Shadow of the Colossus

All posts tagged Shadow of the Colossus

Playing Sonic Forces and Shadow of the Colossus

Posted by John Klein III on March 12, 2020
Posted in: Fun With YouTube, Games, Websites. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

I have been enjoying the heck out of Sonic Forces.  It is a pretty solid Sonic game, I may be even enjoying it so much more than Sonic Mania.  I like how there are super simple daily challenges.  I will admit I am mostly doing it so that I can earn the 10 daily challenges trophy but I do to mind playing a level a day and doing a daily challenge a day.  The level designs are varied and I am enjoying all of the customization I get to do with my avatar.

This is what my avatar looks like right now :

I have over 50 items unlocked thus far.

Will I play after I unlock that trophy, only a few more days will know.

I earned that trophy and I already feel like I am done with Sonic Forces for a bit.

.  .  .

I killed the first Colossus in Shadow of the Colossus.  I liked playing enough, but like I initially felt, I don’t feel compelled to keep playing.

After watching Nathan of PlayStation Access kill the first few Colossi :

Makes me want to at least kill the second one, but I am not super excited to make the attempt.

.  .  .

I moved my plans to make Life is Strange : Before the Storm my March Platinum to my April Platinum.  I made this decision as I finally earned the Lego Batman 3 Platinum!

I really missed these early Lego games, where the missions do not feel like they take forever and the subchapter selection is nice.  I have to play the full level in Free Mode but for clean up purposes, it is great to jump in and out of levels once obtaining minikits, or character tokens, or rescuing Adam Wests.

Walker Dennis and I have been playing Lego Incredibles and like Lego DC Supervillains, we are not both earning trophies so that has been highly disappointing.  So for now on, I will just play games with Walker Dennis on his account, as I can only imagine how disappointing not earning a trophy is.  I already started this policy with Lego DC Supervillians, and I am annoyed that I have to play that game separately, but earning several trophies in Lego Incredibles that he should have rightfully earned, was enough for me to make that decision.  He also tells me how disappointing it is, so it is not a secret or anything.  Such lousy game design, and with Lego games too.  These earlier games are just the way to go.

I also already know I will not get the platinum for Lego Incredibles, as I can’t earn the gold in two races, so that has been a lousy feeling as well.  I still want to finish the levels in Free Play, and I do like how there is a trophy for each main level.  What I don’t like, is that there is no minikit red brick so I am going to have to look up how to get all of the minikits, which is also annoying.  We still want to get more characters, I just have some work to put into it.

Whenever Lego Jurassic Park goes on sale again for under ten dollars, I will probably pick it up as I can only imagine it is a fun game.  I know there is no DLC, so hopefully it is more like Lego Batman 3 and not Lego Incredibles.  I should probably wait until we have finished Lego DC Supervillians, as it was causing some silly stress having three ongoing Lego games.

.  .  .

I also earned my second bonus trophy for the year with Hitman Go!  Which I can already see myself, once earning 12 platinums, just cooling my quest to earning a platinum a month.  12 sounds good enough to me, one way or the other. I am at five already.

Hitman Go was a lot of fun and so relaxing.  Did i just follow a guide the entire way?  I sure did and it was just a nice way to start a night’s gaming session.  From what I have read, Lara Croft Go is not as good, there are puzzles added to it, which makes sense, and I imagine it is as easy to play but I have never been much of a Tomb Raider guy.  I am not much of a Hitman guy either, but playing his games at least exposed me to the character and encouraged me to get this game.  That and it being only three dollars.

.  .  .

I was looking through the Double Discount sale and saw Bulletstorm : Full Clip Edition is currently $24.  It was a PS+ title back in November 2018.  We also got Yakuza Kiwami, Roundabout, and Burly Men at Sea, that month.  I got the platinum for Burly Men at Sea, I enjoyed the silliness of Roundabout and I allowed myself to get stuck on the first real boss of Yakuza Kiwami, and that was enough for me.  I never got around to Bulletstorm, as I am not the biggest FPS guy, but I also am trying to make a bigger point of playing these free games I have received.

