Author: ohnoitsjade

Jade has been gaming since the fateful day she was given a Sega Master System II. She'll now play anything for a chance at a platinum trophy, and is partial to a JRPG or several.
30 Days Of, 30 Days Of: Gaming

30 Days Of: Gaming, Day 22

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Day 22: A game sequel that disappointed you

So, I really, really loved GTA IV, and I genuinely don’t think I’d be as into gaming as I am now if I hadn’t have played it.

I was so excited for GTA V back when it came out on PS3, and my excitement carried me through a good couple of weeks after it initially released and I played it solidly. The excitement wore off pretty quickly, and I just couldn’t get as into it as I had with its predecessor. Eventually, I stopped playing altogether and still haven’t been back to it, some four years later.

gtav

 

30 Days Of, 30 Days Of: Gaming

30 Days Of: Gaming, Day 21

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Day 21: Game with the best story

I’ll keep this brief as I have already given this game as an answer to another question.

The game, which in my opinion, has the best story is The Last Of Us. There’s so much going on and the story has so many layers to it and is so compelling, it’s really hard to put down (unless you’re me, and then you get majorly sidetracked by the multiplayer).

tlou

30 Days Of, 30 Days Of: Gaming

30 Days Of: Gaming, Day 20

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Day 20: Favourite genre

I’ll play most genres of games at least once, and there’s nothing really out there that I truly despise. I’m not fond of FPS’s, but recently I’ve been playing a lot of Overwatch so I’m beginning to get past that.

My all-time favourite genre is the JRPG. I just love being able to sink into a huge world, devoting lots of time to something and seeing it through to the very end. Ironic for someone who always complains about having no time on their hands.

30 Days Of, 30 Days Of: Gaming

30 Days Of: Gaming, Day 19

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Day 19: Picture of a game setting you wish you lived in

I’ve talked about moving to Japan a lot, and I think most people with my sort of interests have a dream they lived there, so as a serious answer I’ll go with Tokyo as seen in Persona 5.

p5

As a totally non-serious answer (but still 100% serious), I’ll say any of the Pokémon regions purely so it would mean that I could be a Pokémon trainer (with a speciality in fire, if you’re interested).

30 Days Of, 30 Days Of: Gaming

30 Days Of: Gaming, Day 18

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Day 18: Favourite protagonist

Blame the stalling on this question. It seemed really easy from the outside, then the more I thought about it, the harder it became. I started thinking about my favourite games which naturally led me straight away to Persona 4. No dice there, Yu is kind of bland. The same can be said for most Persona protagonists in a way, opting for one of them feels like a waste. Next my mind jumped to the Danganronpa series. Again, it’s a no. Naegi, as much as I love him, is kind of annoying, and Hinata, though he has more levels than Naegi, is also a negative.

Eventually, this ruling out of basically every game I’ve ever played led me to looking at my trophy list and going through methodically. The choice I’ve picked may surprise those that know me, as I don’t think I’ve ever been a vocal advocate of this game, but here we go.

My choice for my favourite protagonist is Rhys from Tales From The Borderlands. I think this game is severely underrated. I initially just played it for the quick-fix Telltale platinum trophy, but I ended up really loving it mostly in part due to the incredible storyline and the well-developed characters, of whom Rhys was my favourite.

Rhys

Rhys is severely flawed, yes, but he has a lot of great qualities (if you choose the options that let them shine out). I suppose each protagonist in a Telltale game is what you make of them largely due to the choice element of the game, but I found Rhys to be funny, loyal, and just an all-round interesting character to play as.

2017 challenges, Challenges

2017 Challenges: August Recap

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Make 10 new cosplays (including one entirely from scratch)
We’re still at the same point with this one; seven cosplays made, including the from scratch one. The next convention I’m going to is EGX at the end of September, where I’ll be rewearing Chiaki from Danganronpa 2 (I’ve made a new skirt for her, but it totally doesn’t count). I’m also planning on attending MCM London, Hibanacon and MCM Birmingham before the end of the year, and my planned cosplays for those will bring my total to 17 new cosplays for the year, so I’m not concerned about this one at all.

Watch 30 anime series
This one is clocking in at 9 series watched. I’m quietly confident on this one still. I have a few ongoing series’ I’m watching from this season which are due to wrap up soon, so I’ll be adding a lot to this total in the next month or so.

Platinum 12 games
Although I’m only at 1 for this challenge, I still feel like I can get at least half way on the board by the end of the year. We’ll see!

Watch 30 new ‘old’ films
This should be the easy one! Still only 1 film watched, and even that was from January! Terrible business.

Watch 60 films in the cinema
My cinema-going habits have changed a lot this year it turns out, so I’m only up to 28 on this one. I’ll easily get to half way, but I’m hoping I can get to at least 40.

Clear the gaming backlog
I’ve started this now! Currently, I’m playing Danganronpa 1-2: Reload ready for Danganronpa 3 at the end of the month. Progress is slow because I have been watching a lot of anime lately which seems to be taking up all of my time, but I definitely want to have wiped a few of these games off the list by the end of the year!

