Hey Everyone!
So I know I said last week that I had just finished Horizon: Forbidden West, and was going to finish up some character side quests before immediately jumping into the Burning Shores DLC. Well it turns out I did none of that. In attempting to bask in the moment from finishing Horizon, I had started watching all the spoiler-filled YouTube videos I had previously earmarked for when I had finished the game. One of these included a video from Dunkey, which turned out to be fairly short. However, after watching that one, I noticed that he recently posted a video Titled, Revisiting Uncharted 4, which I decided to watch. Now I know Dunkey is more on the comedy side of reviews and videos, but I really found this video very compelling and he made a lot of good points about the game. It made me remember that I never played Uncharted: Lost Legacy, So I popped in my old Uncharted 4 PS4 disc, paid the $10 for the PS5 upgrade, and hopped right into Lost Legacy, craving a bit of Uncharted 4 but without the time commitment. How long to beat puts it at 7 hours, and since I’m playing on easy, it won’t take me long (I prefer to play the Uncharted Games on easy since the enemies can be too spongey on normal or hard for my taste). Anyway, Aloy and Sylens will have to wait for now.
It feels really good to jump into something new after having played a game for over 20-30 hours over the course of several months.
This next section is all about Tchia so feel free to skip because it turned into a whole First-Impression/Review as I wrote it. What can I say, I felt inspired.
On the family gaming front, I can’t really mass-murder treasure hunters in front of a 2 year old (or that’s what my wife says anyway), so I started playing Tchia, which I bought on sale a few weeks ago. It is a wonderful, beautiful, culturally-rich game. And for my daughter who absolutely loves Moana, this was a no-brainer, even though it’s single player. She hasn’t taken to games or controllers yet anyway, but I’m trying and she likes to watch. It has cultural music and food, beautiful environments, and animals galore (which are made even better by the possession mechanics). The BotW style exploration is great, with almost zero hand-holding. Your map doesn’t even have a marker for your character. You need to read it and discern your location using the natural environment. If you have trouble you can have Tchia identify the map quadrant you are in if you need to.
Mechanics wise, I already mentioned the possession mechanic, but you also have a stamina bar which doubles as your health. Run out of stamina and you pass out and wake up on your boat or your last campfire. Stamina is used for swimming underwater, climbing, paragliding, and damage. And again, like BotW, you can climb anything. The boat mechanics are made great due to their subtle physicality. You grab the helm to steer, detach from it and walk over to your anchor to drop or raise it, or walk over to your mast to adjust your speed. No wind direction here, so even though it’s a sail boat it might as well be a motor boat. I get subtle Wind Waker vibes, and sailing along with the music is a treat. The possession mechanic has a throw ability as well. Possess a rock or coconut, aim and when you exit your possession the object goes flying at your enemies. You can even immediately repossess your thrown object and chain together multiple possession throws for maximum traversal. This is great if you don’t have any animals nearby. I really great moment I had was chain possession-throwing my self using a rock to chase down a bird mid-flight to possess it mid-air. So cool. Even better, the bird had a dedicated button to take a shit. Amazing, 10/10 game-play right there.
Speaking of which, some animals can actually be picked up and stowed in your backpack. This feels like an exploit, but it’s great running around with a cat and dog in my backpack that I can pull out at any time for running around at max speed or using the cat’s night vision. Each animal has a certain special ability as well. Too bad they despawn quickly once taken back out of your backpack if you take them too far from their origional location and lose sight of them. And no, a dolphin wouldn’t fit in my backpack. I tried.
I mentioned enemies earlier, and while they aren’t a major focus of the game (at least yet) they do exist. I ran into a camp of these enemies (made of paper, signifying what I believe to be the personification of “red-tape” and “bureaucracy” which are initial themes I’m gleaning from the opening moments). Anyway, you possess lanterns and jerry cans and possession-throw them at the paper enemies to burn them alive. Next to the encampment was a statue of one of these paper men with an obvious “explosive” symbol indicating that it is Tchia’s responsibility to destroy these idols of propaganda. So now my backpack is filled with a dog, a cat, and 8 cans of petrol as I tour this wondrous, fictional, archipelago inspired by New Caledonia, finding cute animals, befriending the inhabitants, cliff diving and doing flips, and discovering the natural and cultural wonders, all while indiscriminately burning my enemies alive and destroying their idolistic propaganda with gasoline.
Did mention this was a kids game?
Well I wrote everything above earlier this week, but just yesterday I advanced the Tchia story some more. Holy cow it took a right hand turn into some weird shit. Definitely not a story for a little kid like mine. Maybe a little older. Open world animals and visuals? Yes, E for Everyone, family friendly. The actual story and villain? Definitely earns the Teen rating I think. Luckily I played that part alone to spare my daughter nightmares.
Anyway, I’m having a blast.
I also just picked up Oxenfree (the first one) and Dave the Diver yesterday out of impulse. The first is multi-platform (even free on mobile if you have a Netflix account) and the second is PC only (for now), but a lovely person in last week’s discussion thread recommended it to me and I went for it.
What are you all playing? Let’s hear it!
