
• LOK: Blood Omen 2
• LOK: Defiance

I suspect that there was of course a delay between game releases, would have allowed for me to forget parts of the story which would have added to my confusion.

God Of War 4 Completed

 I had to go back and check this, did I post about this game's experience when I started?  Not in and individual post, but I did start in my yearly gaming post.

So, now that it's done, what's the final verdict?

A resounding "meh, it was all right."

Sonic Frontiers: Final Horizon - Finished

 Oh boyoboyoboy.

I was not terribly impressed with this DLC when I last posted about it. It was half arsed, to put it nicely... My main gripe was about the controls and shitty writing.  Well, they gave an update (yay) which fixed up most of the controls (yay) but not much they could do about the writing.  Seriously, the main story was so much better.

So with the controls fixed, I decided to get back into it and found things a little bit better. There is still much frustration though.

Sonic Frontiers: The Final Horizon, so far

 

Back in my list of games for 2022, I listed Sonic Frontiers as my game of the year, and I stand by that.  I really did enjoy it.  It was not perfect, but the gameplay was fun, the story made sense and the characters acted like you would expect them too.  Plus Knuckles wasn't portrayed as a dumbarse.  

However in typical SEGA fashion, it was obvious that the game was rushed and things didn't quite seem finished.  Ignoring the technical issues like pop-in and the weird juxtaposition of cartoon characters and real world looking er, world, it was very bad at explaining mechanics and gameplay bits n pieces.

However after a year, we have the "Final Horizon" update for it, which really makes things fit together well.

Ha ha ha ha, I lie, it does not do that.

At all.

I have 4 main complaints where I think the game manages to mess up:

1. The story
2. The controls
3. The platforming
4. The difficulty

Beware spoilers (for the DLC)

Adventures in Sonic Unleashed Part 3 of?... Probably 3.

 So, the last Gaming diary post I did was actually one on Warhammer 40K; Space Marine.

I've given Sonic Unleashed a crack between now and then, but I feel that I am at the point where I am just not feeling it.

Why?  Well the bad parts of the levels seem to outweigh the bad parts aaaannnnd the piss-farting around in the hub world to get to the levels is kind of annoying.

YES, it could add to the world building and make the story better.

YES, it probably makes some kind of logical sense and links the levels together.

BUT

I juts don't care enough.  I took a break and can't remember what I am supposed to be doing, or where to go, and after spending probably a good 20 minutes slogging through some not too bad, but definitely should be shorter than it was Werehog level, I am feeling that I have run out of good natured Sonic love for this game.

Like seriously, I believe the last level I completed was long and had this annoying platforming section, which if you fell from equaled insta-death. The level in general was too long to get to that section, and that section was definitely too long to be enjoyable.

Like the Bay Transformers movies, sometimes people need to know that less is indeed more.

WaaaAAAaaargh! Space Marine! Part 2 of 2

 Well, whaddya know.

After posting this post, I sat down and managed to knock the game off.  I did have some trouble with the final boss fight.  Really there are only two boss fights in the whole game.  Both times has you facing off against hordes of plebs rather than the boss.  

WaaaAAAaaargh! Space Marine!

 A long long time ago, I found the demo for this game and played it for a bit.  It used a bit with a jump pack and was pretty fun.  I've always wanted to give it a crack for reals and now I have.

What's it like?

Adventures in Sonic Unleashed Part 2 of ?

 So after playing through the first bit and giving up on that stupid plane section, I tried again and this time was successful in defeating the Egg Cauldron while pressing the buttons.  I was successful, but also extremely bored.

Luckily, I can happily say that the same section hasn't cropped up again.... Yet.  I have a disgusting feeling it will torment me again.

Adventures in Sonic Unleashed Part 1 of ?

 So after finishing my session (not the game) of Sonic Adventure 2, I decided to give another try to Sonic Unleashed, called Sonic World Adventure in Japan.

I remembering preordering this game for my Wii back in the day, purely because it came with a Sonic the Werehog action figure.  When I picked it up, the staff told me I was the only person to preorder. ha ha ha.

The game at the time was fine, I remember that the Sonic day time levels were quite something and I was pretty impressed with the speed, but the Night-time Werehog levels were kinda boring, long and a bit of a drag.  

Since I've been looking back at older Sonic games, I had discovered that the PS3 version is deemed better than the Wii version and that the Werehog levels were different.  So here we go.  SA2 down, no inclination to take on Sonic '06 (seriously, I've tried like 8 times), how do I go with Sonic Unleashed?

