YouTube

All posts tagged YouTube

July 2020 Free PS Plus Games

Posted by John Klein III on June 30, 2020
Posted in: Fun With YouTube, Games, Websites. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

To celebrate PlayStation Plus turning 10 years old, the July 2020 Free PS Plus Games are :

NBA 2k20, Rise of the Tomb Raider, and Erica!

Apparently NBA 2k20 was recently four dollars, but I bought NBA 2k19 when it was three dollars, so I must have missed that other sale.  One basketball game would typically be enough for me, but I’m looking forward to playing the latest version of NBA.  Apparently 2k21 is slated to come out soonish.  Which I forgot it was announced during the PS5 Future of Gaming event.  To get back into the game, I redownloaded 2k19 and tried to get some of the easier trophies in MyNeighborhood.  Once I got my character from Preclude to the Phoenix Suns, I’m pretty sure I didn’t even play one game as a Sun.  Just having the jersey was enough for me.  Looking into it, it is a real shame that 2k20 doesn’t have a Prelude, as I saw 2k18 did.  It is a nice free DLC tutorial, but I get incorporating it into the game itself, if that is what they even did.  My gaming goal for 2k20 will be to start a new character and get him to the Suns again.

Rise of the Tomb Raider is the second sequel to the rebooted trilogy.  I have been having Tomb Raider on my mind, since replaying Uncharted 4, and wanting to watch the Tomb Raider films again, especially latest one that I have never seen.  Neither of the three films are available for streaming, but hopefully that changes relatively soon.  I added 2013’s Tomb Raider to my psprices wishlist, and I see the Definitive edition goes on sale for five dollars, but I wouldn’t mind playing Rise prior to the first game, as that’s what I have.

Erica is a game I bought when it was five dollars.  I had remembered it as I had completed two playthroughs and had been forced into making a decision I didn’t want to due to not getting the cursor to land where I wanted to in a third playthrough.  Turns out, I had only completed the one playthrough and that had occurred in my third.  So I completed my second playthrough last night, using the app, and it did seem to work out better than using the touchpad.  I’m going to complete a third playthrough and keep the game in my game rotation for the month of July.  There is only six playthroughs, so I should be able to do all six of them in July or August.  Using the app did seem to give me a few additional seconds to make a choice, but I could be remembering it wrong.

Some people are complaining about these being the games to celebrate 10 years, but it seems like a pretty decent month to me, and I’m pretty happy that Erica is getting some attention that it deserves.

.  .  .

PSPrices

NBA 2k20 is currently a $60 game, but goes as low as $19.79, so maybe people are remembering 2k19’s amazing sale and not 2k20.

Rise of the Tomb Raider is typically a $30 game, but goes as low as $8.39.

Erica is typically a $10 game, but goes as low as $4.99.

Our currently running value of PS Plus is $131, with us considering Call of Duty WWII a bonus game.  So we’ll round up and add $34 to the total to make $165, and that’s us now in the second half of the year, so I’ll say we definitely have gotten our value from the service for our $45 investment.  Plus, hopefully the price doesn’t go up too much for the PS5, but hopefully it still goes on sale for either Black Friday or the holiday season.

PS Store

NBA 2k20 has the standard edition for $60, and the game is heavily influenced by microtransactions.

5,000 VC for $2
15,000 VC for $5
35,000 VC for $10
75,000 VC for $20
200,000 VC for $50
450,000 VC for $100

There is a Digital Deluxe edition for $80 and a Legend Edition for $100.

Free International Commentary so I’ve downloaded that already.

I’ve never been tempted to buy VC (the game’s currency), but you do earn a small amount with most things you do in the game.  Just not as much.

Rise of the Tomb Raider is the 20 Year Celebration edition, so it comes with all five DLC.

Erica also does not have any additional content.

.  .  .

Here are reddit’s reactions to the games :

PS4

PlayStation Plus July games lineup & a thank you for 10 years of supporting PS Plus from PS4

PlayStation Plus

As PS Plus reaches its tenth anniversary, your games for July are revealed: NBA 2K20, Rise of the Tomb Raider and Erica from PlayStationPlus

PS4Deals

PS+ Free Games July 2020 – NBA 2K20, Rise of the Tomb Raider & Erica | PSN | Available July 7th from PS4Deals

Not sure what is happening with the Plus subreddit, they were trying to link to Twitter.

.  .  .

Here are my YouTube peeps :

Nathan of PlayStation Access :

Adam of PlayStation Grenade :

Ben of Platinum Chasers :

Ben has a fun little intro as the announcement came on a Monday instead of the traditional Wednesday, is like three months in a row of the announcement breaking from tradition.

Turns out, Walker Dennis is quite familiar with PlayStation Grenade thanks to Adam’s great videos relating to Goat Simulator.

.  .  .

Here are PlayStation Trophies.org’s guides to the games :

https://www.playstationtrophies.org/game/nba-2k20/guide/

https://www.playstationtrophies.org/game/rise-of-the-tomb-raider/guide/

https://www.playstationtrophies.org/game/erica-na-ps4/guide/

https://www.playstationtrophies.org/forum/erica/339001-erica-platinum-walkthrough-text-guide.html

Hey, NBA 2k20 has a guide!  I immediately checked and no one made a 2k19 guide, so I’m still just stumbling my way through getting those.

I apparently made some mistake in my first two playthroughs of Erica and did not earn Fall Out Girl, so hopefully one of the other playthroughs has me redo one of those activities, but it is pretty early on in the game, so it shouldn’t take too much and the recommended sixth playthrough is essentially play the entire game except do this one thing towards the end, so that’s when I will ensure I annoy each of the ladies then.

.  .  .

I’ve been making some great headway and keeping with my gaming rotation.  I will have to modify it to include two new games, but it was fun during the previous cycle.  It really just helps when I have so many episodic games to play.

I finally earn the Kifflom trophy in Grand Theft Auto V, which was one of the non-story related trophies I felt I was capable of earning.  I believe I did what was necessary to earn my million dollars for Online, but clearly I never checked again.  I will sometime around July 15, when I try to earn another million dollars.  Then I will play another mission or so.  I left the game where Michael is working for a movie producer and Franklin and Trevor are doing some mission Michael is not involved in.  So I will do the Franklin/Trevor mission and another studio mission as that was fun, and call it good.

I started playing Ratchet & Clank, and kept just thinking to myself, what an amazing game!  I really want to watch the movie now, but it isn’t streaming anywhere and I really don’t want to spend more than five dollars through VUDU and I want to say it was still asking $15 for it, and it came out in 2016 and I’m probably the only one wanting to watch it who hasn’t.  Well, I guess they just announced Rift in Time, so the desire is probably coming back, but I will watch for a sale for it.

Just because I was already at VUDU, they want $18 for the Angelina Jolie two films, and $15 for Alicia Vikander’s 2018 remake.  I do like how Lara Croft has been portrayed by two Oscar winners, she deserves that.  Jolie won for 2000’s Girl, Interrupted, Best Supporting Actress, and Vikander for 2016’s The Danish Girl, Best Supporting Actress, so also fun that they both won for Supporting Actress, as well.  $33 is a bit much for those three films, I’ll say.  Shame VUDU isn’t doing a three movie bundle like they often do for other movies, but that’s probably a rights issue.

I left Ratchet & Clank on Gaspar looking for 60 brains, which was super annoying to me as I found 40 on my own, and can’t really fathom where the other 20 could be.  Then I was reading the guide, and at some point, we earn a map that makes finding the brains way easier, so I’ll have to make progress and come back.  I really liked the flamethrower weapon, the Pyro Blaster.  I have it completely leveled up to 5, so I’ve taken it out of my weapon setup, but I’m missing it dearly, but I clearly won’t use other weapons otherwise.  Well, that isn’t true, I was using Mr. Zurkon as well, who I also loved as our buddy buddy.  I do wonder if Clank is jealous or annoyed by Mr. Zurkon.  Mr. Zurkon gives these amazing quips and I also have him maxed at level 5, so he’s out of the rotation.  The game is a lot harder without my main assets, but that’s on me, I should have been balancing them more.  Turns out, in New Game Plus, I can raise these higher to level 10, so I’m excited about that possibility.

I really got into Detroit Become Human playing for several more nights than I was expecting.  I was also surprised to see Connor come back, as I got him killed in the very first mission.  My Connor, unfortunately, is not very good, he’s let Kara escape (as how could I let him capture her?  She’s the best!), but he also failed to catch the bird Android person and also failed to figure out where murderous sex robot went, which he’s upset with himself almost as much as I’m upset with myself over it.  The bird android, I get, as we lost track of him in that final stage, but the sex robot, we were doing everything possible, but I was having to talk to more androids than expected.

Kara and Alice are still save, and we got new buddy Lucifer now too.  We’ve been to the abandoned amusement park.  That mansion where we meet Lucifer was intense!

Markus has met his crew and I want to ship him and North so hard!  Turns out, she’s played by Minka Kelly, so she’s giving Kara’s actress, Valorie Curry a run for her money.  But I still like Kara more, especially as Markus keeps doing at least one thing that annoys North, but then she makes it pretty clear what she wants to have happen next happen, and I make those decision so easily, even if it annoys the rest of the crew.  Valorie Curry was on Amazon’s The Tick, so now I really want to watch that show.

I meant to keep playing even more but then I was reading up on what skills I need in The Council and it made me really want to play that game.  Seriously, I really want more people to play The Council.  The first episode is free, and I love how it is a TellTale style of game, but with a skill tree.  I love the act of finding out which skills I need, I make a list, when it comes time to pump skills into the tree, I find out which ones I really needed during the previous quest, and I raise those skills and see how it effects the next quest.  I completed Episode 2, and just having a great time with this historical fiction.  I can’t wait to jump into Episode 3!

I finally got around to playing Metal Gear Solid V : Ground Zeroes.  I thought I was doing a pretty decent job at stealth, but I would blow my cover, but I eventually got my two buddies rescued.  It got intense towards the end of it, but I figured out a path, and got her out of there.  I hate to write this, as it may be controversial, but I think I much prefer Sniper Elite IV’s stealth to Metal Gear Solid V, but I was instantly taken by Sniper Elite IV, and I will give Ground Zeroes a couple more tries and try to get good with it.

