Guardians of the Galaxy (2021) - It's really Groot!

[Chindie]

There's something about this. It really is a very good game, looks amazing, great writing, a solid take on a team action game (something that is difficult to make satisfying in my experience).

 

But there's a couple of flies in the ointment, that may just be my personal issues! They hold me off really loving it. 

 

I'm a collectibles completionist kinda player. If you tell me there's collectibles I will want to get all of them in a playthrough. Even more so if they have a purpose, and in this game that's even more so because collectibles include costumes which call back to comic looks, and things that unlock dialogue and so on.

 

The games a bit broken when it comes to this though. Earlier on I was playing through a chapter where, at the end, you interact with a console. I did this before checking the room for stuff, and not knowing that when you exit the console a chapter ending cutscene happens, which also creates a save point, so you can't reload from before the cutscene. Annoying. So I have a save from the prior chapter, which isn't very long, which I redo including recollecting a bunch of stuff. In doing this I discover that costumes it seems, once collected, are collected. Cool. I restart the next chapter, which goes quicker as I know everything that is going on, however at the start of the chapter you can collect one of those dialogue related items, which I go to recollect, and it's not there. And it's not in my inventory either. Perturbed, I play through the entire chapter thinking the own will 'pop' once the chapter is over. It doesn't. It seems now that I can't get that collectible in this playthrough. Which is annoying.

 

Secondly I find the game oddly draining to play. I can do a chapter at a time and feel like that's enough, despite enjoying it while I'm playing. It's really weird. I've never experienced this with a game before, I dunno what it is, it just seems like the game burns me out at an incredible pace, I can get through a chapter and just feel that I'm done for now.. It's bizarre.

 

Edit - And now having completed the chapter I realise that that dialogue collectibles only populate when you complete that dialogue...

[Yiggy]

4 chapters in. I’m not a big fan of Marvel but I think this might be one of the most fun and impressive solo adventure games I’ve ever played. 
 

The script and character representation is so good. 

[Robo_1]

To add to the love fest, this is excellent fun. The scripting the pacing the action and the mechanics of it all are just excellent, best in class.

 

I can't believe I dismissed this as an Avengers derivative, it's pretty much the exact sort of game I go out and buy day one. Honestly if it hadn't been for this place I would have missed it!

[Chindie]

It's a fucking good Guardians story.

[Jg15]

21 hours ago, Chindie said:

There's something about this. It really is a very good game, looks amazing, great writing, a solid take on a team action game (something that is difficult to make satisfying in my experience).

 

But there's a couple of flies in the ointment, that may just be my personal issues! They hold me off really loving it. 

 

I'm a collectibles completionist kinda player. If you tell me there's collectibles I will want to get all of them in a playthrough. Even more so if they have a purpose, and in this game that's even more so because collectibles include costumes which call back to comic looks, and things that unlock dialogue and so on.

 

The games a bit broken when it comes to this though. Earlier on I was playing through a chapter where, at the end, you interact with a console. I did this before checking the room for stuff, and not knowing that when you exit the console a chapter ending cutscene happens, which also creates a save point, so you can't reload from before the cutscene. Annoying. So I have a save from the prior chapter, which isn't very long, which I redo including recollecting a bunch of stuff. In doing this I discover that costumes it seems, once collected, are collected. Cool. I restart the next chapter, which goes quicker as I know everything that is going on, however at the start of the chapter you can collect one of those dialogue related items, which I go to recollect, and it's not there. And it's not in my inventory either. Perturbed, I play through the entire chapter thinking the own will 'pop' once the chapter is over. It doesn't. It seems now that I can't get that collectible in this playthrough. Which is annoying.

 

Secondly I find the game oddly draining to play. I can do a chapter at a time and feel like that's enough, despite enjoying it while I'm playing. It's really weird. I've never experienced this with a game before, I dunno what it is, it just seems like the game burns me out at an incredible pace, I can get through a chapter and just feel that I'm done for now.. It's bizarre.

 

Edit - And now having completed the chapter I realise that that dialogue collectibles only populate when you complete that dialogue...

I need to go back and 100% this seeing as I nabbed most achivements on first play through bar two combat and two collectible related ones. Reading online guides it does appear that Chapter select can be used to collect costumes but not the lore/guardian collectibles, these all need to be picked up in one play through which is a pain.

 

The good news is that it appears New Game + carries across all the end game ability unlocks and costumes and you only need to collect 65% of lore for the related achievement/trophy so using a guide you can probably collect what you need quite quickly.

