Completing my Entire Steam Collection (30/180)

[Nebulon_Galaxy]

Completing my entire Steam collection - Game # 12/181 - Senran Kagura: Reflexions​

A really good game, but somewhat shallow in its content, and mayhaps too short. Still, it’s an easy achievement set and it’s generally easy to recommend for its simple and easy to pick up gameplay.

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i dont know how anyone can play this without the joycons, the game was tailor made for the Switches features. I own it physically and digitally and the joycons really bring this game too life. I wish they made more Senran Kagura games but the creator refuses to make them in any system that isn't Playstation for Seven. A shame that he refuses to back down.

Completing my entire Steam collection - Game # 14/181 - Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart​

It still surprises me some people don’t know the innuendo in the subtitle.

That said, this game is beyond excellent. I was frankly expecting to complain about it, given how the olden days and golden days are behind us, and while this game still doesn’t come close to scratching the greatness of the original trilogy, it legitimately gave one hell of a swing.

I just can’t really bring myself to begin negative about it. It IS legitimately a well-crafted game from beginning to end with an exceptionally fun trophy set. I really do wholeheartedly recommend this one. If a new game comes out and it’s similar to this, it’s a guaranteed hit.

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The trophies seem standard to any or all RnC games. I rec you played the HD trilogy and Future saga on PS3 too know what im talking about. Anyway RnC Rift Apart is the last game in the RnC series I haven't played so far. I bought this game during Black Friday for 20 dollars physically, so I'm excited what the new story would entail.

Completing my entire Steam collection - Game # 15/181 and Game # 16/181 - Max Payne 1 & Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne​

A somewhat tricky series to review, as this and most Rockstar games aren’t in my region, so I needed to resort to using a code.

Now that’s out, I must make it clear I seriously cannot recommend this dualogy enough. I truly believe Max Payne has one of THE greatest arcs told in gaming. Extremely emotional noir crime dramas with gripping narratives and astonishingly designed gameplay. You don’t just play max payne, you live it. I had these games across 3 consoles and I couldn’t be more proud to be a fan. Here’s to hopefully seeing the remakes come out one day!

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you say dualogy, what didn't you like about Max Payne 3? I never played it yet, but people say its probably the worst one in story compared to the duo. A friend told me it feels like a OVA or a spin-off of sorts.

 

[Yousef]

i dont know how anyone can play this without the joycons, the game was tailor made for the Switches features. I own it physically and digitally and the joycons really bring this game too life. I wish they made more Senran Kagura games but the creator refuses to make them in any system that isn't Playstation for Seven. A shame that he refuses to back down.

I’m almost certain I saw something about motion controls being usable on the deck, and steam deck does have touch controls which I feel somewhat compensate for lack of joycons buuuut I’d have to agree that you would miss out on what was basically the entire point of the game. That’s valid to mention, but I still had fun anyways and it is a short game.

The trophies seem standard to any or all RnC games. I rec you played the HD trilogy and Future saga on PS3 too know what im talking about. Anyway RnC Rift Apart is the last game in the RnC series I haven't played so far. I bought this game during Black Friday for 20 dollars physically, so I'm excited what the new story would entail.

Yeah it is pretty standard, but it’s still fun compared to more grindy trophy sets from outside of R&C. That said, it is true I should play the ps3 games. I personally don’t mind that the humor slowly faded out of the series as I’ll probably still enjoy the games regardless.

Yes RA is excellent.

you say dualogy, what didn't you like about Max Payne 3? I never played it yet, but people say its probably the worst one in story compared to the duo. A friend told me it feels like a OVA or a spin-off of sorts.

That’s complicated to answer, I find the term easier to use if some games came out close to each other or on the same hardware, or were by the same writer, and all of that checks out for 1&2.

I actually really love max payne 3, but I’d have to detach it entirely from the series to fully enjoy it. It is by far the worst written, and is by far Dan Houser’s weakest work. I’m not sure why Sam Lake couldn’t direct it, he is the heart and soul of the franchise. Max payne means an insane ton to me, and I don’t think I can fully enjoy it without Sam’s artistic vision. The lack of a cutscene skipper for 3 also utterly ruins it in my eyes, since the physics in it are flawless, and the music is also fantastic. Max Payne 3 helped me appreciate house a lot more.

