Shadow and Flame with Magik

On September 24, 2019, we had our third State of Play :

Thanks for PlayStation for hosting their own video.

The second to last item they cover was the free October 2019 PS+ Games.  They really did a great job with presenting the information as it transitioned beautifully.

We are getting MLB 2019 The Show as one of the free games.  Then they revealed we were getting . . . The Last of Us Remastered as well!  Which then took us to a new trailer for The Last of Us 2, now scheduled for February 21, 2020.  It all just came together very nicely.

I like baseball enough, so I’m looking forward to playing the game.  Like NBA 2k19, my main goal will be to join my favorite team, the Arizona Diamondbacks, and probably like NBA 2k19, once that goal has been met, I’ll put the game away.

PSN Profiles has a pretty great trophy guide :

https://psnprofiles.com/guide/8798-mlb-the-show-19-trophy-guide

and there looks to be some easy enough trophies for a guy like me to get.

The ones I will earn for sure will be :

Patience is a Virtue – Finish a game without skipping a presentation
Simon Says – In Road to the Show, reach a score of 40 in the pitch memory mini-game
Hi, Dee – Have your first encounter with Heidi Watney
Pump It – In Road to the Show, reach 10 reps in teh bench press mini-game
Hello, World – In Road to the Show, complete the new player creation
None Shall Pass – In Road to the Show, fail a challenge
Something to Talk About – In Diamond Dynasty, equip any unlocked audio
The More You Know – Complete the onboarding tutorial
Walk This Way – Record a walk in your first at-bat of the game
Yyyaarrrrgghh! – In Road to the Show, create a player who was born “At Sea”
Do It Like This – Equip an unlockable no doubt home run animation

I will attempt at least :

Big Fly Ohtani Son – Hit a home run with Ohtani on All-Star or above difficulty
Father Son Picnic – Win the Home Run Derby(R) with Bryce Harper
Lock Him Up – In Franchise Mode, extend a player contract during the season
Velociraptor, HIt the ball over 115+ mph

So not a bad list at all!  I will create a batter that can bat with both hands (though I will probably never try for the A Chip Off the Ol’ Block trophy.

Plenty there to strive for and to get the zero percent to one percent (and more!).  Looks like a slew of trophies that I would be earning within the first 20 minutes, unlike NBA 2k19 that it took a while to earn my first trophy (immediately after the Pre-Season) and then I earned the bulk of the trophies I did earn within the next hour or so.

Though some people do have some legit problems with MLB 19 The Show being one of the games.

The main issue being . . . We were supposed to get PES 2019 as a free game, there was a major outcry as most people do not care about soccer, and now we are getting MLB 19 The Show, when most people do not care about baseball.

Which I am not really into either sport, but I was super looking forward to PES 2019 and I am looking forward to MLB 19 The Show.  I still maintain that once PES 2019 drops to under five dollars, I will buy that game and see what all of the buzz is about.

But all of this goes away as people are very very happy to get The Last of Us Remastered.

Which I started playing a week ago and really enjoyed it.  I was not as blown away as everyone else was but I really enjoyed myself.  I think I am just more of an Uncharted type of guy but The Last of Us really started clicking with me once The Suburbs chapter started.  The environmental storytelling in the sewers was amazing and I eagerly looked forward to the next section of the sewer to get more information.  From there, the game is amazing and I will commit to playing a Normal+ playthrough in October after I complete Left Behind.

Here is PlayStationTrophies.org’s trophy guide for The Last of Us.

https://www.playstationtrophies.org/game/the-last-of-us-remastered/guide/.

The multiplayer trophies are not as simple as Uncharted 2’s multiplayer so I will probably pass on those.

I have also stopped being a big collector guy, if I come across collectibles, I will get them, or if there are not too many of them, I will get them, heck, if all I need for the Platinum is the collectibles, I will get them.  That’s what made me commit to Until Dawn, as all I needed was the collectibles.

For the second month in a row, I am getting a free digital copy of a game I already own physically.  Batman Arkham Knight and now The Last of Us.  So Uncharted 4 should be next or Hellblade.