2017 challenges, Challenges

2017 Challenges: June Recap

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Make 10 new cosplays (including one entirely from scratch)
Halfway through the year, and halfway through this challenge! Five cosplays done, including that “from scratch” cosplay. I have a con coming up later in the month which I’m planning at least one new cosplay for, hopefully two depending on money/how costesting goes! I also have a con in November which I’m planning six (6!) new cosplays for, so I’m confident I’ll hit the target on this one.

Here’s a photo of my Kubo, which is the one I made myself.

kubo2.jpg

Watch 30 anime series
Surprisingly, I’ve managed to add another couple of series to my list since last time; Attack on Titan s02 and Room Mate.

Platinum 12 games
Finally, a score on the board for this one! You may have read my Platinum Review, but I recently managed to complete Nubla (in 51 minutes and 1 second according to PSN Profiles).

Watch 30 new ‘old’ films
I decline to comment.

Watch 60 films at the cinema
As always you can follow my progress on this one via my Twitter and the hashtag #cs2017challenge, but I have managed to so far see 23 films in the cinema. Not quite on track, but not too far behind either. I’ve found that my cinema-going habits have definitely changed, and I find myself going a lot less frequently than in previously years.

Clear the gaming backlog
Hey, look. I only just made the post for this challenge, so let’s not rush things. Like I said in that post, now I have my mitts on Crash Bandicoot: N. Sane Trilogy I don’t have any new releases on the horizon until September’s Danganronpa 3 release, so I’m hoping to make real headway with this challenge from now on. Realistically, I don’t think I’ll be clearing the whole list but I want to get a good chunk of it done!

2017 challenges, Challenges

2017 Challenges: The Backlog Post

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Wow. So, we’re almost in July and I’m only just getting round to making this list which probably tells you about as much as you need to know about how this particular aspect of the 2017 Challenges is going!

I’ve been through my game collection for PS4 and Vita and these are the games I own which I have yet to finish a single playthrough on. So much for no more buying new games until the old ones are finished!

I’m still hopeful that I can burn through a lot of these by the end of the year, but also fully aware that I’m fast running out of time!

  1. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
  2. Final Fantasy X
  3. Final Fantasy X-2
  4. Beyond: Two Souls
  5. Murdered: Soul Suspect
  6. Danganronpa 1-2 Reload
  7. Danganronpa: Ultra Despair Girls
  8. Trails of Cold Steel
  9. Tales of Zestiria
  10. Tales of Hearts R
  11. Psycho Pass: Mandatory Happiness
  12. Steins;Gate
  13. Uncharted Collection
  14. Uncharted 4
  15. XBlaze Code: Embryo
  16. Persona 3 Portable
  17. Conception II

I’m hoping that at least a few of these can tie in with the platinum challenge. It looks like I’m clear on new releases until Danganronpa 3 comes out in September, so a good couple of months to focus on these (once I’ve finished Crash Bandicoot: N. Sane Trilogy). 

Platinum Review

Platinum Review: Nubla

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Desperate times call for desperate measures, and as I faced ending the first half of the year with no platinum trophies I found myself on a forum for “Games with easy platinums” on PSN Profiles. Imagine my delight when I see a game that is hailed as being the easiest platinum trophy ever. I quickly corroborated the fact on PlayStation Trophies, and lo and behold it’s true. The rating on the game’s page was down as 2/10 and estimated time of 0.5-2hrs.

A quick check of the PlayStation Store, and I saw the game was £7.99. Too good an opportunity to pass up.

nubla

So, what is the game? It’s called Nubla, and as a loose plot description it’s about an art gallery that has lost the pictures in its paintings. You control a character and essentially solve puzzles to restore the paintings. For a game that centres around art as you’d expect, the art style is really impressive. It’s unique and charming, and makes the whole game feel like a really special experience.

You get (gold!) trophies for completing each of the games chapters and for collecting each “Dream Memento”, with the platinum popping at the end of the credits.

The collectables are sometimes difficult to spot, and a few are only visible after you trigger a certain art of the environment. There’s no chapter select, so these trophies are missable, but luckily there are some really comprehensive walkthroughs on PlayStation Trophies.

It took me almost an hour to get the platinum trophy for Nubla (around 50 minutes in actual fact), and I used a collectible guide. I’d personally estimate the difficulty at 1/10. The game isn’t diffcult in any way. There are some frustrating moments with the game mechanics, but they don’t affect the playthrough in anyway – you can’t die in the game, there are no platforming moments.

For those interested, there’s also World of Nubla. It’s exactly the same game, but a different trophy list, and comes in at £11.99 on the PlayStation Store.

30 Days Of, 30 Days Of: Gaming

30 Days Of: Gaming, Day 17

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Day 17: Favourite antagonist

I’ve said it many, many times, but I think that Junko Ennoshima from the Danganronpa series is one of the best game villains ever. Anyone who can kill their own twin without flinching has to be up there, right? Junko is so brilliantly unhinged, so devious and scheming that she’s almost the best thing about Danganronpa.

junko

If you’ve watched the Danganronpa 3: Despair anime, you’ll have even more background on how manipulative Junko is and how meticulously she had planned everything. Even without the anime, the three games are evidence enough that Junko is an actual evil genius. The amount of engineering that went into undertaking her plan is astounding, and she didn’t even do any of it herself.