 

[Nebulon_Galaxy]

Yeah it is pretty standard, but it’s still fun compared to more grindy trophy sets from outside of R&C. That said, it is true I should play the ps3 games. I personally don’t mind that the humor slowly faded out of the series as I’ll probably still enjoy the games regardless.

Yes RA is excellent.

I whole heartedly agree you need to play RnC from the first one, the humor starts off strong and only starts to fade once they transition to the PS3 era of games. Deadlock has a remastered exclusively on the PSN store, with trophies and i recommend you pick that one up if your going the mile of playing them. The weapons do evolve and become weirder as the series progresses, i feel like it peaked in the Future saga in terms of weaponary, but i havent played RA yet to see if they kept the crazy weapons. Avoid playing the spin-offs like "All 4 One" or "Full Frontal Assault" they are technically canon, but the games are multiplayer focus. Games like Secret Agent Clank and Size Matters are canon as well and are referenced in the Future Saga.
Then you have the reboot and well, its certainly a RnC game thats for sure, that can be played whenever

That’s complicated to answer, I find the term easier to use if some games came out close to each other or on the same hardware, or were by the same writer, and all of that checks out for 1&2.

I actually really love max payne 3, but I’d have to detach it entirely from the series to fully enjoy it. It is by far the worst written, and is by far Dan Houser’s weakest work. I’m not sure why Sam Lake couldn’t direct it, he is the heart and soul of the franchise. Max payne means an insane ton to me, and I don’t think I can fully enjoy it without Sam’s artistic vision. The lack of a cutscene skipper for 3 also utterly ruins it in my eyes, since the physics in it are flawless, and the music is also fantastic. Max Payne 3 helped me appreciate house a lot more.

I feel like Remedy never wanted to make another Max Payne game at the time, but Rockstar or the Houser brothers wanted to take a spin on the series. Its the only reason i can think of as too why Sam Lake wasn't involved at all. Sam Lake was probably busy developing Alan Wake.

 

[uppyluna]

Completing my entire Steam collection - Game # 8/181 - Guilty Gear 2: Overture​

It seemed right up my alley, I find guilty gear interesting to keep up with, the game has Yuri and Jamison as actors and on top of all that, it’s a musou!

That’s right, a musou! How could I possibly hate it? Except it was sadly pretty terrible. Your dash controls like a car, which was actually common back then (as seen in sonic unleashed) but it’s very clunky here.

I really don’t wanna be too hard on it, because it has a cool story, good missions and a nice soundtrack, but it’s such a slog to get through that in my opinion? It is not worth finishing. If you want the lore, just YouTube it.

That's such an interesting game to look at from the outside.

I'm a huge fan of Guilty Gear so it's really funny to remember that, because of copyright disputes with sega sammy, their first 3D game was not a fighting game anymore but a sort of muso/moba/3rd person action game with all new characters because Arc System Works could only use Sol Badguy and Ky Kiske, the two posterboys. (technically Dizzy is there but she gets called Maiden of the Grove instead and doesn't appear much)

The story of this series gets so messy that the story in the pachislot game (Guilty Gear Vastedge XT) is fairly lore relevant, so yeah might as well just look it up on YouTube, the Heaven or Hell series recap is quite good, but the games people think when Guilty Gear is mentioned are usually +R, Rev2 or Strive

 

[Yousef]

I feel like Remedy never wanted to make another Max Payne game at the time, but Rockstar or the Houser brothers wanted to take a spin on the series. Its the only reason i can think of as too why Sam Lake wasn't involved at all. Sam Lake was probably busy developing Alan Wake.

Hmmmm yeah that’s a rather valid point to bring up

Avoid playing the spin-offs like "All 4 One" or "Full Frontal Assault" they are technically canon, but the games are multiplayer focus. Games like Secret Agent Clank and Size Matters are canon as well and are referenced in the Future Saga.
Then you have the reboot and well, its certainly a RnC game thats for sure, that can be played whenever

I had an encounter with these yeah. Played the demos for all 4 one and full frontal assault, hated them. The psp games were kinda whatever being honest, couldn’t bring myself to finish them.

I actually platted the reboot all the way back almost a decade ago, found it… okay?

That's such an interesting game to look at from the outside.