 

One other niggle I had with this was the Perk upgrades for Quill. I must have unlocked everything around mid game but still kept finding a ton of upgrade materials which couldn't be used for anything (I kept collecting thinking a whole new upgrade path would appear but it didn't). Seemed a little unfinished on that front.

[Triple A]

Storytelling and graphics are nice, the rest is meh.  Not the right studio for what was obviously a massive budget project.

[Popo]

Enjoying this a good deal, but slightly geeky question:

 

Spoiler

Why do they keep referring to Drax as having killed Thanos? Thor killed him. Does the game follow a different storyline to the movie?

 

[Thor]

32 minutes ago, Popo said:

Enjoying this a good deal, but slightly geeky question:

 

  Hide contents

Why do they keep referring to Drax as having killed Thanos? Thor killed him. Does the game follow a different storyline to the movie?

 

This game has the square root of absolutely fuck all to do with the movies.

[Chindie]

44 minutes ago, Popo said:

Enjoying this a good deal, but slightly geeky question:

 

  Hide contents

Why do they keep referring to Drax as having killed Thanos? Thor killed him. Does the game follow a different storyline to the movie?

 

In the comic mythology, Drax has killed Thanos. IIRC his original origin was as a being whose entire raison d'etre is to kill Thanos. And at one point he did.

[dreamylittledream]

1 hour ago, Popo said:

Enjoying this a good deal, but slightly geeky question:

 

  Hide contents

Why do they keep referring to Drax as having killed Thanos? Thor killed him. Does the game follow a different storyline to the movie?

 

 

43 minutes ago, Thor said:

This game has the square root of absolutely fuck all to do with the movies.

 

27 minutes ago, Chindie said:

In the comic mythology, Drax has killed Thanos. IIRC his original origin was as a being whose entire raison d'etre is to kill Thanos. And at one point he did.

The game is following a mythology entirely of its own that borrows from both the comics (remembering that there has been more than one incarnation of the Guardians) and the movies.

 

In this time line Drax killed Thanos (although Drax is less than convinced he is actually dead) and 

Spoiler

Gamora killed Nebula

 

[Junker]

Really good game and hopefully did well enough to get a sequel as I’d like to play more of that. 

[MardiganX]

I’m downloading this and Scarlet Nexus today with a view to starting one today and throwing myself into it. Has anyone played both to say which I should go with first?

 

Im a huge Guardians fan but a combination of FIFA and life have stopped me getting this earlier so really looking forward to it, especially after his empty and disappointed Avengers left me feeling.

[Vemsie]

4 hours ago, MardiganX said:

I’m downloading this and Scarlet Nexus today with a view to starting one today and throwing myself into it. Has anyone played both to say which I should go with first?

 

Im a huge Guardians fan but a combination of FIFA and life have stopped me getting this earlier so really looking forward to it, especially after his empty and disappointed Avengers left me feeling.

 

Depends what you're in the mood for.

ScarletScarus if you want some crazy combat, Guardians if you want a good story with excellent character moments and a ton of heart and humour.

[MardiganX]

I’ve tried the demo of SN and it appears to be all manner of bat shit crazy stuff going on with the combat so clearly I need to play that. Actually felt like what I wanted Nier Automata to be.

 

But think Guardians will be up first. It had Bonnie Tyler ‘Holding Out For A Hero’ playing over the start screen just there so I know I’m going to love it. I doubt it will beat Short Circuit 2’s use of that classic song but if they do have it the gameplay at some point I will be so happy!

[footle]

And eventually finished. Could have done with some shorter corridors towards the end, but it’s probably the biggest surprise of the year.

[Fargo]

Just to echo the sentiments in this thread but I’ve been playing this since Christmas Eve and it’s excellent. Even bought a second copy as a late Christmas present for a friend. The graphics, characters, dialogue are all top notch, and the combat is good fun. 

[scoobysi]

I wasn’t sure about this for the first 3 or 4 chapters, seemed like a lot of not so subtle corridors but I’m warming to it now that the story is developing, I’m opening up weapons and abilities and getting used to the combat.

[smac]

Hah, running through a second time on NG+, and second time in Nowhere is playing through a little differently; just met 

 

Spoiler

Lipless

 

and rekindled an old friendship. Completely missed that last time through. Got me the Lore Hoarder trophy, too, so I must have missed a bunch more stuff on the first playthrough.

[Popo]

21 hours ago, smac said:

Hah, running through a second time on NG+, and second time in Nowhere is playing through a little differently; just met 

 

  Hide contents

Lipless

 

and rekindled an old friendship. Completely missed that last time through. Got me the Lore Hoarder trophy, too, so I must have missed a bunch more stuff on the first playthrough.

