I finally got around to playing the July 2020 Free PS Plus titles enough to write about them!
NBA 2k20 actually feels like an improvement over 2k19. The Prelude was pretty fun. I started the entire game with a two player match between the Phoenix Suns (me) and the Chicago Bulls (Walker Dennis, originally). I think starting off this way was a good refresher course. It gave me a comfortable zone to practice the game. I only scored one point with the green glow, signaling a perfect shot. The Prelude isn’t too long, I enjoyed making choices throughout it. I do regret ditching Rosario Dawson’s college advisor for Thomas Middleditch’s professional agent. Though I had no real problems minutes later when Middleditch is opening all types of venues for my guy. I also liked how my guy looks the same from 2k19, though I”m sure that’s because I didn’t fuss around too much in the creator option. I did try to download the app to scan my own face, but it kept failing on me.
The true highlight is Lamorne Morris (Winston from New Girl) cuts my character’s hair before the NBA Draft. Just checking his Wikipedia page, it doesn’t look like he has a new series yet, which is absolute bonkers.
Thanks to BMcKayGaming for hosting the beginning of the scene.
So much fun!
I was having some real stress about not making it into the Phoenix Suns, but I totally did it and felt so good!
2k20 doesn’t have any MyNeighborhood related trophies, so I sort of feel like I am now done with the game. I may look into how to get some of the other trophies, but I didn’t earn any besides what I earned after winning that original game.
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Turns out, I only completed one proper playthrough of Erica. So I finished my second playthrough as soon as the game was announced to being a July game. Tonight I plan on playing my third playthrough. I would then be half way through the game, so hopefully I just commit to it. I also really hope to just stumble onto Fallout Girl, but I’ll definitely get it during the sixth and final playthrough. Such a great game, but like Man of Medan, I need a decent break between playing these decision making story based games. Which I have been really thinking about Man of Medan a lot lately, and I really need to do an All Brain Decisions playthrough and another where I kill them all.
Someone was nice enough to really recommend using the phone app for Erica, and I would also join in that recommendation. It seemed like I had extra time to make decisions. It might be better even on a bigger phone or a tablet, but I don’t have that option. When I got to that moment of following Officer Blake or staying in Erica’s flat, I got all types of nervous, as that’s where my original attempt at my second playthrough fell apart. But I was able to follow him and enjoyed following the rest of the playthrough.
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Rise of the Tomb Raider starts off pretty fun. I finished my first night with the game at a camp site. It felt like a good place to stop, but really, I haven’t played enough of the game to really write a bunch about my time with it. I also don’t like this specific post being not published until after the 15th, but I will commit to playing more of the game. At least a few more nights with it.
Every Friday, I search Roku to see if I can watch Ratchet & Clank or any of the three Tomb Raider films, and none of them are availalbe on any streaming platform, which seems like a real missed opportunity when we are subscribed to like five different streaming services. None of the films have been on sale through VUDU either, but I will let you all know if that changes.
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PlayStation Access released their Top Ten Driving Games video, in their series of Top 10 PS4 games :
Which really made me want to revisit Burnout Paradise Remastered. So I played a slew of that game, meaning I did not play any of the other games for a bit. I was bouncing between Burnout Paradise and NBA 2k20, its Prelude being a decent length.
Walker Dennis saw that the Delorean, the Jansen P12 88, is in the game, and that means something to him now (before it was just a cool looking car). He loves placing it in hovering or floating mode, He’s been having a blast with the game, so now he plays between Burnout and Goat Simulator.
The Jansen P12 88 is a great car to look at, but gosh, it gets so easily destroyed, but Walker Dennis is all about driving fast enough to time travel and then crashing the car head on. But I’ve seen him not even driving that fast but still taking a turn a tad short and it destroying the car when only a headlight should have been busted. So it is very fragile.