I'm a huge fan of Guilty Gear so it's really funny to remember that, because of copyright disputes with sega sammy, their first 3D game was not a fighting game anymore but a sort of muso/moba/3rd person action game with all new characters because Arc System Works could only use Sol Badguy and Ky Kiske, the two posterboys. (technically Dizzy is there but she gets called Maiden of the Grove instead and doesn't appear much)

The story of this series gets so messy that the story in the pachislot game (Guilty Gear Vastedge XT) is fairly lore relevant, so yeah might as well just look it up on YouTube, the Heaven or Hell series recap is quite good, but the games people think when Guilty Gear is mentioned are usually +R, Rev2 or Strive

Yeah my best friend has kept me well acquainted with the franchise’s lore (trademark). It’s neat, but definitely tough to digest, much like blazblue.

Welcome to the forum by the way! Nice to see you in this silly little cornet of the internet, and to have you stumble upon my deranged rants LOL. Here’s to hopefully another longtime friendship in the making haha!

 

[Yousef]

Completing my entire Steam collection - Game # 17/183 - Pac-Man World 2 Re-PAC​

I feel somewhat bad writing this, despite promising several times this would be a full fledged article review but I can’t do it man, the words just don’t wanna come out. It’s not anxiety, it’s not writer’s block, my brain is just extremely cluttered.

So I decided I’ll post my scattershot thoughts here, and sorta pray this’ll grow into a basis for my full fledged review.

Ok…. So what I do think after so many months?

Well, for starters, I’ll stand by everything I said. The dlc practice was scummy, the dlc levels were a bit lame, the bosses aren’t, the physics isn’t as good, the game is too shallow due to being a victim of technological advances exposing how tiny the world is, and so on.

I can’t help it dude, it’s super harsh yes, but World 2 was my first ps2 game. How would I not defend its honor? A common rebuttal would be “but the OG is flawed too” and well…

Yeah, and the sky is blue too. It’s true World 2 had the atrocious water levels, but Re-pac 2 is somehow… worse? World 2 water was sorta forgettable, but repac tries so hard to impress you it falls flat on its face.

But hey… repac 1 was good, yeah? Yes, but world 2 is better than both world 1 and repac 1, so repac 2 using repac 1 as its basis for physics is just… kind of a downgrade.

I get it, hardy dardy durrr, ps2 physics are old!! Except, not really. Ps2 physics were experimental, yes, but they had a nice skill curve. Getting better at Pac-Man felt satisfying, but that satisfaction is lost in repac 2.

Also, like I said before, repac 2 being technically more advanced is actually a bad thing. World 2 had a great sense of scale, but it did that by working around the ps2 limitations. Repac 2… barely tries to do that. It Artistically looks barren and empty, and REALLY small. It makes world 2’s, err, world, seem far shallower than it really is.

Also, the depth perception is kinda fucked up in repac. So not only is it really easy, it’s also a little clunky.

Last but not least, repac 2 is fun, but it’s just unimpressive. World 2 has soul, but repac 2 lacks it.

 

[Yousef]

Completing my entire Steam collection - Game # 18/183 - Telltale Texas Hold ‘Em ​

Okay… so I know this game is kinda weird.
But have no fear.
It gets weirder.
I seldom do any future-referencing, I think most games are better off judged by their own merit, but you kinda have to know in advance that this is THE first game in the style of “Poker Night at the Inventory”.
Look, I know people played poker night just for the TF2 hats, but you would be really doing yourself a huge favor if you played them legit.

So, does this game scratch that itch?
Kiiiinda….?

Look, it’s gonna be hard getting over the lack of crossover aspect (unless you hate the very idea of a crossover period), but this game is hella charming.

Also, it’s not just the first Poker night game, it’s the very first TELLTALE game, like hot damn!

So yeah, this is where the golden age of telltale begun (and then ended with monkey island, but more on that later), so this is pretty important to me in that area.


That….. said, yeah, ok, this was just an obligatory purchase before this game gets delisted (it probably already did? If the steam link doesn’t work, just go pirate it), I don’t actually play Texas Hold ‘Em. I mean, it sounds sorta fun? But I kinda prefer reiichi mahjong.

 

[Hourai]

Look, I know people played poker night just for the TF2 hats, but you would be really doing yourself a huge favor if you played them legit.

Way ahead of you, chief (played them for the PS3 trophies before they became invalidated by trophy mill games).