I finished Chapter Eight of Uncharted 4, such a fun game.  Here is another game where there is just a lot of fighting, and I forget that besides amazing set pieces, that the game is a cover shooter.  Like, I forget all of the combat that is required to get through, just to get to the next place.  I’m playing on Normal, and I’m sure the two lower difficulties probably has less enemies, but after completing a chapter, I usually feel pretty good with my progress.

I finished the second episode of King’s Quest.  Still really enjoying the game.  I had to do one full run of Episode 2, and then pretty much two thirds of a playthrough, twice, to get the other two endings.  I recall reading Episode Four might be the same way with having to create saves to save time, but I’m still here for it.  A fun game, the characters are fun, not enough of Amaya for my taste, but she was barely in the first episode as well.  I doubt she becomes the future queen, but if she is, that would be amazing.

Doing these episodic games, I was reminded that we never completed the first episode of TellTale’s Back to the Future game.  So I completed my run, and then I helped Walker Dennis complete his run.  He started the second episode and the controls seem to be a tad better.  There was a lot of back tracking in 1955 that I wouldn’t have minded so much, if when I press the left direction, Marty walked in the left direction.  Because of camera angles, or not implementing a better control scheme, I was holding down to make him to across the screen in the right direction.  It wouldn’t have been so bad, but I was running across the central area and going to the soup kitchen and the jail a bunch, and the controls could have been a tad better.

A game that has pretty much perfect controls is Batman : Arkham Aslyum.  I finished the game with locking Harley up and moving onto the Botanical Gardens.  I forgot how creepy those lunatics are, and two different ones jumps on my back and gave me quite the freight!  That’s when I knew it was bed time.  I meant to play more, but then the free games were announced I wanted to play Erica’s second playthrough and that took almost two hours, but I still had enough time to knock out some easier trophies in NBA 2k19.

.  .  . 

Because I had filled the PS4 with my current game rotation and to make room for Erica and NBA 2k19, I had to delete Uncharted 4, Ratchet & Clank, GTA V (which was probably the only one I really needed to delete), and Detroit Become Human.  It was fun to revisit those games, but removing those games freed up a bunch of space.  Oh, and I deleted Final Fantasy XIV as well.  I clearly was not coming back that game any time soon.  So I should have enough space now for Rise of the Tomb Raider and I will delete NBAS 2k19, once I have 2k20.  I thought progress carried over between games, but I also clearly never finished a season, so what would I be carrying over?  I just checked and NBA 2k20’s demo is not the prelude, it does not have a story mode that benefits the game, so that’s pretty disappointing.  So I will spend a night (hopefully) of running around the neighborhood to earn the Marathon Man trophy and delete 2k19 in preparation of 2k20.

I’m sure I will redownload Uncharted 4 and Ratchet & Clank again as the desire will return, especially Ratchet & Clank, as I’m sure Rise of the Tomb Raider will scratch the Uncharted itch.

.  .  .

My beautiful wife got me the best Father’s Day present ever!  I am now the proud owner of a PlayStation Vita!  I’ve been wanting one for so long!  She also treated me to a 16GB SD card so I was able to fill the thing up with so many games, that I eventually had to delete a few as I got carried away with wondering how many filled up the 16GB as the first few games I downloaded, were super small.  Turns out, and I’m still getting used to the store format through the Vita, but I did claim some additional games that I didn’t think I did.  So that has been nice, and even one game I didn’t even know I had access too.  That game is Super Mutant Alien Assault.

At first, I had no intention of redownloading games I have played on the PS4 that were cross play, but then I realized how silly that was as that eliminated like 20 games, and I decided against that policy when I realized I had 20 Vita games, when I thought I only had like six.

Every Wednesday, I’m going to check psprices (I do this regardless) to see the cheap Vita games and slowly start building my collection.  Especially if the game is cross play as I like to give them a shot on the big TV before playing them on the Vita.  I bought Blasting Agent : Ultimate Edition as it was $1.19, and worth a risk.  I saw Cel Damaged was on sale for $3, but I think I can hold off on buying games until they are under $2, especially as I have so many new games I haven’t even played yet.

I did buy Demetrois : Big Cynical Adventure after reading it was a visual novel with a twist, and I think I really want to turn my Vita into a Visual Novel machine, as those seem to be perfect carry around and play type of games.

I write that but I have been playing King Oddball like crazy!  To the point, where I want to reinstall it onto the PS4 as I’ve been making crazy progress, but I’m also okay with not doing that.  Such a great game, if you want Angry Birds, but with a floating head that throws rocks using his tongue, King Oddball is the game for you!

I also been playing Sparkle 2 for a lot longer than I ever gave it a chance on the PS4.  I am mentally committed to playing it until I earned the Play for 4 Hours trophy, but I’ll probably see it to the end.

Divekick is a very fun fighting game, either we jump or we are divekicking.  I did one playthrough as the bear character and now I’m currently playing as Dive, brother to Kick.  Though I am playing with the YOLO gem, so one kick to me, and I lose and I have to kick my opponent five times, one kick per round.  It is for a trophy, and it like King Oddball, as a real “just one more go” feel to it.

Draw Slasher is not the Ninja Fruit clone I thought it was going to be, but I understand now where they make that comparison.  It is more of a side scrolling fighting game, where we are constantly swiping our sword at opponents.  Pretty fun, I beat the boss and felt good with my progress.  I’m essentially just trying out a slew of games to see what I take too.

For instance, I did not take to Atomic Ninjas, there is a lot of depth and abilities to the game, maybe a few too many, and I’m just plain not good at it.  Like, I felt good at the beginning of the tutorial, but then it goes on for like six additional abilities and then I try it for real, and I just end up bouncing around the area and shoving people into fire.

I sort of want to buy a 32GB SD card, but those things are so expensive but I just want to have access to all of my games.  Which is silly a the PS4 has clearly trained me to only keeping like six games at any given time.

Blasting Agent : Ultimate Edition was fun until I got to the second boss fight.  It took so many tries, but I did it, and felt I got my $1.19 out of it.  It also served as a cautionary tale to maybe not just buy every dollar game out there.

I really want to get Uncharted : Golden Abyss, I rather not spend $15 on it, but I think I might just be getting to the point that I want to play one of the best Vita titles out there.  I also saw there was Batman Origins Blackgate for the Vita, and I sort of want that game too.  Hopefully with people’s interest in the Vita since that one moment in The Last of Us Part 2, sales for games will start kicking in.  I saw there are already two company’s who are going back to developing games for the system, so hopefully that is a new trend.

I’m still no good at 36 Fragments of Midnight, but I feel like it could be a perfect Vita game.  Usually I tuck Walker Dennis in at night, then I sit and play on the Vita until he falls asleep, which has been nice as there were a few nights (too many, to be honest), where I started getting sleepy myself, and either dozed off or became to sleepy to hang out with my wife.  Now I am pretty alert and ready to hang out, so it has been worth it.

The Vita has a tutorial to learn more about its function, Welcome Park, and there were trophies associated with it, so I gave that a try.  I’m no good at that jigsaw puzzle, but I’m never good with those where we are missing a piece and have to move all of the tiles along to form the puzzle.

I’m hoping Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross go on sale, they were on sale in March or so, and if I knew I was getting a Vita then (it was still a dream at that point), I would have bought them when they were $5 each, instead of $10.  If they had trophy support, I would just buy them right now, but they don’t, so I’m holding out for a sale.

So a lot of gaming stuff is happening around me and I’m super excited for July!

Playing Star Wars Battlefront II & Call of Duty WWII / Future of Gaming PS5

Posted by John Klein III on June 17, 2020
Posted in: Fun With YouTube, Games. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

I finally got around to completing what I wanted to complete in Star Wars Battlefront II, so here is my article.

Call of Duty WWII was pretty fun.  I was enjoying the first two story missions and could see myself going back for more.  The multiplayer was nice, I got my first ten kills, and got a trophy, and felt I experienced it enough.

Star Wars Battlefront II on the other hand, I had a lot more fun with.  I am no good with the spaceship missions.  I completed two of the story missions, it starts with some space battles, and then we land into another ship.  That was when I wanted to try multiplayer.  I did all of the arcade modes for the training of it all.  Then I did all of the multiplayer options until I won one of each for those trophies.  Some of them took much longer than others, probably because I was on their teams, but I feel like I was getting better at it, as I was playing.

Both games are off of my PS4, which freed up a bunch of room.

.  .  .

I’ve been playing a slew of games again.

Lego Worlds, I have completed the first three tutorial levels, and explored an icy world.  Walker Dennis has really taken to the game, he spends a lot of time on the Monster World.

World of Warships : Legends, I’m not sure what made me stumble across this game, I was searching for something else, and saw this free game.  I looked into it for the USS Arizona, and if I bought the Firepower Deluxe $30 combo pack, I could get a slew of great upgrades and ships, including the USS Arizona.  $30 is way more than I want to spend on a free game, and we could earn in-game currency to buy it, but that specific currency is a very slow earn.  Which I completely get, as there is a $30 combo pack that needs buying.  I played for a decent amount, I unlock Standard battles, which would be the PvP aspect of the game, but I really enjoyed the PvC aspect.  It felt like a team effort, and I wasn’t being shown up by veterans of the game.  I was able to pull my weight, which I appreciated.  The game looks amazing, and the learning curve is not steep at all.  Unfortunately, there were two games where we were being blasted out of the water, were down to two ships, and neither ship was even playing.  Which was irritating, but it was good experience.

That’s You, I was reminded PlayStation Access played this game and I recall how I bought this game for 25 cents at the GameStop in Missoula.  Walker Dennis was nice enough to play with me.  I went for some easy trophies, and we had a pretty decent time.  The game was over in like 20 minutes or so, it was very fast.

Lego Dimensions, I got the Scooby Doo and Shaggy team pack, with the Mystery Machine.  There are 27 gold bricks in the Scooby world and I was able to get 25 of them.  The two I am missing is a dumb car racing one, and another is a dumb flying one.  I tried so many times, and then I remembered I have a backlog of games (that I’m adding too, all of the time!), and just gave up.  25 out of 27 is pretty good, I’ll write.  Such a fun world and I loved how it got me using characters I haven’t used in forever.  I was clearing the underwater gold bricks and ended up using Slimer, Evan Hunt, and a Cyberman.  There was a Portal gold brick and a Ghostbusters good brick as well.