I finished Act 1, Chapter 1, and got to the train sequence of Chapter 2.  I had earned a few trophies along the way, and the game is pretty enjoyable.  I keep running out of ammo, so I end up leashing a guy, and kicking him into walls or off cliffs, so that was a fun night.

.  .  .

I heard Call of Duty Modern Warfare : Warzone was a free battle royale so I gave it a shot.  I did the tutorial and the extra practice course for the free item both provided.  I then joined the 150 other peeps who were also playing.  I was grouped up with two other people for a squad of three.  The game looks amazing.  It took a while to find a gun with a scope that I prefer.  I am a simple man, so I like a scope that just puts a dot on where I am aiming.

I essentially just followed the one guy around the map, and made it all the way to ninth position, so I felt pretty good about that.  I probably will not go back to it but it was fun during the 10 minutes or so.  There is no trophies for Warzone, so I felt pretty free to just enjoy it.

The one thing I would have liked was to know how to crouch, as I could not figure it out.

.  .  .

I have made it to just past the Bane fight in Arkham Asylum.  I am not sure if the game starts to look worst towards the end, as the main complaints I hear about the Return to Arkham remasters is that the cut scenes look drastically different (and for the worst), but the game looks good to me.  The controls are slightly different from Arkham Knight, so that took a little getting used too.  Mostly it is realizing I want L1 for detective mode, and not up.  Everything else feels pretty good. That and in the fighting, I can’t seem to string a combo together.  I am used to punching with Square, and pressing X to evade, and then follow up with punch again, but that does not seem to work as well, just I end up just punching and pressing Triangle to counter, to get any real combo going.

.  .  .

I sort of feel like I am inbetween games.  I really like Arkham Asylum, but I feel like I am waiting for another game to make an appearance to get pulled into.  Chrono Trigger celebrated its 25th birthday on March 11, and I think I really want a JRPG to enjoy.  I found a list of 50 games like Chrono Trigger on PS4 but the bulk of them are not really jumping out at me.

https://www.50gameslike.com/games-like/chrono-trigger/ps4

The main games that do look interesting are :

Persona 5 (1), but I would also just wait for the Royal edition to release.  Though the 100 hour time cautions me.
Battle Chasers : Nightwar (6), which next time it is on sale for under ten, I will probably buy it.
I am Setsuna (8), which I know was made to be in the same spirit of Chrono Trigger but the game is rarely on sale, staying at $40.
Cosmic Star Heroine (9), which i played and platinumed, and is the type of game I want to play.
Ni no Kuni II : Revenant Kingdom (18), is on my psprices wishlist but is also an expensive game.
Final Fantasy XV Pocket Edition (23), I am not sure what “Pocket Edition” means, but if the Royal Edition ever drops to under ten, I could be convinced to buy it.
Lost Sphear (25), is the other game inspired by Chrono Trigger like I am Setsuna, but is also a rather expensive game.

What I am looking for is a game I can complete in, ideally, one playthrough, and is not like a 50 hour game, or the 12th entry in a franchise that I have never heard of.  What I should do is just buy the Final Fantasy VII game for the PS4, play the heck out of that, and maybe get excited for the Remake.  I tried the Demo and there is just something about playing a demo to a game I either will not buy or will buy in a year, that I could not adjust to it.

What I really want, is to be able to buy Chrono Trigger and play it on my PS4.  I read that Chrono Cross is also available for the PS3 and Vita through the PSOne Classics line, but those do not have trophies and also, I do not currently own a PS3 or a Vita.  If only!

Though seeing Battle Chasers and being tempted to play the game, has made me want to read the comic again.

I know it was never finished and I have the first seven issues (somewhere), but I should treat myself to the Anthology series, actually read it, and then get the game.  That is how I should do it.

March 2020 Free PS Plus Games

Posted by John Klein III on February 26, 2020
Posted in: Fun With YouTube, Games, Websites. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

The March 2020 Free PS Plus Games are : Shadow of the Colossus and Sonic Forces!

Shadow of the Colossus is a PS2 game that was remastered by the same team that brought us the Uncharted Collection, Bluepoint Games.

Sonic Forces was the other game released to celebrate Sonic turning 25, and we got Sonic Mania way back in June 2019.