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Like most people after July 3, my wife and I have become obsessed with Hamilton. Which I really want to play an American Revolution game, but only Assassins Creed III has that setting. George Washington does not feature in that many games besides Assassins Creed III and The Council. So I have been playing The Council a lot more than I thought I would be in such a short span of time. Which I have really been enjoying, though Episode Three doesn’t have enough of George Washington, but I do like how I do bump into him a few times. Which will have to be enough.
Two more episodes left! I am starting to worry I will not get to level 15, the trophy I am most anxious about, as the rest of them are going to be easily done by replaying Episode One at least twice more. If I don’t earn level 15 by the end of Episode 5, then I’m going to have to replay the entire game again, and just focus on whatever skills give me the most experience points. Which could be fun as I really am enjoying the heck out of the game.
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I bought Mohjong for two dollars during the July Savings event, and I like either ending my night with a game, or starting my gaming session with it. It is very relaxing. My only gripe is that it has all of this nice background music and setting, but a very gamey sound effect for when tiles match, that I wish was more inline with the aesthetics of the rest of the game.
Thanks to Pac-Man 256 and Burnout Paradise Remastered, I got to PSN Level 17!
Thanks to PlayStation for hosting the trailer!
Pac-Man 256 was a fun game, I got obsessed with it over a course of two nights. I am committed to the idea that I will never eat 16 ghosts, my record is 12 and that took a lot of work. Such a fun game though! It is usually around two dollars but I am sure it will be a dollar again.
I will probably also never get the east 256 dots in a row as there are small empty spaces that really mess up the flow.
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Burnout Paradise Remastered was a lot of run. I have no idea how to access the Cagney DLC and it seems to be overly confusing to me. I can create races but I cannot create challenges or any other side content.
Thanks to DerfsonicGaming for having such a nice video showcasing the Legendary Cars.
I got the trophies for the legendary cars but along the way, got a slew of other trophies as well. I will go back to it but I wanted to give the new November games a try. I do like how the Dukes of Hazard car default is not orange but orange is the very next color option in the customization wheel.
As much as it bugs me that it looks more like the 2008 KITT from that reboot, there is no denying how great that car is in the game. The DeLorean is amazing with its hover mode and Ecto-1 is a lot of fun too!
I need to get better at the main game or concentrate on the Big Surf Island and have those skills translate to the main game. Or do a little bit of both.
I really wish there was a way point system in the game as I am having a bit of a problem memorizing the map but I eventually get to where I want to go.
Looking at the trophies, I should be able to earn my B Class License by winning 24 races. I can start a Road Rage with the pure intentions of going through a repair shop. I can start a race with the intentions of driving through a gas station (which I thought I have done but must not have) for another trophy. I should try to get a 180 degree Flatspin but I do not know how to spin while still in the air. The game could be more clear on the directions as I still have not found a control scheme to figure out any tricks or button layouts. I should be able to do 10 Road Rules as well and it looks like we get two different trophies for that? That is pretty nice.
I believe I have unlocked at least three cars so I should do each of those cars’ Burning Routes. I also need to drive one of these cars through a paint shop to change the color.
Winning 51 total races unlocks the Carson Inferno Van, so that could be another goal. Then I have to do a Road Rage with the van.
Gosh, there is a trophy for simply inviting a friend to Burnout Paradise that I really should get on top of. There was a trophy for playing a Freeburn Challenge but there is one for completing it and I am not sure why I did not complete it. I think I was trying for the Ecto-1 (Manhattan Spirit) trophy of blaring the siren during a challenge but maybe the other person stopped the challenge? Or I messed up and dropped out of online mode, which is probably what actually happened. Then there is a trophy for completing 10 Freeburn Challenges.
The game is so open ended that I could just play for hours and enjoy the map or I can have some direction as I go about it. I will probably take the advice of finishing a race and looking at the map for the next closest race.
I need to find all of the events Paradise City has to offer and find all of the car parks, I believe I have found at least five of the 11.