It really made me want to put aside some more money and buy more characters, but I need to start saving for a bigger item, I think.

36 Fragments of Midnight, is a game that is currently 89 cents, and is on many lists for easy platinums.  Which I am super annoyed by, as clearly, I am not going to be able to earn this easy platinum.  I can get up to 29 fragments, and then I fall apart.  Either the map is too big and I’m not used to it yet, or I’m rushing it as there are two timed trophies.  One is to beat the game in ten minutes and another is to beat it in six minutes.  But I clearly cannot even get the final seven fragments, but I keep trying.  It really is a pleasant platformer and a real mellow experience.

King’s Quest, I subscribed to the King’s Quest subreddit, even though I mostly only like King’s Quest IV with Rosella.  I heard she was in the PS4 version, but in the later chapters.  Like, The Council, the first chapter of five, is free.  So I downloaded it, and I had a really great time with it.  We play as King Graham, voiced by legend Christopher Lloyd.  He’s retelling his earlier adventures to his granddaughter.  If the collection ever drops below ten dollars, I’ll buy the rest of it.  Wallace Shawn is another voice actor in the game, and they worked in his great scene from The Princess Bride, with the poisoned cups.

Grand Theft Auto V, I started playing this again an obvious reason I will get into below, and having a pretty good time again.  I have been playing the Kifflom mission with the Epsilon Program.  It is the last non-story trophy I believe I will earn.  I’ve been waiting to start this quest and it feels good to do it, it is very long.  I am about to do the five miles in the desert mission, so I am pretty close to completing it.  While wearing the robes for 10 days, I bought the helicopter pad, stole a helicopter, and flew around the map and finally earned the sight seer trophy.

Walker Dennis has been really into Back to the Future, watching the trilogy, taking a day break from it, and then starting it all over again.  That first movie really is a perfect movie.  We’ve been playing in the Back to the Future world in Lego Dimensions and I even took the time to find a Ruiner in GTA V and bought a red vested suit.

So that has been a lot of fun.  Walker started the TellTale game and has gotten decently farther into the first episode than I did, earning a few additional trophies. So now I want to at least catch up to him on my own file, so I have it on my list to at least play and complete the first chapter.  It is very different than the other TellTale games I played, there is a lot of back and forth and exploring and going back to areas.  It isn’t as straight forward as the Batman games.  But now my playthrough should be much quicker now that I know where to go.

For the big sale that is happening, I did buy The Council, and keep wanting to jump right into it, but I put these games first to get out of my system.  I also bought Metal Gear Solid V Definitive Edition, so now I feel like I can properly say I’m a fan of Rob from PlayStation Access.  Not a super fan yet, as I would need to have bought Skyrim.

.  .  .

We were treated to the big PS5 presentation on June 11.

The system looks amazing, but I really want a classic PlayStation black edition, or another limited edition.  The white is nice, but I feel like it is going to be a real dust collector.

Thanks to PlayStation for hosting their own presentation.

Below are my Top 10 game moments from the presentation!  I’m just going in the order as presented.

10

GTA V is going to join the ranks of Resident Evil 2 and Skyrim, and be on as many consoles as possible.  PS4 owners of GTA V will be given a million dollars for GTA Online each month until the PS5 is releaed.  As I enjoy free money, either real or digitally, I figured I’ll take advantge of it and play the game.  I want that Kifflom trophy, then I will do one additional mission, and then probably put the game onto the back burner until next month.

Interesting choice to start with a PS3 game, but I think it was a good transition from the PS4 to PS5.

9

I am fully committed to waiting a solid year for Black Friday 2021 to buy a PS5 (or have that be the earliest I will buy it) as I want it to drop a $100, as there is now it will be released between the $300 to $400 range.  But seeing Spider-Man : Miles Morales, oh boy.  I want a PS5 so much!  I know waiting a year is the right play, plus all of these amazing games will be a tad cheaper by then, but gosh, this teaser looks amazing!

People keep saying it is going to work like Uncharted : Lost Legacy, where it is a smaller game, using the bigger game’s engine, but improved graphically, and a bold new story.  So I am here for this!  I really should add Uncharted 4 to my list of games to reinvest time into.

8

I deleted Call of Duty WWII and Star Wars Battlefront II, as I needed room to play all of the games I was inspred to play.  One of those was Ratchet and Clank, which I plan on playing for at least a level, after I have completed my current fun with GTA V.

I’m also a fan of the title, Rift Apart, such clever word play.

7

I’m not sure what Stray is about, but it looks super intriguing.  Developed by BlueTwelve and published by Annapurna Interactive are bringing us the game, and I’ve been wanting to do a deep dive into other Annapurna Interactive games after really enjoying What Remains of Edith Finch.  Donut County, Ashen, and Kentucky Route Zero, all look pretty interesting.  They also published Flower and Journey too, so a name I should trust.

Seeing the robots in this game, inspired me to reinstall Detroit Become Human, so I’m going to at least play another chapter of that game.  My main focus right now is playing chapters of games, and just having a fun time with it.

6

Sackboy A Big Adventure had a very fun opening, as I was like “Tony the Tiger, the Game?”  Then I saw the zipper on his chest, and I knew we were in for a good time.

5

Kena Bridge of Spirits, looks like a lovely platformer in the same vein as Rachet and Clank.  It looks amazing.  Ember Labs is the developer and publisher of the game.

4

Miles Morales is my clear favorite of the list, but my very close second will have to be, Goodbye, Volcano High.  It just looks super interesting, and I just want to know more about it!  It is being developed by KO_OP.

3

Solar Ash gave me real RiME vibes.  This game is also being published by Annapurna Interactive.  The game is being developed by Heart Machine, so no connections to RiME, besides my initial reaction to it.

2

Hitman III is coming to PS5!  I really wish I was better at these games, but they are so big that I sort of get lost in all of the options, but I really should commit to playing the first game again.

1

Horizon Forbidden West is coming to PS5!  So I’m predicting now that at some point this year, Horizon Zero Dawn will be a free PS+ title.  Which probably isn’t saying much as I’ve been predicting it for a while, but it has to be now, right?

Solar Ash is more of a bonus item, but of course, none of these games will be possible without . . .

The PlayStation 5!

I’m mostly looking forward to getting some truly amazing games for the PS4 through PS+, and then some incredible indie games for the PS5, if they run the program like they did when the PS4 originally came out, with smaller PS4 titles and bigger PS3 titles.

What are you mostly looking forward to?

YouTuber, 6BURGH Gaming, was nice enough to write the following time stamps for the presentation of the 26 games :

     GTA V – 3:50
     Spider-Man Miles Morales – 5:49
     GT7 – 7:30
     Ratchet & Clank Rift Apart – 10:08
     Project Athia – 15:49
     Stray – 17:01
     Returnal – 20:48
     Sackboy A Big Adventure – 23:10
     Destruction All-Stars – 25:20
     Kena Bridge of Spirits – 27:32
     Goodbye Volcano High – 29:54
     Oddworld Soulstorm – 31:50
     Ghostwire Tokyo – 34:10
     Jett The Far Shore – 36:10
     Godfall – 38:34
     Solar Ash – 40:00
     Hitman 3 – 41:47
     Astro’s Playroom – 44:28
     Little Devil Inside – 45:23
     NBA 2K21 – 47:39
     Bugsnax – 49:01
     Demon’s Souls – 52:10
     Deathloop – 54:17
     Resident Evil Village – 57:50
     Pragmatic – 1:01:00
     Horizon Forbidden West – 1:03:35
     CONSOLE – 1:08:31

These are exciting times!

New Mutants January 2020 Trailer

Posted by John Klein III on June 2, 2020
Posted in: Fun With YouTube, Websites. Tagged: , , , , , . 4 Comments

Thanks for friend of the blog, MoxieMk5, for tipping me to the very last seconds of the New Mutants trailer from January!

Thanks to 20th Century Studios for still hosting the video!

Right at the 2:15 minute mark, you can see Illyana approaching the Demon Bear and a little something or another is shooting it on the left side, also with a blue flame. Which matches Illyanan’s soulsword’s flame.

I took the biggest picture I could, so feel free to click on it and see those sweet Lockheed wings in mid-flap!

TVandMovieNews has a slightly better picture :

New Mutants Trailer Accidentally Reveals X-Men’s Pet Dragon’s Role

So this is pretty exciting news. Of course, he has to still make the cut, but the film still has to make that cut too.

I’ve been thinking about it, as the CW has been having New Mutants sponsored commercials during DC’s Legends of Tomorrow. Which I really am glad the best Arrowverse show (by a bunch!) is getting to end their season properly.

I’m surprised they haven’t just put this on Disney Plus already and called it a day. I get that there probably needs to be some marketing behind it so that viewers know that this is not the Mutants coming to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, that it is more of a final thing from FOX that will be X-Related, but I’m sure there are articles that will do the work for Disney. Like this one, for instance. 😉

Thanks again MoxieMk5, for having me take a closer look at it. I watched the trailer initially in January, but on my phone, but watching it on our TV, Lockheed can be seen a lot clearer.

. . .

I’ve been playing a slew of Final Fantasy XIV, still. I’m just loving how easy the quests are, nothing seems overly challenging, or long. Is it a lot of fetch quests? Sure. Do I go around killing a slew of creatures? Yes. Is it buckets of fun? Definitely!

I tried to join the Pugilist Guild, and the Thaumaturge Guild. Pugilist, I could get behind as who doesn’t enjoy bare knuckle fighting? Thaumaturge, on the other hand, I guess I’m not much into magic, or the animation takes so long, that it killed my buzz. I also didn’t care for how I restarted at Level 1 for both guilds, but it also makes sense too, as our levels are the current level in the guild, and not player character level. But still, I am a Level 16 Gladiator, and I rather just keep doing that until I reach a limit, if there is a limit.

I was about to do a mission on a shore city, past the Footfalls. I’m horrible with the names of the cities. I’m barely getting familiar with the layout of Ul’dah and the Steps of Thal. When I got a message about my gear may be breaking soon. It was a ring on my right hand, which I have to admit, I am mostly only caring about my actual cosmetics that I can visually see. I completed all of the first wave of training, so now my wife is running around in a pretty cool suit of armor.