I am going to commit to at least killing the first Colossus and completing the first level set for Sonic, and then see where I go from there.

.  .  .

PSPrices

Shadow of the Colossus is typically a $20 game but goes as low as $10.

Sonic Forces is typically a $20 game but goes as low as $10, as well.

So both games are collectively $40 at their highest and $20 at their lowest.

We already got our money’s worth last month with our subscription for the high end.  For the low end, we were at $41 dollars and now we are at $61, so that is one more dollar than the subscription service, so all of the games for the rest of the year are pure bonus.  I may keep tracking it just to see what the overall value is for the subscription service.

I checked the PlayStation Store and none of the games have any paid DLC.  Sonic Forces Digital Standard Edition which came with the free Shadow DLC.  Shadow of the Colossus does not have any additional DLC.

.  .  .

Here are reddit’s responses to the announcement :

(Playstation Blog) PS+ March 2020 Titles: Shadow of the Colossus + Sonic Forces
byu/sensual_manatee inPS4

Shadow of the Colossus and Sonic Forces are your PS Plus games for March
byu/Erroneus inPlayStationPlus

[deleted by user]
by inPS4Deals

The most repeated criticism is that we are now three for three months wherein we have received a remaster.  Which I do not mind as I have been wanting to play Shadow of the Colossus for years now.  The other criticism of the month is that Sonic Force is the lesser of the two Sonic games, but I am sure it is still playable.

.  .  . 

Here are the videos from my YouTube peeps :

Nathan with PlayStation Access :

Now that Elle is leaving, Nathan is having to do the Free PS+ video and the store update videos again.

Adam of PlayStationGrenade :

Ben of Platinum Chasers :

.  .  .

Here are the PlayStationTrophies.org guides :

Shadow of the Colossus

https://www.playstationtrophies.org/game/shadow-of-the-colossus-ps4/guide/

Sonic Force

https://www.playstationtrophies.org/game/sonic-forces/guide/

.  .  .

Here is what I have been up to, gaming wise.

I earned my 28th Platinum with Adam’s Venture Origins, a pretty enjoyable game.  There were sections where it looked like collectibles were clearly meant to be added as there are some open spaces with nothing to explore.  The game literally had to point out the characters names were Adam and Eve(lyn).  Pretty clever.  My least favorite element was the stealth required for Chapter 14, it took a while for me to figure out the routes, and there were only two routes really.  Chapter 19 has the same stealth elements but I was able to figure it out fairly quickly.

I am considering Adam’s Venture Origins as a bonus platinum and still plan on earning Life is Strange : Before the Storm as my March Platinum.  Good to stock up on these.

.  .  . 

Erica, a game I really have been wanting for a while, is finally five dollars.  I did my first playthrough and only really messed up not walking across the carpet that Kirstie was cleaning.  My second playthrough was a tad more disastrous and has killed my buzz to continue with the game for a bit.  There is a moment when Detective Blake takes Erica back to her flat and he breaks open the neighbor’s door from across the hall.  We have a moment to either follow or stay and I desperately wanted to follow.  Instead, either the very gracious timer ran out or I did not hover the cursor over follow clearly enough.  So she stayed and I lost like 30 minutes or so, it could have been 20.  But it was so late at night that I did not want to restart it.  I did tweet at Flavorworks asking for a patch to make the cursor a tad user friendlier.

If it could be more like Late Shift, where the options are on the bottom of the screen or that I can choose what I want with the arrow prompts, that would be preferred.  You can use a phone app to play the game or the controller.  I did not like using my phone so I uninstalled the app but when you use the controller, you strictly use the touchpad.  Which is not that bad until you want some precise decisions to be made.

I will eventually get back to it but I am taking a break from the game.  I just have five more playthroughs, so I will do it but I will just move onward with my gaming rotation.

.  .  .

A game that is giving me no problems is Hitman Go.  I am purely playing along with a guide but I am having such a great time with the game.  I just love how it is like a chess board as we move Agent 47 around, completing either one of two goals.  Sometimes, all three goals can be met at once but it is a rare treat.  The goals are usually:  complete the mission, do it under x amount of times, grab a briefcase.  I have completed the first two chapters and have the third one of seven to complete next.