So once GameStop has another trade-in deal with extra money earned, I will be taking those two games for more store credit.

.  .  .

MLB The Show 2019 is usually a $40 game, it is on sale right now for $30, and has been as low as $23.99.

The Last of Us is a $20 game, as part of the PlayStation Hits line, and has gone as low as $5.99.

So best case, the games are $60 or at their lowest, $30, which is nearly the cost of the service, so once again, the games pay for themselves really.  Not a bad first month if October 2019 is going to be the beginning of your subscription service.

.  .  .

Here are my peeps talking about the free games.

Rob of PlayStation Access

Adam of PlayStation Grenade

I will have to update this if Ben of Platinum Chasers uploads his video.

UPDATE – 10/2/2019 –

Ben of Platinum Chasers uploaded his review!

Always worth the wait! (but usually there is not a wait)

.  .  .

It was pretty nice being surprised on Tuesday that the announcement came a day early.  It made sense the State of Play would reveal the games as they had everyone’s attention.  I figured The Last of Us was going to be a free game either in October (for the zombie content), November (for the free game new PS4 owners would get for taking advantage of some Black Friday deals), or December (as a Christmas present to us all).

So once those games were announced though, I immediately bought Murdered : Soul Suspect for two dollars.

The game is pretty fun, I recently completed the first section involving the Apartments.  I have a slew of trophies already which feels pretty great.  I am already at 29% of the list.

https://www.playstationtrophies.org/game/murdered-soul-suspect-ps4/guide/

This game as a slew of collectibles (242 of them!) that I am going to attempt to get as all of the other trophies seem super doable.  Most of them are simply, play the game, solve some extra side mysteries, collect the artifacts.

Sounds like everything is feasible to do except for the Museum, that gets locked after we exit so I will be spending a lot of time there and with the collectible list in front of me.

I am using this guide from GameFAQs.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/xboxone/761114-murdered-soul-suspect/faqs/69443/collectibles

The organization took a minute for me to get used to (it makes sense from the in-game checklist) but the more I cross off, the easier it is to read.

I am really enjoying the investigations and the overall game mechanics.

The only real gripe I have thus far, is having to kill demons.  The way it is done is pretty irriating, but I am hoping I get better at it.  It is not as simple as sneaking behind a demon – which takes timing – but then there is not that much time behind holding R2 to choose to kill the demon, then there are four options for button prompts that could be an option, a direction with the left stick and then one of the four symbol buttons.  But the kill prompt will be different each new attempt.  It can be frustrating with the fifth attempt and then having to run and hide and then attempt it again.  I will get better at it but I am also hoping there are not that many demons in the game.  There is no trophy for killing all of the demons (just the first one) but if the demon is in the room, we cannot investigate it fully.  At least, that is the impression I am under.

So I will probably main this game until I have it completed.  Or by the time October 1 comes and we get the two new free games.  Whichever one happens first.

.  .  .

I have successfully completed The Season of Infamy additional missions in Arkham Knight in my Normal playthrough.  I saved Mister Freeze for last so instead of it raining everywhere, it is snowing.  It looks amazing but it is surprising how different everything looks with the snow.  It is a thick snow too, so I have a hard time navigating around so I do not think I will keep to this plan on my Knightmare playthrough.  Which I will eventually do everything in that but not anytime soon.  The only advantage of doing all of the missions there is to unlock a new costume but not having it unlocked is not bothering me like it sometimes would.

It does look pretty cool though.  We have to have 240% of the game completed to earn it.

.  .  .

Overall October is looking pretty fun!

Walker Dennis has been really into playing Lego Dimensions again so I have been on my guard to make sure my games are being saved.  Especially as I am not home when he first gets there.  So he had removed The Last of Us but I had made sure I was at the beginning of the third chapter of Left Behind.  I would say that another gripe with Murdered Soul Suspect is that the saving could be more on-demand.  It auto-saves but I do not get the symbol / notification as much as I would like.  Especially after I have uncovered a collectible or completed a side quest, it would be nice to get that auto saved but now I just make sure I get it then look at the clock to see if I should go to bed.