Replaying Sonic Adventure 2

 So after my pushing through and reliving the joys of Sonic Adventure DX on my PS3, I discovered there is a version of Adventure 2 on the PS3 as well.  Blow me down says I, might as well try and get a bit of that action.

With some messing about, I did eventually have it ready for play.  So, how did it go?

Mad Max on the PS4, some musings.

This here is a review of the PS4 version of the Mad Max game.  When I first became aware of the game, I had a feeling it would be something I would like.  Recently I've been playing a lot of sandbox games and have played them quite extensively.

The Arkham series and their simple combat and stealth mechanics started it off I guess and that spread into the Shadow/War of Mordor, Just Cause games and to the Witcher 3.  Which are pretty much the majority of the "big" games I've been spending my time on.

At the time of release(2015), I think was playing a lot of Just Cause(maybe).  I remember seeing articles about Max and thinking that it looks fun, but thought I would be reaching the end of my tether for Batman Arkham style sandbox games.  I was also still playing Red Dead Redemption as well.

Reviews were ok saying it was standard fare and I felt satisfied with my decision to not bother with it.  I have always enjoyed the world of Mad Max and absolutely loved the movie Fury Road; it's such a simple premise but done very well and expands the Max lore quite nicely, but felt no strong urge to get the game that was released the same time.  The Mad Max game has little to do with Fury Road, but theoretically is set before it.

So eventually (2021) I see a tweet stating that the Mad Max is cracking a 5.99 price and I just so happened to have that amount hanging around on my long untouched PSN account. So I grabbed it.

Tets plays MGSV Ground Zeroes

 So after many, many, MANY years of harassment from a pal, I finally got around to playing a Metal Gear Solid game again.  It was Metal Gear Solid, Ground Zeroes, a kind of demo version of MGSV Phantom Pain.  

It's a big step for me.

Sonic Adventure DX on the PS3 review

Okay, I was going to save this for my yearly summary, but it ended up being a bit too long, so I've decided to make it a whole post.

Sonic Adventure DX on Playstation 3, a review.

Revisiting Tenchu Part 2-A Thoughts on Wrath of Heaven

 Good time of day ladies and gentlethings, now that my fun with Shadow Assassins on the PSP has been had, I've ventured back to the Tenchu game I am second-most-familiar with (the first being PS1's Stealth Assassins); Tenchu Wrath of Heaven (WOH).

This is another Tenchu game I played a lot of. Quite a lot of in fact.  When I was younger I managed to Grandmaster each level with each character.  I can't remember if I bothered with all three map set ups, unlikely methinks though.

I started this one a while ago and got distracted by the PSP Shadow Assassins, so now I'm back and thought I'd put in and update thoughts, especially since I'm not that close to finishing it.

Revisiting Tenchu Part 1- Thoughts on Shadow Assassins

 

A while ago I decided my new laptop must be able t handle a PS2 emulator and so I got one. Then I hunted down my favourite games and thought I'd replay some of them.  The first one I looks for was Tenchu Wrath of Heaven and I've been going through that enjoying it quite a bit.

Then with the usual casual research I do looking into things, I decided that I should have another crack at Shadow Assassins, the Tenchu that came out on the Wii and PSP.  Now I have this on the Wii, but at the moment, no Wii.  However, being a fan of the PSP and still having some unfinished games  on that, I decided to grab the PSP version so then I can avoid the waggle controls of the Wii.  Let's see how this goes shall we?

Gaming for the year of 2021

So in the vein of my toys of 2021 (in draft, but my games post finished sooner), I briefly want to talk about games that I have acquired over the course of the year.  "Modern games" which I use the term loosely as I often buy games that are years old when cheap have been relatively few.

Retro games - ie games for my Saturn were looking rather thing until a certain point in which I got rather excited and went nuts.  Most games I'll play at least briefly when I get them, so can comment on everything. Let's do it

First off derp Modern games

- and this will consist of Nintendo Switch/PlayStation 3/4 games.  It'll be interesting to see if Sony bust out the hours you spent on a game list again this year.  Last time it was many many on Shadow of Mordor/War.  My Nintendo Switch lists my most played game.... as.... the YouTube app.  And yes, it's handy to watch YouTube through without having to slap up the tv to the internet etc.  I don't even watch that much YouTube Or so I thought...

Anyhoo, click the jump to progress to the info