I really like how she got glasses, but I sort of miss her having a helm. But I rather her have glasses over a hat as she’s prone to actually where glasses, and is not much of a hat person.

Unfortunately, when I am a Alchemist or Pugilist, I have lose all of my gear and go back to my default look, which is rather disappointing. Not as disappointing as all of my gear is still shown, just with tiny blue x’s, meaning I cannot select those. I rather just have the options I can choose from, rather than everything I can’t use, but I imagine it is an inventory issue, showing me my limited space, but I imagine it will take a long time to fill all of the slots, per category.

But I was curious about what I would have to do about completing my own repairs. So I checked out this site :

https://ffxiv.consolegameswiki.com/wiki/Crafting

Of course, there is not simply one guild that grants us the Repair skill. I figured it wouldn’t be as easy as Fallout 4, but I was definitely not expecting eight guilds that would need to be ranked.

But I figured I might as well start with the three I have available to me at the Steps of Thal in Ul’dah.

Alchemist
Goldsmith
Weaver

I sort of want to rush to get to Limsa Lominsa, as that is where I can learn to fish, apparently.

I’m currently at level 10 of the Alchemist Guild. I got a trophy for completing my first alchmany experiment, so that was pretty exciting, and will at least get me to attempt the other two guilds. I have a Crafting Log, and one of the 6-10 skills, requires me to get a Princess Trout, and of course, the store person doesn’t sell that one, so I have to skip it in my crafting log, which really bugs me. I could fish for Princess Trout, but I’m under the impression I am nowhere near that other city that gives me that ability. Reading the description for Princess Trout

https://ffxiv.consolegameswiki.com/wiki/Princess_Trout

I don’t see that I have any other way to get it. So I will have to move on in my crafting log. I’m not sure how far I will get with the Alchemist Guild, as it was pretty expensive to keep buying supplies for my recipes, but I was just having a great time doing everything and going down the list.

There is a trophy for making 1000 crafts as an Alchemist, but I doubt I have made more than a 100 items already, probably more like 50, so I will probably never see that trophy.

I’m not sure exactly when the game will ask me for a subscription service, if it is 30 days from when I started, or once I reach level 30, but I definitely feel like I’ve experienced the game. I will in no way pay to continue playing it, but I am curious how far into it can I get. I don’t believe it ever stated, your 30 days start here, or after this date, you shall pay for the service. I am definitely not bored with the game, and if it wasn’t for the subscription service, I could see the game being in my constant queue of games to play.

So I will probably try to either get to level 15 in the Alchemist Guild, or I may just jump right over to Goldsmith the next time I play the game.

. . .

I played a bit of Call of Duty WWII and I have added Star Wars Battlefront II to my download queue. So hopefully Battlefront is prime for me to play tonight, if not, I may have to delete some more items. I heard we need 120GB, but I just read how we may need more like 200GB of free space, to make up for the room, so I may have to delete Call of Duty WWII, and call my weekend with the game good.

Once I have played a bit of Battlefront, I will write my official reaction to the two games.

Tomorrow is also the official kick off of the Days of Play promotion so expect lots of sales of PS4 games! Hopefully Vita games too!

June 2020 Free PS Plus Games

Posted by John Klein III on May 29, 2020
Posted in: Fun With YouTube, Games, Websites. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

The June 2020 Free PS Plus Games are :

Call of Duty WWII and Star Wars Battlefront II!

Both are multiplayer shooter games, but both also have single player campaigns, so that sounds pretty great.

Call of Duty WWII is available now, and Battlefront II will be available to download on June 2nd.

.  .  .

PSPrices

Call of Duty WWII is the standard edition, that they do not sale anymore, so typically if someone wanted to buy this game, that person would have had to buy the Gold Edition, which is typically $60.  So that makes it pretty hard to determine the proper value of this game.  The Gold Edition goes as low as $19.79.

Star Wars Battlefront II is typically $20, but goes as low as $6.24.

Our running total on the value of PS Plus, is $126, so let’s just add $7 to make $131, and we’ll just say Call of Duty WWII has been a free game, going forward.

PS Store

Both games have a slew of DLC.

Call of Duty WWII

200 points for $2
2,400 points for $20
5,000 points for $40
9,500 points for $75
13,000 points for $100

C.O.D.E. Personalization Pack Bundle for $10
The Resistance DLC Pack 1 for $6 (on sale now, typically $15)
War Machine DLC Pack 2, $6 (on sale now, typically $15)
The United Front DLC Pack 3, $6 (on sale now, typically $6)
Shadow War DLC Pack 4 for $6 (on sale now, typically $15)
Endowment Fear Not add-on for $5

Season Pass $20 (on sale now, typically $50)
Gold Edition for $60
Digital Deluxe Edition for $100

There is a Premium SHAREfactory that is free, so I downloaded that.
Endowment Fear Not Dynamic Theme for $4

So the Season Pass seems to save you four dollars, and probably comes with some additional stuff.

Star Wars Battlefront 2

Apparently there is a PSP/Vita version of the game for $10

There are two free static themes and a SHAREfactory theme, so I downloaded those.

Celebration Edition upgrade for $25
Celebration Edition for $40

200 Crystals Pack for $2.49
500 Crystals Pack for $5
1,000 Crystals Pack for $10
2,100 Crystals Pack for $20
4,400 Crystal Packs for $40

So it seems like the base game is good enough.

.  .  .

Here are reddit’s responses.  The announcement was delayed for The Last of Us Part 2’s State of Play, and there was discussion if Call of Duty WWII was a bonus game or one of the two titles, as two years ago, Black Ops III was given away around this time, then we were given two proper titles.

PS4

Star Wars Battlefront II and Call of Duty: WWII are your PS Plus games for June from PS4

PlayStation Plus

Star Wars Battlefront II and Call of Duty: WWII are your PS Plus games for June from PlayStationPlus

PS4Deals

PS+ June games: Star Wars Battlefront II and Call of Duty from PS4Deals

Some comments are stating how the games are pretty massive, download size wise.  So that’s good to know.  I’m going to have to clear an additional 100gb when I get home tonight.

.  .  .

Here are what my YouTube peeps are saying :

Rob of PlayStation Access :

Adam of PlayStation Grenade, he did two videos as the games were announced.

Ben of Platinum Chasers :

.  .  .

Here is PlayStationTrophies.org’s guides to both games :

https://www.playstationtrophies.org/game/call-of-duty-ww2/guide/

https://www.playstationtrophies.org/game/star-wars-battlefront-2/guide/

So my main goal is to attempt the single player campaigns for both games, and maybe attempt multiplayer trophies that are pretty easy to obtain?

.  .  .

There are two pretty good sales going on right now.  One is another Games under $20 sale, and the other is a Double Discount Sale.

Double Discounts Sale | NA PSN | Ends 6/10 from PS4Deals

Lego Star Wars Force Awakens, Deluxe Edition, is finally $7.19 again, so I snatched it up.  I believe the only Lego games we are missing now for the PS4 are Worlds and Hobbit.  Which I guess I will buy those once they drop to under ten dollars.

Next week is supposed to be the beginning of PlayStation’s Days to Play, with loads of discounts, so that’s something to get excited about.  I am hoping there are some deals on Vita games.

.  .  .

In the past few weeks, I have been playing a slew of games.  Well, sampling games, I supposed.

One reason not to be upset about Call of Duty WWII not being considered a bonus game, is that we were given the base game of Final Fantasy XIV for free.  From what I can tell, you don’t have to pay the subscription fee until you reach level 30 or something like that.  I’m not sure how much more I will be playing it, but I have been having a great time.  For my own anxiety, I am trying to not fill up my duty journal with tasks, as my first night playing, I was racking up quests, but now I am level 10, and just learning how to do more things, and I am finally comfortable with the little of the map that I have explored, that I’m just taking one quest at a time, possibly two or three, if they are nearby.  I made a gladiator modeled after my wife, and I think she came out pretty well.

I’m mostly looking for outfits with purple in them, so I’m hoping those will be coming soon.  I need to get her some armor for her waist.

It took so long, but totally worth, but I finally earned some pants for her!

.  .  .

We watched the Sonic movie, and had a very good time.  We rented it through VUDU, but Walker has since fallen in love with the character, so after payday, we will probably be buying it.  I downloaded Sonic Mania and Sonic Forces again.  I made no progress on Sonic Mania, so that was lousy.  Sonic Forces, on the other hand, I completed several more levels, so that has been fun returning to the game.  I really should be playing one level of it, and then bouncing to Final Fantasy XIV, but that means closing one application and starting another, and that kills my buzz.

Except, really, it shouldn’t, as FF14 is completely online, so I am essentially starting it over every night anyway.

In our excitement about Sonic, I gave in and we purchased Sonic for Lego Dimensions.

Thanks to Lego Dimensions for hosting their own video.

Walker Dennis is way into Knight Rider again, so the above video has been nicely timed.  We already had Mr. T, and seeing that the only character we didn’t own from the video was Excalibur Batman, and I found him reasonably affordable on eBay, I bought him too.  So we’ve been playing Lego Dimensions again.  Excalibur Batman is around $11, so don’t spend more than that, if you are searching for him.

Turns out, we barely played the Teen Titans Go level, and a few more worlds had repair spots that we never did, so I have been trying clean those up, in anticipation of getting Sonic and Excalibur Batman.

We also watched Scoob, and now I’m way into Scooby Doo again.  We bought the two live action films through VUDU, and also the latest Scooby Doo meets Batman from Brave and the Bold, which was very good.  Riddler is in it, and I’m all for Riddler content.

I really wish Will Forte tried to do a Shaggy impression, but besides that, I really liked how they are trying to create a Hanna Barrera Universe with the film.

I had two different bids for Scooby Doo and Shaggy for Lego Dimensions, but both went above what I was willing to pay for it.  But now that the thought is in my head, after payday, I’m going to put another $20 aside, and try again.  I will probably be buying the Witch’s Ghost movie, and we saw there was a full length Lego Scooby Doo animated film, so I might buy that one once I have bought the Lego Dimensions set.

I own the original Scooby Doo meets 66 Batman animated film, but I would love to get it digitally as well, but VUDU is not selling it.