There are some obvious trophies I should go for like driving 750 miles, that once I have, I can reevaluate where I am in the game. I also have to ride for 50 miles on a bike, so that should be easy enough to do.
Oh, I see what the problem with the Cagney Update is. I have to be the room creator to create an Online Stunt Run and I am trying to create the mode when no one else is in my lobby. That must be what is happening. I will definitely try again. I just need to trick someone into joining my lobby.
I am probably never going to get the “meet at the stadium” trophy as I do not even know where that is!
The Party Round DLC is probably also beyond me.
I will also have to play around with the online Cops and Robbers DLC to see if I can even do any of those.
I simply like having trophy goals for the sheer direction it provides.
Finally, there are the Big Surf Island Trophies.
I should still be able to smash 15 total billboards (of the 45) and land 5 mega jumps (though I am sure I have failed most that I have attempted thus far). At the very least, I should be able to find all of the events on the big island.
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Thanks to Markiplier for hosting the video.
I am embarrass to write this but I only made it to the 23 minute segment of Mark’s video. Now that I see I am close to finishing the chapter, I should try again but I wanted to play until I died.
Outlast 2 is not for me, I am pretty sure of this. I was enjoying it until I got hit for the very first time. I thought for sure there would be some dialogue or something between me and the town folk, to set up the threat but that did not happen. There was a tall cloaked figure and the just hit me and kept on moving. Then I got to the segment with two guys citing religious dialogue and got straight murdered. At least I got respawned closed by.
I probably played for 45 minutes, I wanted to earn some trophies so I ran the microphone feature on the camera as I crawled around and got two trophies from that and felt like I experienced the game.
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Nioh, on the other hand, is more my type of game. I was no good at Bloodborne, and felt like I was just being punished for being no good at it. Nioh is very similar but has one important difference. The stuff you die with, you keep when you respawn. Which is really all I need. I would die and then just learn to parry and to wait for their attack and then swoop in and attack them. I went with the dual swords (like Leonardo!) and battle axe (mostly for Elle from PlayStation Access) and I am really enjoying my time in the game. I escaped the Tower of London, and completed the tutorial. I am currently in the first area and I am learning to appreciate the prayer shrine but I do not have to keep going back to it in order to secure my items. I am currently at level 6, and I know there is a trophy for getting to level 10. I already got my first trophy for escaping the Tower of London but I think I will keep playing until I hit a real wall.
That wall may just be Onryoki, the game’s second boss.
Thanks to PrimaGamesVideo for hosting the tutorial.
I could get to the second stage of the fight but then nerves got the better of me, plus it was thirty minutes pass midnight, so that was not helping. I am currently level eight so my plan is to run around, build up my spirit animal (Kato, the fire fox), level up to nine, and then take him on again. If that does not work, level up to ten, and try again. I am hoping the two stat increases help with the boss fight but worst case, I earn a second trophy and I realize I am not quite ready for Nioh.
I have been thinking of picking Bloodborne up again, now that I think I understand the game play mechanics. I know I was giving the 100% run way too much thought and I should just play the game.
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Walker Dennis has been really wanting to play Lego Movie 2 again, and he bounces between that game and Lego Dimensions. Watching him playing made me want to play Lego Marvel Superheroes 2 again and we were so close to beating the main story that it was silly to keep putting it off. So I essentially abandoned my goal to keep playing Rocket League for the Strangers Things event, and dedicated last weekend to playing LMSH2.
We finished the main storyline, completed another Gwenpool mission, and the Guardians of the Galaxy DLC, along with several races and side adventures. I keep thinking of not going for the platinum but we have the platinum for the other two games but it seems like so much work! I am committed to earning all of the DLC trophies and I will see how I feel about the grind at that point. I will also commit to getting the Gwenpool missions completed as well. Those side activities can be a bit of a pain but that is why I am trying to space those out between bigger tasks but looking for small statues can feel pretty defeating when I cannot find them easily but there are not that many of those types of collectibles. I will eventually get everything. In fact, I am pretty sure that is what inspired me to create a rotation system to begin with, it break up all of those small activities.
