Tag: playstation

2018 challenges, Challenges

2018 Challenges: January Recap

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For January I’ve been focusing a lot on my personal goals for the year rather than too much related to the 2018 Challenges, so progress has got off to a slow start. Having said that, I am really pleased with the small amount of progress I’ve made (and a great start to my personal goals also!), so here’s what’s been going on.

Watch 30 ‘First Watch’ films

So I’ve actually equalled my total from 2017 on this front, but I’ve watched something on my First Watch list. Celebrations all round! A review is in the pipe-line (recurring theme), but I watched The Pianist. Hooray!

Watch all of Naruto

Perhaps my weakest area, I’ve only watched 2 episodes of Naruto. I was afraid I wasn’t going to like it, but I really do, so me being behind isn’t down to lack of enjoyment, it’s mostly just a lack of time and having to prioritise my free time to other areas.

Watch 30 anime series

So for January I haven’t actually managed to complete any anime series. I’ve started a lot of ongoing shows and something from my To Watch list from MAL. I’m hoping to really turn this one around come February.

Platinum 12 games

Well and truly on schedule for this one. I platinumed Telltale’s Batman after it came free on PS+. A platinum review is forthcoming!

Make 3 cosplays from scratch

I’m having a really hard time planning my cosplays this year. My next couple aren’t going to be entirely from scratch though a lot of the elements are. My main issues are that I’ve not got a lot of conventions lined up, so I’ve not really got anything to plan for which makes things a lot harder.

Watch 50 films in the cinema (and write a review for each film)

I think this challenge might potentially be the one I struggle with most this year. I’ve watched 9 films in the cinema so far but have only written reviews for two of them. I struggled enough to get those reviews out as I felt really out of practice writing a film review, it somehow feels like a totally different process to writing a game review, which I suppose it is in many ways. I do want to get them done and catch up with myself, so again, these 7 reviews are going to be hitting the site imminently.

 

As always, you can follow my progress on Twitter by following me or on #cs2018challenge.

Game Reviews

Review: Planet of the Apes: Last Frontier

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Planet of the Apes: Last Frontier is set between Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and War for the Planet of the Apes – the two most recent movies in the franchise.

With the power of PlayLink, up to four players can decide the fate of humans and apes alike, as we take control of Jess, the head of a human settlement, and Bryn, an ape in a mountain tribe. If playing along with the PlayLink app isn’t cutting it for you, fortunately you can also use multiple DualShock 4 controllers. In fact, playing this way is preferable, as you’re not threatened by connection problems if your wi-fi isn’t behaving. Still, the option for PlayLink is there should you need it.

Read the rest of my review on Push Square.

Game Reviews

Review: Chaos;Child

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Chaos;Child is the latest visual novel brought to us by developer 5pb, and the fourth main entry in the ‘Science Adventure’ series. Chaos;Child sits in that series with acclaimed titles like Steins;Gate and this game’s predecessor, Chaos;Head, but don’t worry too much about having experience with either. Ultimately, playing those will add depth to Chaos;Child, but it’s perfectly enjoyable and works as a standalone game if you haven’t played the others.

Read the rest of my review on Push Square.

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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: 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.

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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.

Game Reviews

Review: Dark Rose Valkyrie

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Dark Rose Valkyrie is the latest Japanese role-playing game presented to us by developer Compile Heart and publisher Idea Factory. It’s set in an alternate version of 1929 Japan where Black Garnet, a meteorite, has hit the Earth and caused a virus that transforms the public into deadly creatures called Chimera.  The protagonist, Asahi Shiramine, is the captain of Task Force Valkyrie – a special unit created by a military agency in order to defeat these beings.

Read the rest of my review on Push Square.

30 Days Of, 30 Days Of: Gaming

30 Days Of: Gaming, Day 13

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Day 13: A game you’ve played more than five times

There are actually only a handful of games I’ve played through more than once, and only two spring to mind that I’ve actually played more than five times. Both are connected in my life, so here’s a little anecdote.

When I was 11, the only gaming device or console I had was a PlayStation (violins, I’m sure, are playing), and my favourite ever game to play was Crash Bandicoot. I played it to death, and knew it off by heart. I’m interested to see if muscle memory kicks in and I still remember the levels as vividly when the remastered version comes out later this year.

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I completed it so many times, and as soon as I did, I would start again. Sometimes I would take a break to play Spyro The Dragon, but I’m not sure I ever completed that once, let alone as many times as I completed Crash. A friend who lived in my road had a brother who was as obsessed with Pokémon as I was with Crash, and I was fascinated by it (my exposure to handheld gaming was pretty minimal by this point). So, for my twelfth birthday, my aunt bought me a Gameboy Colour (in lime green, FYI). Imagine my devestation when I didn’t have any games for it. She thought it would come with a game built in, so didn’t pick one up for me.

Fast forward a couple of days and another boy in my village gave me his copy of Pokémon Yellow to borrow on a long-term loan (so long-term, that I actually still have the game some 16 years later). I was totally smitten with it, and played it constantly (luckily my dad had invested in some rechargable batteries), and completely ignored Crash. The only trouble – I completely sucked at it.

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Still to this day, I hate grinding in games. I’d much rather get from objective A to objective B and work my way through some tasks, earning experience points that way, so levelling up Pokémon by battling wild Pokémon was not something I enjoyed doing.

So, anyway. My friend’s brother proposed we help each other out. As good as he was at Pokémon, he completely sucked at Crash. A deal was made, and we’d help each other through bits we were stuck on, or give tips. His advice was so invaluable to me, that I ended up sticking with Pokémon for a really long time (Sun and Moon are the only additions to the franchise that I’ve not bought). At that time, little twelve year old me was far too impatient to go through and complete the Pokédex, so as soon as I’d defeat the Elite Four, I’d start again. And again, and again.

30 Days Of, 30 Days Of: Gaming

30 Days Of: Gaming, Day 11

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Day 11: Gaming system of choice

Finally! An easy question!

I have been a Sony fangirl since the original PlayStation came out, so these days I do 99.9% of my gaming on my PS4 or PS Vita. I regularly say my PS Vita is the best thing I’ve ever bought, but honestly, I can’t choose between them.

A very brief answer, I know, but there’s not a lot to debate when it’s such a clear cut answer!

30 Days Of, 30 Days Of: Gaming

30 Days Of: Gaming, Day 2

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Day 2: Your favourite character

I have spent far too long thinking of the answer to this question, and I don’t think there’s a singular answer that I can give.

The immediate answer that jumped into my head was Prompto, from Final Fantasy XV, but that’s probably because I’ve been in FFXV hell ever since I started the game back in December and there’s been little else that’s run through my head since. Prompto is the best of the chocobros, the one who makes me laugh the most, the one who I feel I relate to the most and the DLC I’m most looking forward to.

Thinking further back, I would also cite Chiaki Nanami from Danganronpa 2 as one of my favourite characters. On a personal level, I relate to her a lot; any character that’s socially inept and obsessed with video games resonates a lot with me (see also: Kozume Kenma from Haikyuu!!). She’s a key part of Danganronpa 2, and the game would be much poorer without her in it. I’ve even cosplayed her in the past!

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Going back a bit further in time, I’d probably give Crash Bandicoot the title of my favourite character, purely for nostalgic reasons. There’s nothing relatable about him, but I have the greatest memories of playing as him in games, so he has to get some recognition somehow!