Late to the party...finding great games long after their release

[Flanders]

One of the many irritating things about the backlash that Shadow of War got was the propagation of this bizarre notion that the Nemesis system wasn’t all that.

 

Which was absolute bollocks - it was and is great and it remains utterly baffling why other open world games haven’t ripped it off wholesale. Halo Infinite was crying out for it.

[Kingpin]

Just now, Flanders said:

One of the many irritating things about the backlash that Shadow of War got was the propagation of this bizarre notion that the Nemesis system wasn’t all that.

 

Which was absolute bollocks - it was and is great and it remains utterly baffling why other open world games haven’t ripped it off wholesale. Halo Infinite was crying out for it.

 

I think they patented it, so other devs can't rip it off.

 

Found it: https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/-i-shadow-of-war-i-publisher-warner-bros-has-patented-the-series-nemesis-system#:~:text=News-,Shadow of War publisher Warner Bros. has patented the series,its sequel Shadow of War.

[Calashnikov]

29 minutes ago, Takizawa said:

There are too many enemies to keep track of, too many orcs that you supposedly had a run in with but a lot of the time I just couldn't remember my first encounter with them.

Nae bother, M. Bison.

[Down by Law]

Nights into Dreams late last year. Only 25 years late on that one, but it's an extremely playable game with an appropriate dreamlike atmosphere and an amazing soundtrack. Defintely worth looking at if you enjoy score attack games.

 

 

 

 

 

[Stoikovich]

OlliOlli World 

not too late coming to this one as it was only released earlier this year.  I love a bit of skateboarding and score attacking, so this was right up my street.

I’ve played the previous entries in the series a bit, but this one is more accessible with much more cartoony visuals and a gentler difficulty increase.  Now I’m up to the (presumed) final stages, it’s getting frustrating to hit the lines and execute the level-long combos required for score challenges.  Stacking it shortly before a stage end is particularly annoying, as you then need to repeat the previous five minute-long run just to (hopefully) carry enough speed through a section and make that final big gap.  

 

My young daughter enjoys it too, in part due to that art style.  It’s great watching her play, and taking in the backgrounds which literally passed me by the first time through.  
 

Recommended - if you like this sort of thing !

[AlexM]

Shadow of War is still on my 'to play' list, I bought it on Xbox when it came out but it was too soon after Shadow of Mordor - I've now received it 'free' on PS+ and GOG as well so when I get around to it I can play it wherever I want (Steam Deck, obviously).

 

God of War was my big 'late to the party' game this year, absolutely sucked me in and I will re-play it one day (unheard of for me). The weighty feeling to the combat is amazing, the story and mythology brilliant, and I was left disappointed when the story ended.

 

The Last of Us Remastered is my current SP game, it's been sitting in my library since purchasing a PS5 and so far I'm really enjoying it. The tear jerking start really got to me!

[Rayn]

Dragon Quest Builders 2

I remember buying this for the Switch years ago, after I'd rinsed the first game on PS4. Turned out that I'd hit a DQ Builders fatigue and couldn't force myself to play the newest version. The extreme loading times on Switch was also a massive annoyance as well as it making the Switch really hot and drained the battery in less than 90 minutes. 

I decided to give it a go a couple of weeks ago as I noticed it on Game Pass. Gone are the insane loading times and 60 fps really does work wonders for this game as placing building blocks with precision is a lot easier with a smooth and fluid camera. 

I'm really enjoying it, it has a nostalgic art style and it strikes me as a Jack of all trades kinda game, it does sandbox, exploring, story telling, combat and micro management and some light rpg elements. It doesn't excel at anything, minecraft does building better, BotW does exploration better etc but the sum of all parts makes for a really enjoyable experience for me. 

Some sections of the game does feel like it drags on for a bit and the combat does feel one dimensional but other than that I'm rather confident I'm going to play this game to the very end this time. It's a perfect game for me to play on these dark nights. 

[ScouserInExile]

Not a game, but the Xbox Live is 20 thread has made me think about:

 

Online gaming 

 

Until Mortal Kombat 11 added the online tournaments I had never played anything online. So maybe look ate 2019. Discovered I really enjoyed playing this type of thing online and have since played quite a bit of MK, Injustice, Fortnite, Killer Instinct and Forza games online. I'm sure there's others I'm forgetting as well.

 

What makes it all slightly odd is that I can distinctly remember playing Doom over a LAN for the first time in the mid-90s and thinking "this is the future of gaming. Multiplayer is where it's at" but then never did it again, other than a bit of LAN Countee Strike.

[Made of Ghosts]

Katamari Damacy, earlier this year. Bit painful on the ol’ thumbs but a real charmer, loads of personality. It’s easy to see why it attracted such a following. 

[Darwock]

Dracula X Chronicles, the PSP remake of Rondo of Blood.

 

I recently posted on the dedicated thread for the game, which is 15 years old or so - this post could also have gone in the retro folder I suppose, or as of today in the completed games thread.

 

I started playing it the day before Halloween, and beat the final boss one week later - only to find out it was a false ending. After going back and uncovering a few secrets from the (miserable little) pile I got the true ending today. 

 

The only Castlevania game I had ever played before this was SOTN, so when I started I was a bit wary of the slow movement and awkward controls (for going up and down stairs) but it didn’t take long before it had it’s hooks in me. Even though it’s very linear compared to SOTN finding all the alternate paths, hidden bosses and so on became very compelling.

 

There’s a stage where you do a boss rush against a giant bat, medusa, a mummy and Frankenstein’s monster - unfortunately I only got there the day *after* Halloween, cos it was absolutely perfect for the season haha. After finishing it I finally put two and two together with some of the paths I couldn’t reach, using certain pick-ups to get to the bonus items. I confess I totally abused the resume save state on the PSP-go for some it though, as there are some tricky sections to get through and dying even once loses the item. The game still says I am only 80% complete though, which is why I am not posting in the completed thread yet.

 

I’m not sure if the original had a stage select feature, or if that was added to the PSP version, but the result was that I didn’t really go from start to finish. I replayed stages, changed characters, jumped around looking for secrets all the time so it didn’t really feel like one big adventure. I definitely noticed that Maria is massively overpowered - she lands more hits (as the birds fly out and come back), the double jump means she can reach more weak points (and avoid most of the fall deaths with ease), and she has the turtle shell item which made the final boss absolutely trivial compared to the hell I went through with Richter.

 

Anyway, I absolutely loved it and it might even have done more to get me interested in other Castlevania games than SOTN did.