Walker Dennis and I have been watching the 2012 Scooby Doo Mystery Inc cartoon on Netflix, and that series is so worth your time!  Amazing how 2012 gave us some definitive takes on both Ninja Turtles and Scooby Doo.

.  .  .

Every time I try to load Omega Quintet, I get a black screen, so I have made no progress on that game, unfortunately, I am hoping that playing these other games, it will do something with that game, so I can play it again.  The only game that loads to black screen, and nothing comes from it.

I have successfully played the rest of the 2018 PS Plus titles that I never got around too.

Space Overlords, was simple enough.  I followed a guide, and earned several trophies for planet creation, and then I completed the first level.

Another World, I was following this video :

Thanks to Achievement_King for hosting the video.

He is a far better player than me, and I got stuck around the 20 minute mark.  Too much has to go right, and I don’t have the patience to keep up with it.

Laser League was fun, I successfully completed the tutorial, and did two online matches, lost both times, but I was getting a tad better at it.  I was tempted to keep playing until I won one, but I was ready to move on as well.  Both games, I played against computer peeps, so maybe no one is playing it anymore?

Rocketbirds 2 : Evolution was fun enough, but once I earned the first trophy, like an hour into the game, I was ready to delete it.  I’m just not up to the challenge of it.

Iconoclasts was another game that I was enjoying, and it was a challenge, but now I’m stuck trying to locate a fourth key, and it is harder than I am willing to spend time doing, so that’s that.  I’m pretty cut throat with these older games.

.  .  .

I played the first levels of both Lego Harry Potter : Years 5-7, and Lego Ninjago. I forgot how quiet the older Lego games are, but I enjoyed Harry Potter enough.  I have way too many Lego games going right now.  Lego Ninjago was good too, I didn’t experience any problems, besides the second level loading immediately after the first, but that happens from game to game.

Walker Dennis does not seem to be interested in playing the PS4 as he used to, so I may have to hold off on buying any more Lego games, but I enjoy them enough to at least have them in backlog.

.  .  .

I forget how it came up, but Walker Dennis wanted to play a racing game and I quickly downloaded Trackmania Turbo, for him.  Looking at the trophies, I thought I could do a few more of those, and made several levels, and earned like nine trophies, so that was nice.

I also tried the online game, Pox Nora, and I did not take to it.  Thankfully, I earned a trophy during the second of three tutorials, and that was enough for me.

.  .  .

I downloaded the first episode of The Council, and I really had a great time with the game.  If the Season Pass for episodes two through five ever drops under ten, I will definitely be buying it.  There is a charm to that game that I really enjoyed.  It is like a TellTale game, but with some RPG elements, and the historical fiction elements are really fun.  I like hanging out with George Washington.

So, I don’t really have that many more gaming goals.  Keep playing Final Fantasy XIV, keep attempting to play Omega Quintet, and eventually play Call of Duty WWII and Star Wars Battlefront II, probably try those once Battlefront II is an option.

May 2020 Free PS Plus Games

Posted by John Klein III on April 29, 2020
Posted in: Fun With YouTube, Games, Sales, Websites. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

The May 2020 Free Games through PlayStation Plus are : Cities Skylines and Farming Simulator 2019!  Available on May 5.

Which I will commit to playing each one for a night, but my main complaint about these are that they are very similar games wherein we create and maintain.  But I am pretty excited to try them out.

I played Real Farm for a night, and it will be fun to play its older brother.

I imagine these games are the price we pay for getting the Uncharted Trilogy and Journey for free.  Then Namco was nice enough to give Pac-Man Championship Edition 2 for free, so we got five free games in the past week.  I am wondering if there will be free games for May?

.  .  .

PSPrices

Cities : Skylines is typically a $39.99 game, and goes as low as $9.99.

Farming Simulator 19 is typically a $39.99 game, and goes as low as $26.79.

So together, at their highest, the games are valued at $80, and at their lowest are $37.  So our ongoing total is $89 plus $37, making PS+ value thus far, $126, so there is no denying the value of the service.

PS Store

Both games have a slew of DLC, which I suppose makes them ripe for PS+.

I can only imagine Cities : Skylines will be the base game.

Coast to Coast Radio, $3.99
Content Creator Pack : Modern Japan $4.99
Sunset Harbor, $14.99
Carols, Candies and Candy, FREE, so I downloaded that right now
Downtown Radio, $3.99
Content Creator Pack : Modern City, $4.99
Campus, $12.99
Content Creator Pack : University City, $4.99
Radio Station 3, $7.99
Pearls from the East, FREE, so I downloaded this as well
Synthetic Dawn Radio, $3.99
Parklife, $14.99
Radio Station 2, $7.99
European Suburbia, $4.99
Green Cities, $12.99
Mass Transit, $12.99
Natural Disasters, $14.99
Radio Station Pack, $7.99
Content Creator Pack, $9.99
Snowfall, $12.99

A couple bundles are available :

Ultimate Content Bundle, $99.99
Downtown Bundle, $7.99
Season Pass, $39.99
Season Pass 2, $39.99

So that’s a lot of content, which reminds me of Sims 4, wherein, if you take to the game, and probably can envision a wishlist of content, that content is now available to you.

Farming Simulator 19 DLC includes :

Bourgault, $7.99
CLAAS Dominator 108 SL Maxi, $0.99
CLAAS Torion 1914 Dev Mule, $0.99
Platinum Expansion, $19.99
John Deere Cotton, $4.99
Holmer Terra Variant, Free, so you know your boy downloaded this, real quick.
Anderson Group Equipment, $9.99
Season Pass, $49.99
Mahindra Retriever, $0.99
New Holland T6 Blue Power, FREE, so another instant download.

I do like how both games came with two free DLC items.  That’s synergy I can get behind.

.  .  .

Here are my three subreddits opinions, which pretty much match my disbelief, but with a lot more passion.  I am glad that there are a percentage of people who are writing highly about the games, so that is reassuring.

PS4

Cities: Skylines and Farming Simulator 19 are your PlayStation Plus games for May from PS4

PlayStation Plus

Cities: Skylines and Farming Simulator 19 are your PlayStation Plus games for May from PlayStationPlus

PS4Deals

PS+ Free Games, May 2020 | Cities: Skylines & Farming Simulator 19 | Available 5/5 from PS4Deals

.  .  .

Here are my YouTube peeps :

Rob with PlayStation Access :

Adam with PlayStation Grenade :

Ben with Platinum Chasers :

In the middle of Rob’s review of Cities : Skylines, I did have the thought regarding if this is the lead game, what is the second title going to be?  Then I was quite surprised to see Farming Simulator.  I legit thought it was going from cities to small towns, but then I saw the title crept across the screen.

I love how Adam and Ben, the constant professionals that they are, just could not fake any enthusiasm for the games.  Like, one of them would have been fine, but two simulator games is interesting.  Though I do like how one is macro and the other is micro, I imagine that is how they justified it in the office.

.  .  .

Here is PlayStationTrophies.org’s guide to Cities : Skylines :

https://www.playstationtrophies.org/game/cities-skylines-playstation-4-edition-na-eu/guide/

Unfortunately, I could not find a trophy guide for Farming Simulator, so here is PlayStationTrophies.org’s trophy list :

https://www.playstationtrophies.org/game/farming-simulator-19/trophies/ [playstationtrophies.org]

Like Sims 4, I was hoping for some sort of direction to how to play the game.  Funny how Real Farm has a guide, but not Farming Simulator.  If you find a guide somewhere, please let me know.

.  .  .

There are two big sales going on right now on the PSN.

The Big in Japan sale :

Big In Japan Sale – US PSN (Ends 5/08) from PS4Deals

Games Under 20 sale :

Games under $20 Sale | NA PSN | Ends 5/13 8am PT from PS4Deals

For the Japan sale, I bought Omega Quintet for two dollars, I figure for two dollars, it is worth the risk.

We finally own all of the Lego games that are on sale.  I was really hoping the Harry Potter set was going to be on sale, as I told Walker Dennis I would buy it for him once he started watching the films.  Which my wife and he has started yesterday, but next time the set is on sale, I will snatch it on up.

Of the three one-dollar games listed for Under $20 sale, only Shalnor Legends : Sacred Lands has a trophy guide.  I feel like Omega Quintet will satisfy that itch of buying a new game.  Plus, I have all of those 2018 games to still play.  So let’s get into the quick reviews of what I have been playing.

.  .  .

I have been making some good strides with my backlog of games.

I earned my 31st Platinum with Life is Strange : Before the Storm.  I really liked how it is only three episodes, with a bonus one that I will play next time it is in my cycle.  I am not sure what will be my May platinum, I have two bonus ones that I can fall back on, if I cannot get close to earning another one.  I like how grounded the game was, the characters really stood out, and there was no lousy stealth segments from the first game.  It got a tad much for me in the first game, I get that it wanted to go bonkers with its finale, but I was glad to be over it when the final credits rolled.  If Life is Strange 2 ever goes under $10, I will pick it up to complete my collection.  The LiS2 is currently $16 for the current sale.

.  .  .

I really enjoyed Pac-Man Championship Edition 2, I am clearly a B grade player, but I enjoyed my time in the game.  Very interesting way to do a Pac-Man game.  If they would remaster Pac-Man World, I would be totally okay with that.

.  .  .

I did not take to In Space We Brawl, I made a list of all of the zones and the three subzones, and made a point of playing in each one for that specific trophy, then I also earned the 10 three-second matches trophy.  So I feel like I experience it enough.  I could not get pass one of the early tutorial levels, so that was pretty lousy.

.  .  .

99Vidas, I was really enjoying playing Izzy on Izzy (easy mode).  Right up until I got to the first phase of the final boss.  Then I just got slaughtered, but I was in Stage Three (of six), and felt committed to beating the game, replaying stage six over and over again, to unlock the other characters, then I just hit a difficulty spike that killed all of my buzz.  But I had a great time in the first five levels and the two bonus stages.

.  .  .