 

[Yousef]

Way ahead of you

Nice nice nice

(played them for the PS3 trophies before they became invalidated by trophy mill games).

that sucks

 

[Yousef]

Completing my entire Steam collection - Game # 19/183 - Street Fighter (trademark) 6​

Alright, I’m not gonna harp on too much. I don’t like SF6, I don’t like the story mode, the graphics, the gameplay, the online nor the community. I only have it cuz it’s the primary game of an fgc server I joined made by my friends (but they’ve recently switched to granblue so now my purchase feels rather outdated and I can’t get a refund anymore). I’m not gonna elaborate too much, I’m not a street fighter or fighting game fan and thus not qualified to talk about this. This is just for the sake of going through my collection. If you like Street fighter, you might like this one. If you do not like street fighter, you may not like this one. Who knows, ask someone who played it more extensively.

 

[Yousef]

Completing my entire Steam collection - Game # 20/183 - Yakuza Kiwami​

This game works quite well as a milestone game here, but also it’s getting delisted in less than a week so mayhaps it’s preferable to rush this review (and 0) a bit.

This game is really funny, because it’s one of my favorite remakes and Yakuza games… but also one of my least favorite remakes and Yakuza games. Yeah, there’s nothing but contradictions in my mind when giving my opinion on this game. Much like K2.

But also like K2, i just enjoy a lot about this game, and do genuinely recommend it, faults and all. I’m well aware it’s practically inferior to the ps2 original, as I’ve made my peace with that long ago, but this still got its own charms, helped by ease of accessibility.

Like the bug wrestling mini-game, which is really fun.

Unfortunately, this game still has the deck stacked against it. If you’re new to Yakuza, emulate the original, if you already played the original, you have no reason to play this one (unless for Redux or Legend Remix). The substories are worse, amon in this game is super bad and not fun to fight unlike latter entries, some added story scenes are a hit and miss (like the new Haruka scenes which are a little annoying).

But it’s still a fun game and well worth your time if you are curious about Yakuza.

 

[Yousef]

-Intermission- ​

20 reviews milestone!​

​

Wooooo the big 2-O! It’s nice it’s been reached so quickly, it hadn’t been even a week! It’s easy to fall back to games you’ve already completed, but soon I’ll naturally need to move on to newer games.

Bad news! My pto form was submitted last week but I’ve yet to receive a notification that it’s done processing! Oh no!

Moving along, it’s not gonna be easy to spice up these intermissions, I know I’m writing these reviews for myself, but I have fun messing around woop-woop! My steam and discord are still listed on my bio to anyone interested in chatting outside of this place (or at anyone masochistic enough to still want to be subjugated to my rants).

Admittedly, fighting games are gonna be the most challenging games to review here. I’m not an fgc player, so I only bought some games for nostalgia or to play with friends and nothing more. I will not touch the multiplayer, as I do not play anything multiplayer related at all.

Funnily enough, duplicate entries will be easy to review, I’ll just list them the same way steam lists them. Not that complicated, if you ask me.

 

[Hourai]

Out of curiosity...what makes Kiwami that much worse than the original? I know you said the substories are worse, but what makes them worse? How does it affect combat and the main story? Can you actually use the Dragon of Dojima style in the PS2, or is it relegated to uselessness like in Kiwami?

 

[Yousef]

Out of curiosity...what makes Kiwami that much worse than the original?

Naturally a lot of it comes down to personal perspective but artistically I do believe OG1 is a much more tightly told story than Kiwami 1, going into it requires going into so many details, but I’ll try to highlight the most significant bullet points.

I’ll start by saying I believe the re-recorded lines are much worse in K1, feel stilted and mess out on a ton of raw emotion in the original.

(It says 2, but it’s for Yakuza 1 since its flashbacks are in 2)

There is a lost ps2 track that adds a ton of tension to the final fight

(The audio is Japanese and not English dub cuz of the restoration mod, which also re-localizes the game)

PS2kuza 1 also benefits from being a much shorter, much more tightly paced and far less grindy (you can get all upgrades much quicker)

I know you said the substories are worse, but what makes them worse?

Comedy. There’s a substory in OG1 about a guy having a stroke who had his seizure medication stolen, this is a failable mission in og1, and can lead to the guy having a stroke and dying on the street if you take too long (which can only happen if you abandon the mission entirely, to be fair), it’s played for laughs in Kiwami 1 which feels a little disrespectful.