I think Walker Dennis is trying to tell me he wants to play a new Lego game and we really should look into Lego DC Super Villains now that the deluxe version has come way down in price and is usually $40 instead of $75.
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I still have plans of starting Uncharted 4 and this all might time out nicely towards the end of the month, pending on how LMSH2 goes. I have to give some thought to a new game rotation and see what excites me. Here is what I am thinking now :
Nioh, but probably not for much longer LMSH2, for the DLC and Gwenpool missions, for sure. Pac-Man 256, I sort of do want to unlock all of the powerups and I can catch up on all of my podcasts while doing it, which could be a nice relaxing game night. Burnout Paradise Remastered, I am glad I was making this list as I had already moved on in my mind but I would not mind trying to get a few more trophies with this game too. I think, besides the Cagney trophies, I have all of the DLC ones I am going to get but maybe the more I play, the more the game opens up as well. Uncharted 4, maybe?
I would not mind starting Sniper Elite 4 as I do enjoy my time with the game, every single time. My last mission I failed to do one of the main objectives as I should have read the description for the airplane bombing better as the mission was over after that. I thought I could lay waste to the place and then do the final objective but it makes sense that was not an option. So I sort of want to redo that mission.
So five games, that could really work. Two of those games will be fun relaxing games, which is something to look forward too. Sniper Elite 4, I have a personal problem stopping the game at a reasonable time and splitting the gameplay into two night sessions, but that is completely on me.
Plus, a slew of other games! I have been in a real gaming mood as of late!
I gave MLB The Show 19 a fair shot. I had a pretty fun time with the few days I decided to play the game. I finally got decent with hitting the ball but I can’t seem to hit it in a way that causes the outfield to not catch the ball. The only time I can go to the bases is when I hit a home run which I was able to do twice. I was going to commit until I made it to the Arizona Diamonds, and I might bounce back to it but I sort of got in the mood to play a slew of other games. I was able to create a character, and I made him from overseas, so that was two trophies right there. During training, I played an entire game without skipping anything so that was another trophy. During my season, I tried my best at a challenge but failed that so I got a trophy for failing which I figured I would do. So I am currently at 14% progress rate in terms of trophies, so that felt pretty rewarding. Maybe once I get pass a few other games, I will come back to this.
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One of the games I got was flower for the PS4. Buying it gave me versions for PS3 and the Vita, which was nice. I bought it has it was under four dollars and I thought it was one of the free games already. What I was thinking of Journey, also created by Thatgamecompany. So look forward to flower being one of the free games in November! I could see that being the case if we were still getting PS3/Vita games but I cannot imagine them giving flower away with only one other game.
I am missing four trophies for the 100% (but not Platinum, so the pressure is off) and those are that I did not bloom 10,000 flowers, I did not brighten all of level 6’s city, I got hurt a bunch in 5 when we cannot get hurt even once, and missed maybe a few names towards the end of the Credits (and bonus level) as I thought I had time to turn around. I might try to get the credits completed and bloom 10,000 flowers at the same time but I did not care for 5 and 6. All of the other levels, I could easily go around their maps but 6’s highway forces us to go at high speeds and only once I did accidentally get back to the start of the level and could not recreate it so I am done with those two levels. 71% is not too bad for that game.
Earlier in the week, the PS5 got announced for Holiday 2020. I keep seeing people write that it will be Christmas 2020 but there is no way it is not in stores by Black Friday 2020, so get your calendars ready for November 27, 2020, if you will be one of the Day One owners. Even if it was only $300, I do not see us owning one until maybe 2021, at the earliest. I see most people speculating that it will most likely be $400 for the basic model and $500 for whatever the Pro or larger memory drive is. $500 seems reasonable and I love how they are so forth coming with all PS4 discs and digital copies will work on the PS5 right out of the box, which is nice. I also like the idea of how the controller is going to be slightly heavier with more tricks to it, such as when driving a racing game, you can tell once you are on a smooth surface and when you move to a more bumpy surface, like dirt and such.