While playing King Oddball, I finally got over the hump of my final ten percent (that always feels like it takes over) and earned my PSN Player Level 19.  King Oddball is like Angry Birds, but without the precision.  It is still there, but instead of controlling our own trajectory, King Oddball’s tongue (that we use to throw the rocks), is in a constant state of swinging, so we have to time our release to attack the tanks, helicopters, and little soldiers.  I have been really enjoying the game, and I am committed to playing all of the levels, as it is pretty fun.  It can be frustrating at times, but there is a part of me that really wants to commit the level until I beat it, and then I want to try the next one to see if I can do it on my first try, then failing that, just keep playing until I can beat it.  Then repeat that process until it is 12:34 in the morning, and that is my hard cutoff time.

.  .  .

I also decided to start playing Injustice again, and finished Aquaman’s levels of storymode.  Which really annoyed me about my past self, and how he really should have finished that at the time.  So next time I play, I will be starting Joker’s story chapters.  I really hope the second game’s story mode lets me choose my character, as I really want to play as the TMNT.  So much so, that I feel compelled to finish the first game’s story mode.

I essentially am only doing the five or six moves that the quick guide tells me, and just button smashing, so I am the worst, and the fights do not feel as satisfying as they should, but that is clearly on me and my inability to be good at fighting games, but I am trying to learn the different combos.

.  .  .

Since I was in the mood to play a Ninja Turtles game, I picked up TMNT : Mutants in Manhattan, the character designs are still not to my liking, but the game play feels pretty nice.  A lot of sameness, but it is only nine levels, I think, and I completed the second level with Rocksteady.  The levels do not feel too long, but I think playing one level in my game cycle, is good enough.

.  .  .

So my current gaming plans for May are :

Playing Life is Strange : Before the Storm’s Fourth Episode, I suspect there are no trophies, but it has Max, and that will be nice to see her again.
Play my three active Lego games : DC Supervillians, City Undercover, and Jurassic World.  I need to rearrange my cycle so it is not the three games back to back to back, but I also sort of like the of having it all be in one big chunk, but I will think about it.
Play Joker’s chapter of Injustice.
Complete the third level of TMNT : Mutants in Manhattan.
Chip away at King Oddball, just playing a night’s worth of game.
Committing to playing the first chapter of Omega Quintet.  It looks fun, and I really want to experience a JRPG again.
Making time for both Cities : Skylines and Farming Simulator 19.

My big commits are to Omega Quintet, and the Lego games, as the Lego games are probably what my next platinums will come from.  I already know I will not be getting the plat for Omega Quintet, but I am hoping I enjoy it enough that completing the first chapter is not a chore.

I want to get back into Uncharted 4 and God of War, so I will probably sprinkle in chapters (Uncharted) and story segments (God of War), into May, which I know is so dumb, as those games are legendary, so I will probably put some major focus into completing those two as well.  I recommitted to them in the middle of that sentence.

I hope you are all doing well and keeping sane during this heighten time we are all in together.

April 2020 Free PS Plus Games

Posted by John Klein III on April 1, 2020
Posted in: Fun With YouTube, Games, Sales. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

I meant to do a post about games I am playing during the Coronavirus but I have been working four tens for the past few weeks and I knew the announcement for the Free PS+ Games was coming soon, so I have been drafting this in head for a bit.

The April 2020 PS+ Games are Uncharted 4 and Dirt Rally 2.0.  PlayStation Access accidentally revealed these last week, and now we know it was probably Nathan who did it, as he provides the narration in the video below.

I already own Uncharted 4, so I am going to wait for another bonus credit deal at GameStop and I can turn in both the Uncharted Collection and Uncharted 4 at that time.

Dirty Rally 2.0, seems to be a game that no one has taken the time to create a guide for, which seems bonkers to me.  I will at least play it until I earned one trophy.

.  .  .

 PSPrices

Uncharted 4 is typically a $19.99 game, but goes as low as $9.99.

Dirt Ralley 2.0 is typically $59.99, it is currently $39.99, so hopefully no one buys it this week!  It has been as low as $17.99.

So the games together are a value of $28, at their lowest.

Our running total was $61, so another $28, makes $89, so PS Plus is definitely paying for itself.

PS Store

Uncharted 4 has quite a few items on the PlayStation store :

You can buy points for the mutliplayer.

300 Points, $2.99
500 Points, $4.99
1,500 Points, $9.99
3,200 Points, $19.99
6,500 Points, $34.99
10,000 Points, $49.99

A slew of avatars, that are all .49 cents :

Harry Flynn
Orca
Knot
Katherine Marlowe
Victor Sullivan
Nathan Drake (which you may have already as it was part of the Player Appreciation package).
Sam Drake
Elena Fisher
Zoran Lazarevic
Charlie Cutter
Victor Sullivan (Hero)
Sam Drake (Hero)
Nathan Drake (Hero)
Elena Fisher (Hero)

Pack 1, $1.49 (including both brothers, Sully, and Elena)
Hero Pack $1.49, which includes Cutter and the characters from Pack 1’s hero version)
Villain Avatar Pack, $1.49

Themes

Fire, $1.99
Shipwreck, $1.99
Ink, $1.99, which I bought, as it was the only one that featured Elena.

Dirt Rally 2.0 DLC includes :

Vehicles 

Subaru Impreza, $1.49
Fully Loaded Rallycross Pack, $1.99
Fully Loaded Mini Pack, $1.99
Fully Loaded Ford Pack, $1.99
Citroen C$ Rally, $1.49
Ford Fiesta Rallycross (STARD), $1.49
Sea Ibiza RX, $1.49
Renault Megane R.S. RX, $1.49
Mini Cooper SX1, $1.49
Peugeot 208 WRX, $1.99
Volkswagen Golf Kitcar, $1.49
Opel Manta 400, $1.49
Lancia Delta S4 Rallycross, $1.49
H2 RWD Double Pack, $1.99
Ford Fiesta Rallycross (MK8), $1.49
Lancia 037 Evo 2, $1.49
Porshe 911 SC RS, $1.49
SKODA Fabia Rally, $1.49
Ford RS200 Evolution, $1.99
Rnault Clio R.S. RX, $1.49
Peugeot 206 Rally, $1.49
MG Metro 6R4 Rallycross, $1.49
Seat Ibiza Kit Car, $1.99
BMW M1 Procar Rally, $1.49
Peugeot 306 Maxi, $1.99
Peugeot 205 T16 Rallycross, $1.99
Subaru Impreza (2001), $1.49
Starter Car Upgrade, $0.99
Car Variety Pack, $3.99
Opel Kadett C CT/E, $0.99
Porsche 911 RGT Rally Spec, $1.49
Audi S1 EKS RX quattro, $1.99
Ford Focus RS Rally 2007, $1.49
Ford Focus RS Rally 2001, $1.49
Ford Fiesta RXS Evo 5, $1.99

Maps

Greece Rally, $3.99
Sweden Rally, $3.99
Finland, $3.99
Monte Carlo, $3.99
Bikernieki, Latvia, $3.99
Wales, $3.99
Estering, Germany, $3.99
Killarney, International, South Africa, $3.99
Yas Marina Circuit, $3.99
Lydden Hill, UK, $3.99

Various

Colin McRae : Flat Out Pack, $9.99, which includes 40 challenging scenarios, 12 new breathtaking rally routes through Scotland, and two vehicles.

Year One Pass, $19.99
Seasons 3 & 4 Pack, $11.99

There is also a Game of the Year Edition for $59.99.

.  .  .

Here are reddit’s responses to the news :

[Video] PS+ April Titles: Uncharted 4 and Dirt Rally 2.0 from PS4

Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End and DIRT Rally 2.0 are your PlayStation Plus games for April from PlayStationPlus

PS+ Free Games, April 2020 | Uncharted 4 & Dirt Rally 2.0 | PSN | Available 4/6 from PS4Deals

Some seem annoyed that now everyone owns the entire Uncharted franchise, minus Lost Legacy.  Some predict Lost Legacy will be the free game in a few months.  Almost like a movie is in the works, or something?

Then poor Dirt Rally 2.0 seems to be a real head scratcher.

.  .  .

Here are my YouTube peeps :

Nathan with PlayStation Access :

Adam with PlayStation Grenade :

Ben with Platinum Chasers :

Ben’s video finally made it to the top of the list of results for “PS+ April 2020 Games.”  Usually I have to do that search and add “Platinum Chasers,” to the search, so hopefully that means people are finding his excellent videos and he’s moving up the list.

.  .  .

Here is the PlayStationTrophies.org guide to Uncharted 4 :

https://www.playstationtrophies.org/game/uncharted-4/guide/

Here is the link to their list of trophies for Dirt Rally 2.0 :

https://www.playstationtrophies.org/game/dirt-rally-2/trophies/

Looking at the list, I am hoping I can at least earn one of these :

Antilog Engaged, Purchase your first FIA World Rallycross Supercar
That’s Dedication, Complete 3 Weekly Community Events
Eat my DiRT, Complete 20 Custom Events
Clown Car, Complete 50 Joker laps
CAUTION, Don’t Cut, Complete a stage without damaging your car (I doubt it though)
Qualified, Complete Your first AI Challenge
Adaptable, Complete a stage in Dry, Overcast, Rain and Wet conditions
Fine Tuned, Create and save your own tuning setup

I imagine I will at least earn Qualified and Adaptable, those would be my main goals.  I am not great at racing games, or races in general, if I have learned anything from the Lego games.

.  .  .

There is currently a big April Spring Sale going on right now :

Spring Sale – US PSN (Ends 4/28) from PS4Deals

I bought Walker Dennis Lego Jurassic World, as the base game is $5.99, the lowest it goes, and the three DLC plus game came to $10, so that was a pretty good deal.

.  .  .

In Batman Arkham Asylum, I got to the point where I have to leave the Asylum, to chase down Warden Sharp.  Then I got distracted by the big March sale and my new games.

Walker Dennis and I completed Lego DC Supervillains, on his account.  I earned trophies like every other session, so I have to play on my own.  We completed the six bonus missions, so now we have full access to the open map, so he’s excited about that.

.  .  .

Slender The Arrival was pretty cheap, like three dollars, and I saw there were like four trophies we could earn during the simple Prologue, so I bought it and earned those trophies.  Maybe in October, I will really commit to playing the game again.

.  .  .

I bought Walker Dennis Lego City Undercover, and we completed the Prison Island mission, which is essentially a complete homage to Shawshank Redemption, which I really appreciated.

.  .  .