And some substories were cut, and some even lost their audio and cutscenes.

How does it affect combat and the main story? Can you actually use the Dragon of Dojima style in the PS2, or is it relegated to uselessness like in Kiwami?

The entire DoD style is available from the start with only a small upgrade tree system that you don’t grind for at all and can get most meaningful updates pretty quickly. Y1 had no NG+, but it was designed around that in a way where everything is fairly painless to obtain in one playthrough.

 

[Nebulon_Galaxy]

I personally would play the WiiU versions since those are the originals in the highest resolution and quality you can get. Sadly no one bothers to translate kino it seems

 

[Yousef]

I personally would play the WiiU versions since those are the originals in the highest resolution and quality you can get. Sadly no one bothers to translate kino it seems

Ah yes! The ps3/wiiu versions are peak, and would be my go-to if they got translated.

 

[Yousef]

Completing my entire Steam collection - Game # 21/183 - Guilty Verdict​

This game… is kinda dogshit. I’m sorry, I’m not trying to bully a small indie game, the objectives in story mode are genuinely completely deranged and designed by someone who feels like never played fighting games before.

Which is rich, coming from me.

But i actually am capable of dissecting this, as it uses the one fighting game I have decent knowledge on as a basis, which is SF2 Turbo.

So no, this game doesn’t have to go beyond the basic overheads and cross ups and 3-hit combos, it doesn’t need a good online either, the bare minimum was to make your story mode fun but it sucks sadly.

Completing my entire Steam collection - Game # 22/183 - Knytte Underground ​

Can’t play it on deck, gonna have to use my laptop but I’m sure it’s fun.

Completing my entire Steam collection - Game # 23/183 - Bloons Adventure Time TD​

Stupidly fun game, I deeply, deeply recommend it. It’s just a massive stress reliever, I’m serious. Just a simple and chill game, completely melts my stresses away. Has some gacha stuff but it’s a good game despite it.

 

[Hourai]

I personally would play the WiiU versions since those are the originals in the highest resolution and quality you can get. Sadly no one bothers to translate kino it seems

Versions of it existing on the Wii Nii of all things is something else. Like, I get why, but still.

 

[Yousef]

Completing my entire Steam collection - Game # 24/180 - Yakuza 4 Remastered ​

Now we resume talking about other games I already finished, not just once, but a bajilion gajilion times. Yakuza 4 is actually one of my favorite games of all time, a somewhat blanket statement these days, but I mean it, Yakuza 4 is easily in my top 3, maybe even top 2 favorite Yakuzas, being neck and neck with the GOAT Yakuza 7.

I have nothing but endless amounts of praise, I also remember a silly phrase; “it’s the most Yakuza-Yakuza”, very true!

I hear it was some people’s first game on the ps3, must’ve been one hell of a ride. For my first playthrough though, I felt the game went by a little too quickly, so I’d usually stop to do substories, I even reached amon! But haven’t fought him yet.

It’s kind of a shame we may never have a game on such a sense of scale. There’s been some revisionism lately with this game, but I never could quite agree with revisionists on this. My only wish is for the game to have more boss fights as they were all banger.

Check out the Ultimate Custom Battles mod! My friend worked on it!

 

[Nebulon_Galaxy]

Completing my entire Steam collection - Game # 24/180 - Yakuza 4 Remastered ​

Now we resume talking about other games I already finished, not just once, but a bajilion gajilion times. Yakuza 4 is actually one of my favorite games of all time, a somewhat blanket statement these days, but I mean it, Yakuza 4 is easily in my top 3, maybe even top 2 favorite Yakuzas, being neck and neck with the GOAT Yakuza 7.

I have nothing but endless amounts of praise, I also remember a silly phrase; “it’s the most Yakuza-Yakuza”, very true!

I hear it was some people’s first game on the ps3, must’ve been one hell of a ride. For my first playthrough though, I felt the game went by a little too quickly, so I’d usually stop to do substories, I even reached amon! But haven’t fought him yet.

It’s kind of a shame we may never have a game on such a sense of scale. There’s been some revisionism lately with this game, but I never could quite agree with revisionists on this. My only wish is for the game to have more boss fights as they were all banger.

Check out the Ultimate Custom Battles mod! My friend worked on it!


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This was the game i was planning to play since ive beaten Y3 like 2 years ago and never gotten back into the horse