So I am mostly looking forward to getting PS5 games through the PS+ subscription program. So once we get that system, we would have a slew of (I am sure) basic or indie games for the system.
Back in October 2013, the first few games for the PS4 through PS+ were : Hotline Miami, Contrast, and Resogun.
People rave about Resogun and Hotline Miami but I do not believe I have heard much about Contrast.
The next three games were : Don’t Starve, Outlast, and Dead Nation : Apocalypse Edition and I’m familiar with Dead Nation and I have heard of great things regarding Don’t Starve and Outlast.
Even the next two games, Thomas Was Alone and Mercenary Kings, well, I have never heard of the second one, but Thomas Was Alone looks interesting. These have been the games from October 2013 to May 2014.
There are other noteworthy games but we do not get to a blockbuster game until December 2014’s Injustice : Gods Among Us – Ultimate Edition, for the PS4.
I am also looking forward to the big name titles of PS4 to start being free through PS+ as we are already sort of in that era now with Detroit : Become Human, Batman : Arkham Knight, and The Last of Us Remastered (more on that below!).
I have already committed to never buying Horizon Zero Dawn and Witcher III, as those will become free eventually, I imagine.
I have already committed to buying Burnout Paradise Remastered if it is not listed as a free game in November. I had no idea that game has Ecto-1, the DeLorean, and 2008 KITT! Plus the Dukes of Hazzard car too but I am not as attach to that one.
I wanted to avoid what happened with Rocket League (where I could not figure out how to change cars) so I asked on reddit, and burninrubber0 was nice enough to explain that, once I can control a car, if I simply turn around and go back into the junkyard, I can swap cars out immediately. Which is great news! The game is routinely five dollars through Plus, so once it is not one of the free games (it is often guessed that it will be) in November and is five dollars again, I will buy it immediately. I just have a few light caveats first.
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I would just buy it now but I already bought two games this month.
The second game was also only four dollars and earned me my 25th Platinum!
JazalGoldmane posted in the Trophies subreddit that he earned the platinum for One Night Stand I really took to the art style of the trophy.
Developed by Kinmoku, the game follows a dude who wakes up and tries to piece together the previous night.
It was a fun game and it took me two gaming sessions and two guides to get all 12 endings.
They were written just different enough that I started with knoef and moved to ps3imports
I was going to do a bigger game for my 25th trophy, or at least, make a special effort to make 25 be special to me but I guess I will hold out until Platinum # 50 to try to do it up. I still cannot believe I have 25!
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PlayStation Access’ Elle presented a second patch of free games currently available on PS4.
I already played and adored Fallout Shelter but I had no idea of Star Trek Online was a free game!
I created my wife, as I often do when it comes to creating a character (more on that below!), so I made her a Federal officer but not from The Original Series but the newer Trek (but not from the relaunch – so confusing!).
The game takes place 30 years after Star Trek : Nemesis, the last The Next Generation film.
I am never going to spend money on the game but I was tempted to in order to get my wife a TNG style uniform from the series and also to get the classic dress outfit from TOS. But to get both of those, I will need 2200 in-game dollars and they want ten real dollars for only 1000 in-game dollars which does not seem worth it. It also killed my buzz over playing more. The uniform she has now is styled along the lines of Deep Space 9 and the TNG later films with the black body and gray shoulders and color appropriate shirt.
I typed all of that when I realized I could just use a photo.
I also earned my first trophy, Lieutenant, for completing the tutorial and now I am ready to pause this game and try other games again.
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One of the other games they recommended was Destiny 2 so I gave that a shot as well. By creating one character of each class Titan (my wife), (Hunter, Walker Dennis), and Warlock (me), I got a gold trophy for each, which was great. For completing the opening section the very first time, I got a trophy for that as well. I might come back to this game at one point but I liked it for the most part.