Walker Dennis has been at home as his school is closed until April 10 (hopefully!), and he just loves the Goat Simulator game.  My wife was kind enough to buy a $20 gift card and now he has the DLC collection.  I was hoping she was going to buy a $25 card and I would have gotten five dollar credit, but she outsmarted me.

I really enjoyed the MMO and the Payday DLC.  Zombies is alright, I am not much of a zombie guy, and Space seems to be the one Walker Dennis really enjoys the most, and it is the one I earned the least amount of trophies in.

.  .  .

My wife and I have started really playing Jeopardy on the PS4, and we are having a blast.  I do not forget how smart she is but I am reminded of how smart she is and also how competitive she gets.  I definitely enjoy Jeopardy over the Wheel of Fortune game, but we have been playing that as well.

.  .  .

I treated myself to Joe Mad’s Battle Chasers Anthology, that collects the first nine issues and has a slew of extras :

The reviews state that the spine of the trade is pretty weak but I did not have any problems with my copy.

During the March sale, Battle Chasers Nigthwar was around eight dollars, so I snatched it up.  I like how it purposely takes place in a different area, so you do not have to read the collection, but it helps to get to know the characters better.  The game gives little hints at previous adventures.  I am at Junktown, and just having my butt handed to me.  Most of my team is Level 12, and I get the impression I am probably two levels below where I am.  But I really wanted a RPG, so I am trying to not forget the game and come back to it as often as I can.  The main town has a mission where I have to clear out all of the slime, the same city that had the spider problem, and I am clearly supposed to be level 15 for that.

I want to be at least at the level of the main threat, which I believe was level 13 for the slime, and most enemies at Junktown seem to be level 12 to 13.  I have four members and I know I am supposed to recruit two more members, one I am very familiar with and the other seems to be unique to the game, as I do not believe I saw him in the comic.

.  .  .

I started Life is Strange : Before the Storm, and I barely started it.  I downloaded the bonus episode four, and I am still in Episode 1, Chloe has gone downstairs, and I have the fourth graffiti to still do.  My gaming goal is to finish an episode, getting all of the graffiti at the same time, then play Battle Chasers until I level up, and go back and forth between the two games until I earned the Platinum for Life is Strange : Before the Storm, and make serious headway into Battle Chasers Nightwar.  I really just want to fill my team with all six characters, and see what clicks.

I feel a tad bad for Calibretto as he was one of my original three with Gully and Garrison.  I recruited Knolan, and he was a level higher than my party, so I sort of knew then that I was below where I should be.  I believe I am close to getting Red Monika, as the notes around Junktown are referencing a red hair assassin, so that is pretty exciting.

Knolan has a group heal, and that’s sort of what I need.  I am still learning the mechanics and finally understanding the merits of using the overcharge battle system, so I have my team hit once, then on their next or third turn, use an attack or heal, that uses up mana (or overcharge) points, and that, I preserve my mana for when I really need it.  Which has taken me hours to finally click with the system.

A fun game, I enjoy it, besides the long time it takes to load into the game, but even if I can just load into the game, and complete a few battles on the map, those are less battles I have to do later to level up.  It is a bit of a grind fest, but I am here to try for it.

Junktown is such a bigger dungeon as well, with lots of options.  I have yet to find a second portal within it so that I can finally save time, as I keep having to leave, go back to the village, rest, and go back.  I have committed to stop buying revive potions, as they are expensive and i might as well just die and use the 80 gold to auto return to the village and make my way back to Junktown, going through minor villains, who are not minor at all.

I do like how, with lesser enemies, I get the option to engage in the fight or just move on.  If we engage, then we do not earn any xp, but do earn materials and gold.

I like the fishing mechanic as well, but I clearly need better bait and a better fishing rod.

I am clearly just in the beginning of the game, going up against my first real hurdle in it.  I will get there eventually, but unlike with Arkham Asylum, I want to commit to this as I have not beaten it before.

Also, owning Nightwar, makes me less incline to purchase other games in the Spring sale.  Though seeing Waking Violet for only $2.09 is pretty tempting, even if I just do a few of the puzzles, but I am resisting that urge.  Plus, I have these Lego games I can be playing as well.  So I really do have plenty of games to play.

Now that my wife is playing on the PS4 (she has really taken to the Switch with Mario Odyssey and Toad Treasure Tracker), I am tempted to buy a few more games for the PS4 for her and I to play, such as Uno or Trivia Pursuit Live.  Uno is $4.99, and Trivia Pursuit Live is $5.99, so those are pretty good prices.  We used to play Trivia Pursuit on PS3 a bunch, back in the day.  Which was a Tuesday.

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 from PS4

Shadow of the Colossus and Sonic Forces are your PS Plus games for March from PlayStationPlus

March 2020 PS+ Free Games | Shadow of Colossus & Sonic Forces | NA PSN | Available 3/3 from PS4Deals

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.

February 2020 Free PS Plus Games

Posted by John Klein III on January 29, 2020
Posted in: Fun With YouTube, Games, Websites. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

The February 2020 Free PS Plus Games are : The Bioshock Collection, Sims 4, and Firewall Zero Hour.

Firewall Zero Hour is a VR title, so that is great that we are moving toward getting VR titles, now we just need to get two PS5 titles (probably Post-January 2021) and my hunch will be correct about what Sony will be doing with the PS+ subscription going forward.

The Bioshock Collection I have heard nothing but amazing things about.  The first two take place in Rapture, an underwater domed city, and Infinite takes place in the sky.  People absolutely rave about these games.

Sims 4, I have heard of the franchise and my gal pal April adores it, I had not heard it had made its way to PS4 yet.  I wonder how it plays on console?  Also, Sims turns 20 this year, so this is like a birthday present for all of us.

I really love that we are getting game collections through the subscription.

I will probably start with BioShock 1, then try Sims 4.  One day, it would be nice to own a VR set, but I have to wait until Walker Dennis is at least 12, so six more years!

.  .  .

PSP Prices has the games valued as such :

BioShock Collection is typically a $60 game, but goes on sale for as low as $12 – so already PS+ pays for itself on the high end.

Sims 4 is typically a $40 game, but goes on sale for as low as $8.

Firewall Zero Hour is a $20 game, but goes on sale for as low as $10.

So let us see if we hit $45 in value just yet!

These games are combined at a value of $120 at their height, or at $30 at their lowest.  The January games were combined at either $30 at their height, or $11 at their lowest, so we are already covered at the highest so I will no longer be tracking that.  At the low end, we are now at $41, which is so close to $45.  No matter what the games are for March 2020, the subscription will pay for itself.

A visit to PSN reveals :

The BioShock Collection has a theme we can buy for $2, so if I take to the game, I could be tempted to buy that.  The Collection comes with all single player content, all DLC content, the “Columbia’s Finest” pack, Director’s Commentary (which I love!), and Imagining BioShock, featuring Ken Levine and Shawn Robertson.

Sims 4 on the other hand has so much additional content!  There are three free avatars and three free themes, but the rest do cost money.

Island Living $40
Toddler Stuff $10
Discover University $40
Spa Day $20
Outdoor Retreat $20
Realm of Magic $20
Fitness Stuff $10
City Living $40
Dine Out $20
Get Together $40
Parenthood $20
Jungle Adventure $20
Cats and Dogs $40
Spooky Stuff $10
Backyard Stuff $10
Get Famous $40
Vampires $20
Seasons $40
Get to Work $40
StrangeVille $20
Deluxe Party Edition $50
Live Lavishly Bundle $60
Vintage Glamour Stuff $10
Cool Kitchen Stuff $10
Moschino Stuff Pack $10
Luxury Party Stuff $10
Bowling Night Stuff $10
Perfect Patio Stuff $10
Kids Room Stuff $10
Movie Hangout Stuff $10
Back to School Bundle $50
Bundle – City Living $50
Romantic Garden Stuff $10
Laundry Day Stuff $10
Plus Cats and Dogs Bundle $50
Deluxe Party Edition Upgrade $10
Bundle – Cats and Dogs, Parenthood $50
Bundle – Seasons, Jungle Adventure $50
Bundle – Get to Work, Dine Out, Kitchen $50

So a lot there if that is your thing.

Firewall Zero Hour also has a slew of DLC!  This game also has eight free avatars but so much more at cost.

Characters

Contractor Jaguar $4
Contractor Lynx $4
Contractor Proxy $4
Contractor Kane $4
Contractor Nash $4
Contractor Ruby $4
Contractor Node $4

Hack Key x5 Pack $5

Deluxe Pack $20, comes with characters, camo skins, face paints, and weapon skins.

Digital Deluxe Edition $40, is the game plus the delux pack.

I have now downloaded all of the free items!

.  .  .

Most reddit reactions seem to be how most already own the BioShock Collection, which was true of the Uncharted Collection, but I do not own the BioShock Collection, so count me as being in the super excited camp.

[Video] PlayStation Plus Monthly Games – February 2020 from PS4

February’s Free PS Plus Games: BioShock: The Collection, The Sims 4, and Firewall Zero Hour from PlayStationPlus

NA | February’s Free PS+ Games: Bioshock: The Collection, The Sims 4, Firewall Zero Hour from PS4Deals

.  .  .

Nathan with PlayStation Access :

Adam with PlayStationGrenade :

Ben with PlatinumChasers :

.  .  .

Dave of PlayStation Access just last week played the first hour of the first BioShock.

So that is nicely timed.  Elle was a great companion, as usual.

.  .  .

PlayStation Trophies Guides :

BioShock

https://www.playstationtrophies.org/game/bioshock-ps4/guide/

BioShock 2

https://www.playstationtrophies.org/game/bioshock-2-ps4/guide/

BioShock Infinite

https://www.playstationtrophies.org/game/bioshock-infinite-remaster/guide/

Sims 4

https://www.playstationtrophies.org/game/the-sims-4/guide/

Firewall Zero Hour

https://www.playstationtrophies.org/game/firewall-zero-hour/trophies/

No guide, just the trophy list.

.  .  .

Game Updates :

In a bit of exciting news, PS4 users got the Earth 2 costume as free DLC!

It looks pretty great in the game.

.  .  .

In Lego Batman 3, I am slowly making my way through obtaining the red bricks and the Bat-Mite items (which unlock one of three character tokens in each level).