Not sure why I opened the spoiler since I’m only on my first play-through! But I did this, and it’s very very funny. 

[gooner4life]

On 29/12/2021 at 19:50, Fargo said:

Just to echo the sentiments in this thread but I’ve been playing this since Christmas Eve and it’s excellent. Even bought a second copy as a late Christmas present for a friend. The graphics, characters, dialogue are all top notch, and the combat is good fun. 

 

Same and just finished it today, it's so good, to say i was shocked is an understatement, i had this down as a reskinned avengers.

[gooner4life]

On 29/12/2021 at 17:05, MardiganX said:

I’ve tried the demo of SN and it appears to be all manner of bat shit crazy stuff going on with the combat so clearly I need to play that. Actually felt like what I wanted Nier Automata to be.

 

But think Guardians will be up first. It had Bonnie Tyler ‘Holding Out For A Hero’ playing over the start screen just there so I know I’m going to love it. I doubt it will beat Short Circuit 2’s use of that classic song but if they do have it the gameplay at some point I will be so happy!

 

Mate this game is amazing, you will love it

[smac]

I wouldn't recommend a quick re-run on NG+ for this; so much depends on the banter that you need time to forget it.

 

The mission structure is a tad repetitive, and the combat can't carry the game on its own. First time through was great fun.

[Thor]

Conversely, I went through the game four times in a row, because the story and performances are that good it's like watching a film you love. I hadn't done that since Uncharted 4 came out.  On the fourth playthrough I didn't feel a need to drop the difficulty because the combat really clicked. Don't get me wrong, the combat isn't amazing, but there is a lot of fun to be had.

 

And there is some replay value in making different decisions here and there, and choosing different dialogue options.

[PaB]

Well this is bloody marvellous. 

[Chindie]

I ultimately platinumed this. On the gameplay front it's good, not brilliant, decent. But everything else is great. It's very well written and performed, to the extent I think this is better than the movie take on the characters (even if this is inspired by the movies in some ways). And it's gorgeous, it has conspicuously complex environments that, whilst they are ultimately just wallpaper, look outstanding. And even the textures are amazing - I was blown away when I noticed a Starlord outfit had a very fine alternating weave pattern, like a jumper. And the soundtrack is great.

 

Surprise of the year easily.

[smac]

3 hours ago, Thor said:

Conversely, I went through the game four times in a row, because the story and performances are that good it's like watching a film you love. I hadn't done that since Uncharted 4 came out.  On the fourth playthrough I didn't feel a need to drop the difficulty because the combat really clicked. Don't get me wrong, the combat isn't amazing, but there is a lot of fun to be had.

 

And there is some replay value in making different decisions here and there, and choosing different dialogue options.

 

Man, from you that's high praise. I've just done the, uh, victory walk once more, so it slipped by quickly.

 

My main gripe this time, albeit a minor one, is that I got a bit tired of the template: bit of linear sightseeing and banter; wander into a series of clear arenas (or linked arenas) introducing a new enemy type; repeat a few times, maybe some cutscenes, late-level plot progression; final boss fight; back to the ship for more top bants.

 

Not quite 100% yet - couple of combat-related trophies (e.g. set up character X for 25 stun kills).

[MardiganX]

On 04/01/2022 at 13:00, gooner4life said:

 

Mate this game is amazing, you will love it

 

It really is isnt it?!

 

I'm up to Chapter 8 and loving the careful and detailed progression of the story, especially how intricate the Guardians and their relationship with each other is. I've got the difficulty on a custom setting which is somewhere slightly above normal / medium but no battle has really troubled me so far. It all looks beautiful and handles great but if I was being critical the combat is fairly straight forward once you grasp the 'system'. Its a major improvement over Avengers in every department so hopefully the start of really great games coming out of what is one of the most powerful licenses in the world right now.

[Ry]

Do Peter and Rocket bitch the entire game? Is the bickering in general the entire length? 

 

Really struggling through this because of it. 

 

 

[dreamylittledream]

8 minutes ago, Ry said:

Do Peter and Rocket bitch the entire game? Is the bickering in general the entire length? 

 

Really struggling through this because of it. 

 

 

Rocket’s bitching is kind of his thing.

 

It comes to a head a little at a certain point and is less prevalent later on but he’s still Rocket

[Ry]

Just now, dreamylittledream said:

Rocket’s bitching is kind of his thing.

 

It comes to a head a little at a certain point and is less prevalent later on but he’s still Rocket

 

Yeah, it's just annoying and fucking constant, like having an annoying child constantly talking pish.  Wish there was a dialogue option saying "just shut the fuck up you prick"