Another free game is The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit, which decisions made here carry over to Life is Strange 2 but I do not own that game (I have 1 and the Prequel) so one I get 2, I will play Captain Spirit.
From the original list, I only played FortNite and Warframe. Warframe has trophies and FortNite’s battle royal does not. I actually liked Warframe but I only played for an hour and should spend more time with it.
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This is a long way around of me typing that I have not played any scary games thus far in October.
So I made a point of finally finishing The Last of Us’ Left Behind DLC. That got intense towards the end! I was right outside of where Ellie was keeping Joel safe, I figured this was the last stand and so I used all of my arrows and pretty much all of my bullets as I was going to go out in style. There was a pause, Ellie said the coast was clear, and then three more guys showed up. I took out two of them and then the Infected started showing up. It was pretty fun earlier making the Infected fight the hunters and then I was on clean up so I did that again here and only had a Clicker and maybe one other Infected but I was pretty nervous. Then the flashback, I knew was going to be intense on an emotional level but I was still just thinking about the additional battle I was still coming off of.
I played on Normal and how intense that final exchange was and how I am not ready for a Grounded mode just yet. I was no good at that fighting game, I attempted it three times but that trophy is just beyond me. I lost the first round of the water gun fight so I thought I was not going to get the Skillz trophy but I want two out of three and that was good enough. I missed an additional conversation somewhere so I did not get that trophy but I did find all of the collectibles so that was nice.
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I keep wanting to play some Dead by Daylight, especially as I bought the Head Case cosmetic DLC and Ghostface and then proceeded to not playing the game for a solid month, but I do not feel like I am done with the game, I just have to get excited enough to start it again.
Maybe once I get myself prepared to attempt SOMA, I think that is what I want to tackle next. I am pretty much mentally prepared to just start going towards the Plan B trophy (which is also where I am at in the story) while having a YouTube video playing in front of me. All of SOMA’s trophies are story related except for the one missable trophy. There is no platinum but I would like to 100% the game and I am nowhere near the place of missing Endangered Species but since it is the one missable trophy, I am hyper aware of not wanting to miss it. So once I finally earn that, I will probably try to relax to the end of the story.
I also am getting ready to play my second playthrough of Man of Medan. I will be faking a party mode (which just seems sad but I am ready for it), and making only heart choices, plus playing the Curator’s mode. Once I start this game, I will just follow it all the way through to the end, so that is why I want to get ready for it. Play some quicker games before I commit a week to playing a longer game. So I want to do at least a few nights of Dead by Daylight but that desire might be holding me back to playing other games.
Another thing holding me back is that I keep wanting to play Uncharted 4, so I might make that my November game to tackle.
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On October 7, PS4 got Update 7.00 and now Android users can play the PS4 using Remote Play! Which for One Night Stand, really was pretty nice. Which is all I have been wanting, well, I have been wanting a Vita but this is pretty close. I have to play with my phone vertically so it is a nice screen with the phone’s version of the controller.
I am going to have to use this website’s instructions so I can pair the controller to my phone and then I can play with the phone horizontally and get the most out of the screen and the new app.
So I am very excited as I may no longer need to feel envious of my wife as she gets to play her mobile games while watching TV while I wish I could Remote Play PS4 games while also watching TV. I might be able to sit through more shows even!
Seems pretty simple to pair the controller to my phone, I just have to wait a couple hours to be able to really sit down and do it. I can already envision having to charge both my phone and controller a lot more now but I am already doing that so it is not too much of a hassle.
So maybe I can play some other games, I just have to be mindful of which games I play as there are shows like The Voice (that I already gave up on, at least the Blinds portion) and Dancing with the Stars, that I want to be able to look up and watch the actual TV for, plus be mindful of anything my wife says but I will test it out and see how it all works. I am pretty excited about this! It is going to be a real Game Changer by Rachel Reid.
Shadow and Flame with Magik 