In the first Uncharted game, I got to the first real shoot out and died, and on easy, so that killed some of my buzz, but the game looks stunning on PS4!

We played Portal Knights again, unlocking some additional portals, and just having a great time in the game.

Turns out, something happened to my Lego Marvel Superheroes 1 save file, so instead of 100%, it is now at 0%, so Walker Dennis and I played the first three levels of the game, and unlocked the ability to free play as anyone we have thus unlocked during the open world.  So that was annoying but these things happen.  I feel no pressure, at all, to reclaim anything.  Odd thing though is that Walker Dennis is not earning any of the trophies for completing each chapter, so we really should have made him the first player but I will keep monitoring that.  Once we get some actual characters, I will see if we can earn some character trophies on his file to see if there is a problem with the game itself.

I got all of the trophies in Goat Simulator I feel like I am easily going to obtain.

So all in all, I am feeling pretty well.

.  .  .

I have to look at the trophy guides for Sims 4 and BioShock 1 to see how much I am even going to see but I really want to commit to getting 12 new Platinums this year.  My second one will be for the first Life is Strange game.  I am going to try to do a level of Lego Batman 3, then finish the night with another episode of Life is Strange.  Which should not take too long with four episodes left to do.

PSN Totally Digital Sale – Ends February 5, 2020

Posted by John Klein III on January 23, 2020
Posted in: Fun With YouTube, Games, Sales. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

[NA] Totally Digital | Ends 2/5 8am PT from PS4Deals

Thanks to redditor neocarleen for posting the titles with their very handy PS Store links!

This is a sale that favors indie developers and there are plenty of games for under three dollars.

I bought Real Farm and REUS as they were only 74 cents each, with a PS+ subscription.

I also bought Octodad : Dadliest Catch as it was $3.74, and I am just going to buy games on my wishlist if it is under four dollars.  I had a policy of any games under five dollars but that threshold was being met to often.

Elle and Rosie looked like they had a fantastic time playing the game!

Looking into it, the game does have two player couch co-op where up to four players can play as each limb, so Walker Dennis and I may try this together, just without the giant overcoat.

.  .  .

11-11 Memories Retold is $7.49, which I have been interested in since reading an article about the game in GameInformer.

Dear Esther : Landmark edition is $4, and I think you would get that much out of the game.  I started the Commentary Track playthrough and the first several audio files were interesting but I was pretty done with the game by that point.  A great looking walking simulator.

Alphabetically, Deployment is the first under two dollar game.

Drowning is a relatively quick platinum, and probably worth the $1.49.  I liked it, I wished it had an additional chapter as it was getting very interesting.

Flower is a nice enough game but $5.24 is probably too much, and I would recommend waiting until the Journey Special Edition is on sale again and get Flower and flOw that way, and it would most likely be only a dollar more.

Fractured Minds is worth the dollar, as it has a great story behind the game and a percentage of sales goes to a great cause.  I wrote about it before :

https://shadowandflamewithmagik.com/2019/11/18/fractured-minds/

I would never buy a modern day Leisure Suit Larry game, unless it got amazing reviews, but $26 seems way too much!

Life is Strange and Life is Strange : Before the Storm Complete Seasons four $4 is a great price, that is like buying four episodes and getting the fifth for free, dollar wise.  I only completed the first episode of the original Life is Strange, and I really should head back in one of these days to finish it.

The LIMBO and INSIDE Bundle is $9, which might be a tad high, it all depends on if you want to view getting LIMBO for free and I am not sure if INSIDE is a nine dollar game.  I enjoyed INSIDE much more than LIMBO, and INSIDE is nearly a two hour game, and such an interesting adventure, but nine dollars?  That part I am not sure about.

Mafia III Season Pass is $15, adding three additional chapters to the game.  If I took to Mafia III, I might consider it worth it, but I did not get that far into it before getting distracted by other games.  I should try to get back into it.

Ninjin : Clash of Carrots is $4, and I definitely bought it for under two before, so you should probably wait for that price to come down again.

Oustlast 2, I got as a PS+ game in November 2019.  I did not take to it, but I know people love the franchise so $8 for a horror game people like, might be up your alley.

Overcooked was a PS+ game in May 2019.  It was fun, but I am not sure if it was $6.79 worth of fun.  Maybe if you had a friend to play with, it is probably a lot more enjoyable.

If the Oxenfree Bundle : Game + Dynamic Theme + Avatars was under $5.59, I would jump at the chance, as the game looks super interesting.  I am just buying way too many games, but I also love a deal.

Everything I see anything regarding Persona 5, I feel like people should know that Personal 5 R is coming out and they should wait for that.

Elle of PlayStation Access fame is a huge fan of Return of the Obra Dinn, and that game is $15, which is a tad steep for me.

Rogue Aces was a PS+ game in February 2019.  I also did not take to this game, so $5.84 seems high to me.

Slender : The Arrival was used during PlayStation Access’s Christmas Maze, and it looked interesting and $5 is probably the perfect price, and that is at 50% off.

Now that I know games can and will eventually drop to 75%, I am super willing to wait until that happens.  Plus, I did not really get a feel for what the game was like, but it was super fun to watch!

We were given Sonic Mania as one of the PS+ June 2019 titles, and I was tempted to get the Encore DLC then, and now that it is $3, I am tempted to get it again.

I have Surgeon Simulator A&E + I Am Bread combo on my wishlist, and $7 for two games seems like a deal, but after seeing gameplay of I Am Bread, I am pretty hesitant to purchase it.  It may not be my type of game.

The Bridge was a PS+ title in October 2018.  I did not get that far into the puzzles, but I definitely would type that I got $2 worth out of it.

Nathan of PlayStation Access said The Swapper was a good game, so I added it to my wishlist, and $4.49 sounds good, and that is at 70% off.  I am willing to wait for a bit to see if it comes down anymore.

Rob of PlayStation Access talked so highly of Thomas Was Alone, that I added that game to my wishlist as well.  $4.99 is a good price, and that is at 50%, so I wonder if it will ever drop to 70%?

I clearly adore the PlayStation Access team.  I could not work in a game that Dave recommended.

Uncanny Valley is a very interesting game that we got back in January 2018 as a PS+ title.  It requires multiple playthroughs to 100% the game, so I bet I got $5.19 out of it.

People absolutely rave about Undertale, and $12.74 is probably reasonably priced, but that is also at 15%.  It will eventually get to 50%.  I can be a very patient gamer.

If I were to ever buy Unravel, it would be as the combo bundle.

We also were given What Remains of Edith Finch as a PS+, way back in May 2019, and I definitely got $8 worth of entertainment out of it.  Such an amazing experience!

Yooka-Laylee gets a lot of love too, and that game is $10 at 75%.

.  .  .

I should state that next week, we find out what the February 2020 PS+ games are, so you may want to hold off on any purchases from this deal and the Games Under $20 deal, though one would imagine none of the games on either list would be named as one of the titles, but that is also why I do not buy more than five dollar games towards the end of the month.

.  .  .

I did not take to Defunct, so I would save your 23 cents for that game.  I read it was like playing a Sonic game, but I did not get vibe from it.  Well, besides that the main character rolls around, but I did not take to the game mechanics.  If the game was all downhill, that may be fun and then it added anti-gravity to the game and after earning a few trophies, I felt like I had played enough.

.  .  .

Shiny – A Robotic Adventure I would highly recommend, and especially at 23 cents!  It is a platform game, and besides Level 12, I enjoyed it a bunch.  I stayed up way too late one night and just knocked out all 21 levels, which was highly irresponsible as I was the worst the next day.

I was told on reddit that some of the trophies have glitches and I can confirm that.  I collected everything in Level 3, and did not die once, and I did not earn the trophy for Not Dying in a Level.  So that was disappointing.  Another gripe I have about the game, was once you replay a level, all of the collectibles come back.  I was really hoping only the collectibles I had not collected would be present, which is probably a bit much to ask for.

.  .  .

Walker Dennis keeps just getting better at Spider-Man PS4.  He just completed Act 2 and I am highly impressed with how much he is able to accomplish on his own.

I am currently stuck on the Kingpin fight of Amazing Spider-Man 2, and regretting playing on Super Hard mode.  I have seen videos where I am supposed to take out the goons prior to taking on the Kingpin, I just have to commit to doing it.  I already know that the upcoming Electro and Green Goblin fights were nearly impossible on Easy, so I am dreading playing those as well on Super Hard.  I am definitely never attempting anything beyond Normal as my first playthrough.  And now, I am sort of in a position of not wanting to replay hours of the game on Normal and having to recollect those comic books again.  Especially the flying ones.  So I am mostly disappointed in myself.

I have been making a point of playing a level of Lego Batman 3 first, collecting the red brick and the character token for Bat-Mite in each level.  I believe I am currently on level seven?  That sounds about right.  I love how fast the levels are and how they made it so you could skip segments if you have a character like Man of Steel Superman who can fly ahead and do whatever it requires for that section to be completed.  I also miss how the Lego games used to let you pick a subsection of the level to play, and to tell you where the collectibles were in each mission.  Lego Dimensions must have been the transition game that handed off different mechanics to the next generation of games.

.  .  .

I have also become super obsessed with Nolan North’s Definitely Playthrough of Uncharted and I am currently watching his playthrough of Uncharted 2.  Troy Baker.  I absolutely love the theme song for the show, done by Droid Bishop.  I started Uncharted 1 and I got to Chapter 3.

.  .  .

My wife and I also played one game of Wheel of Fortune.  I really wish Pat and Vanna were paid for their likenesses in the game, as the stand-ins make the game feel very cheap, and the game costs a decent amount of change.  The game itself is pretty good, as is the presentation, but it is a real shame the game was not properly licensed.  We have yet to try Jeopardy.

.  .  .

Rayman Legends is on the Games Under $20 sale and I finally gave it a try.  Such a fun platformer!  Playing this and Shiny brought back so many great memories of how much I enjoy playing a good platformer.  Rayman Legends just looks great too, it has this really great classic feel to it and the levels are not unforgiving nor all that long.  I was playing a level of Lego Batman 3, followed by Rayman Legends, then whatever the main game of the night was going to be.

Then, of course, I bought all of these games, and then I have been too tired to stay up and have not played any of them.