There is a Lara Croft Go but I may just wait on that one.  I have never really played any Tomb Raider games besides attempting the third one on the original PlayStation One, and I barely could jump over the water slide onto the vine back then.

.  .  .

With my final new game, Monopoly Family Fun Pack, I completed the Plus side of the pack and still have the Deal side to play.  Plus was a lot of fun, and that is the half of it that I wanted the game for.  There is a MyMonopoly DLC that is ten dollars, and it rarely goes on sale and when it does, it only goes down to eight dollars, so I probably will not be buying that anytime soon.

.  .  .

I am in my final two levels of Lego Batman 3 in Free Play.  I still have to go back and get the bulk of minikits, save Adam West, and obtain all of the character tokens.  My main goal was to go through all of the levels in Free Play, earning the character token that will make Bat-Mite happy, obtaining the Red Brick with Plastic Man, seeking out any minikits that I can find (now that I have the minikit detector), and rescuing Adam West (now that I also have his location detector).  I earned those last two red bricks, plus the character token red brick, way late in the process, so I will have to go back and get those.  But in that clean up, I just have to get the item I want, and jump out of the game, which is pretty nice.

I am making my way through all of the Lantern planets, with just two left, Odym and Okaara.  I am also making pretty good progress with the VR missions.  After all of that, I just have to chase down all of the gold bricks in the Batcave and the Watchtower.  Plus, all of the DLC missions have to be done in Free Play too, but I wanted to wait until I got all of the red bricks first so I can get those done in one.

.  .  .

I found a pretty handy guide to get the Sims 4 Platinum rather quickly :

https://psnprofiles.com/guide/9717-the-sims-4-platinum-trophy-walkthrough

I got the Full House trophy but could not download every recommended community pack, but it just feels wrong to earn the trophies in this way.  But I might commit as there are a few trophies that I rather not really put the work in for like outliving five spouses and making whoopie with a ghost and such.

In my proper file, I did master piano playing and programming, so that felt pretty good.  While taking a shower, I noted all of my instrument playing and cooking, I have gained like 30 pounds so, and all around my midsection, so that is not great.  I am working my painting skills now. I have to add a drink bar to my house so I can work on my mixology skill after that.

I have a real problem where I just want to play for like 30 minutes and I end up playing for hours, and I am staying up way too late!

.  .  .

PlayStation is celebrating six years of the PS4 with a PlayStation Player Celebration :

https://www.playstation.com/en-us/campaigns/2020/playstation-player-celebration/

I registered but never received a confirmation email but it states I completed 2/2 tasks so I believe I am in.

There are an assortment of prizes and giveaways.

Goal One is 125K games played, and 500K Trophies earned.  We already hit the games goal and we are at 281,972/500,000 trophies earned.

We get an exclusive PS4 static theme and matched avatar.

Goal Two is 375K games played, 1.5M trophies earned and we get a set of five avatars.  Joel and Ellie from The Last of Us 2, Aloi from Horizon Zero Dawn, and Drake from Uncharted 4.

Goal Three is 675K games played, 2.7M trophies earned.  We will earn an exclusive PS4 dynamic theme.

The next goal starts when the previous goal is met.

The grand prize, to be given away on March 17, is a real-life Platinum trophy (that I really really want!) with our PSN ID on it, a $100 PSN voucher, and voucher codes for a selection of the PS4’s greatest games.  Pictured is Horizon Zero Dawn, God of War, The Last of Us Remastered, and Uncharted 4.  So I would give away the Last of Us Remastered code, sell back my physical copy of Uncharted 4, and enjoy the heck out of Horizon Zero Dawn and God of War for the very first time.

I am pretty confident that the community will hit all of those goals pretty easily.  We just have to play one game for at least one hour (across multiple sessions) and each trophy earned goes toward the goal but multiplayer trophies count as double.  But only six trophies per day, so be careful out there!

We already got to the half way mark by the very first day so we are going to smash this!

I wonder how they came up with the 2.7M trophies number, seems very odd.