Beat a few games recently, thought I'd share my thoughts on them here:
The Wolf Among Us (Xbox One) - TellTale
Game was surprisingly the best TellTale game that I've played yet. The plot tapers off a bit at the end but the visual style, music, storyline and general vibe the game gives off is really excellent. Like a film noir esque adventure supplanted with fairy tale & urban legends characters. My favourite characters were Biggsby, Grendel and Toad ("Biggsby!"). The journey is definitely better than the actual conclusion which leaves quite a few dangling plot threads unresolved and with no sequel in sight left a bit to be desired but the actual investigation and trigue side of the game is fun as are the QTEs (what's what? Well implemented QTE sections in a game?) Plus the whole synth soundtrack, good voice acting and lovely cel shaded visual style really raises the game. Fans of TellTale or not should check this game out, the game is much more linear than the other games I've played by them and there's no real difference to the conclusion but there's several routes one can take to that same conclusion.
Kuon (PS2) - From Software
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Finished this last night. It's only been in my backlog for like two years, or something. The game is split into three chapters, each chapter comprising of different characters. All three of them are very good and make you go over the same maps but in different orders with different enemies and storylines. The way these stories tie up at the end is really good. I found the ending satisfying. It's also atypical when put against From Software's other games as well. It's also rather refreshing to see all three of the main characters you play as are women in a survival horror game, the latter two of which are bad asses. I liked the entire cast overall and the cutscenes though brief were well done.
The story follows a young woman called Utsuki who has lived at the same Manor her whole life with her father and sister. Her sister being really sick and her father being a demented man who is obsessed with bringing his dead wife back to life. Eventually some demon entities arrive at the Manor and all hell breaks loose and the residents all start becoming demons or beasts. The game starts out very typically survival horror with Utsuki having magic powers to fend off these demons and beasts but the game soon takes some twists and turns into Siren territory and becomes really convoluted (in a good way, since it all makes sense in the end and becomes easier to decipher...kinda).
This is another game directed/lead by Naotoshi Zin and is another great game. The credits list was very short, so it was a surprise to see such a great game have such a short staff list, makes the feat even more impressive. The game crafts some of the best horror imagery I've seen in a survival horror game yet towards the end and the storyline is really disturbing (the bosses are creepy). The game favours driving up tension as you reach the second half of the game as well and gets much harder (enemies that can two shot you).
You can switch between Japanese and English VA at will and I must say the game is fine in either, I kept switching between the two since they were both well done.
There's really no other survival horror games out there like this, set in this time period with magic as the form of defense, so it's definitely a unique game. Overall I'd say this is a great gem of a survival horror that I liked even more than Echo Night: Beyond, also by From Software. Highly recommended if you like survival horror games and still have a PS2.
Glass Rose (PS2) - Developers: Capcom/Cing/Cavia (Yup, this was co-developed by the three of them)
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I don't even want to say how long this one has been in my backlog. Anywho, I finally beat it the other night and its mediocre gameplay hindered the experience somewhat but the plotline was much more intriguing as the game progressed. What surprised me was who developed this game. Three companies I would check any of their games out. Cing handled the concept phase & storyline, Capcom designed the (quite frankly, beautiful) pre-rendered backgrounds (as well as the character designs/art and motion capture of the lead character who was modeled on a Japanese actor/model, just like the technique in Onimusha series), sound & CG cutscenes were done by Cavia and the game design/planning was shared out between the three studios, going by the credits. Overall I'd say this was a game with promise behind it but unfortunately it's pretty much just another point and click adventure game. That, and the music becomes so repetitive and the game is definitely overlong (it took me over 20 hours to beat this game! One of the longer adventure games I've played in some time).
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It's weird this was only released in Europe and not in the US since it was definitely Capcom US that handled the localization (noticed Ben Judd's name in there, who handled the Ace Attorney series localization). On this front, it was a mixed bag, felt like the game could have gone through another pass on the script which felt very dry at times and like a straight translation. The voice acting was done by a whole bunch of Shenmue voice actors, including the main character's voiced by the guy who voiced Fuku-san/Ren/Guizhang (Eric Kelso) as well as other Shenmue VA whose voices I recognised but couldn't quite place them off the top of my head and I recognised Barry Burton's terrible VA from Resident Evil 1 as well among the cast. Adds a certain "charm" to the game, for sure.
Unfortunately the game is bogged down by really linear design and super obtuse "go here/click here to advance the plot with telling you anything or any real clues on what to do next at all" and the music gets so damn repetitive. The "choose the right word from the dialogue to advance the conversation" is just bad game design all around as well, sometimes you will be getting frustrated with this as it's so hard to tell what word or combination of words the game wants from you. I just got tired of this in the end up and used GameFAQs...
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The scenario is definitely really intriguing, it starts out as some murder mystery as somebody in this large family that has been gathered to this mansion (which is a character in itself, I got lost so many times playing this game and the game leaves you no clues where to go next many times, you basically have to have a GameFAQs open the whole time to figure out where to go next and what to click on to advance the plot) and somebody in the family is murdering others in the family and attempting to kill the main character but becomes rather creepy and interesting in its second half as it explores the psychology of the master of the mansion (who is mad) and family (who are also mad) and the secrets of the main characters start to reveal hidden layers to the plot. It's also a time travel plot where (the main character was zapped into the past along with his girlfriend and try to find their way back to the present) he is effectively put into the past to figure out an unsolved mystery surrounding a missing detective as well as the main mysteries. The game has multiple endings and I ended up with the two more downbeat ones but still felt satisfied enough with it overall. I'd class this as an above average adventure game with beautiful CG sequences by Cavia, unique atmosphere and a good scenario/plot by Cing and amazing pre-rendered backgrounds crafted by Capcom are the main strengths of this game.