God of war Ragnarok is… very good. I didn’t expect less though. Played the 2018 one, really enjoyed it. I always know that I would play the sequel one, but I didn’t buy it on day one but I waited for a sale. It was sold at 37€ the other day that is why I pulled the trigger. Was looking for a new game after I’ve finished FF XVI a couple of days ago. Really recommended if you haven’t played it, but play the 2018 one first. It was also very good.
The reason why started FF XII again is because, like I’ve just said, I had just finished FF XVI. I need more of final fantasy. XD. Since FF XVI lead writer is Kazutoyo Maehiro, the same person who was involved in FF Tactics, Tactics ogre, Vagrant Story, FF XII and so on, I was thinking to play FF Tactics but realized I should wait for the remaster/ remake version. So it was between tactics ogre Vs FF 12, and I decided to play FF 12 because I haven’t finished that yet…
Street fighter is really good. I play fighting games sometimes but usually I play Tekken. Since Tekken 8 hasn’t come out yet, SF 6 really scratches that fighting itch. Really recommended. The interest of the game is at all time high, and the EVO tournament is around the corner so it’s easy to find guides/ tips on YouTube. If you do pick it up, you can add me and we can play together (if you’re based in Europe, at least).
I have played all the God of Wars games, including the PS3 and PS Vita ones, just Ragnarok is left. Loved all the previous ones, specially the 2018 one, so Ragnarok is on my must play list. It’s just that there are many more must play games I have yet to play.
FF XII is very good, I have a soft spot for it. I am sure I would end up playing it again.
I do plan to get SF6, but probably in a month or two. The game looks fantastic! It’s a great time to be a fighting game fan. With SF6, Tekken 8 and MK 1 all looking exceptional. Who are you maining in Street Fighter? And who do you main in Tekken? I am currently playing through Tekken 7 story mode, usually play with Shaheen, but I am not really a good player. Street Fighter is my most played fighting game, and usually pick Ken. Though I do play with all the characters when it fancy me.
Pick GOW Ragnarok if it is on discount! It is (like the 2018’s) pretty much a “perfect” game. I do not think it has a flaw I can point out. :D, unlike FF XVI, which I also love, but I can definitely find its problem.
I main Ken too. :D. So versatile, and so fast with unending combos. My playstyle suits Ryu better I think (I was placed on Plat 1 with Ryu, but with Ken I was placed on silver, and I had to climb to Plat 1), I’d like to wait and react usually, and Ken suits a more aggressive player. But once you have played Ken, Ryu feels so slow. Ryu’s moves feel stronger and punishing too, but I have difficulties breaking opponents defence with him. I think my fundementals are “okay”, my biggest problem is hitting combos consistently and not dropping it, which is much harder than doing combos on Tekken. On Tekken 7 I main Jin/ Kazuya. I can’t do perfect electric everytime that’s why in the end I drop Kazuya because I know I’d not be able to play him to full potential. Jin on the other hand, does not rely on electric that much.
Wow, reading your reply made me realize how much of a casual player I am. 😀
As for GOW, I have just finished The Legends of Zelda: Tears of the Kindgom (and still doing some side stuff), so not in a mood to start a big game right away, going to play a bunch of smaller games for a bit, before diving into a big one.
:D I’m very casual too. But watched many videos on YouTube and it really really does help to improve. I love online competitive games, like Dota for example, even though I’ve dropped it cause I don’t have the time anymore.
Yeah! Zelda. I haven’t even finished breath of the wild. It makes me sad actually, beaten 4 of the holy beasts already but I didn’t finish it (I’ve played so many games and stopped playing it in the last dungeon, idk why). I planned to replay them again someday and buy the tears of the kingdom. I’ve only heard good things about the game.
We’ve been blessed with excellent games in 2023! And there are more coming (Baldurs gate 3 for example). What do you think your GOTY until now and might be your GOTY (for the unreleased games)?
I should watch some videos too, doesn’t hurt to get better in the game you like.
I had a phase where I would drop games near the very end too, I have made a conscious effort to finish games, now don’t do that anymore. I still drop games if I am not enjoying them, time becomes more and more precious as you grow older, but I don’t do it in the last 10% (unless I am stuck, and after spending many hours, just can’t find a way through, happens very rarely though. For instance, I was never able to beat the last boss of I am Setsuna).
As for GOTY, I am a very patient player, play the games years after their release, with very few exceptions (mostly Nintendo games). Tears of the Kingdom was one such exception. I would probably also buy Street Fighter 6 this year, cause it’s kind of a game that you play for a long time, and I have already played SF4 a ton (didn’t like SF5 much). Couple of example, I just finished The Order 1886, and still have Metro series that I have to play. There are so many games like that.
I do agree that 2023 is an exceptional years for games, Metroid Prime Remaster, TotK, RE4 remaster, Diablo 4, SF6, BG 3, FF 16, and probably more that I don’t remember on top of my head. From what I have seen of all, this would be a tough competition, but I think TotK is a clear winner for me. I liked BotW, but I LOVE TotK. The game is REALLY great!
What about you? What do you think your GOTY will be?