whoisjohn

I am normally one of those people that holds off on buying games.  I almost never buy a game on the day that it comes out and I have never pre-ordered anything.  In fact, I cannot think of a single game in the past 5 years or so (perhaps longer) that I have bought a game in the *first week* that it was released.  

That is, until *Silksong* was released.  

<center> https://media.wired.com/photos/68b9b74debac84a11c241098/3:2/w_2560%2Cc_limit/Silksong_Promo_03.jpg
[src](https://media.wired.com/photos/68b9b74debac84a11c241098/3:2/w_2560%2Cc_limit/Silksong_Promo_03.jpg)</center>

While I didn't get in there on day one at midnight like a lot of people did - and apparently crashed the servers on multiple platforms for online purchasing of games (well done guys!) - but I did get it the day or two after it was released and I have someone, an unknown Hivean here to thank for that.

I was talking in some random forum about how I am waiting for the price to go down before I get my hands on this new release and that is when I was informed that the game launched at $20, which is just amazing and I can't believe that Team Cherry did that.  They definitely could have sold it for 40 or even been generous and sold it at $30, but to sell it at $20 just show a level of awesomeness that just doesn't appear in the gaming world at that often with most companies that seem to want to fleece gamers for every nickle that they can.   

No microtransactions, no DLC, no tiered subscription system, no season pass, AND a really low price to buy the full game on day 1?  I think Team Cherry just became everyone's favorite game studio.   

<center> 
![image.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/whoisjohn/Eo8KBJaZuE9nha67tg99ej6YTd8pJjRvYv5WejisDJrnXEkTw1f5hVrM6E1qzME5bLV.png)
[src](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/xK5xMvBN9NgbndZQ97xKEh.jpg)</center> 

I am not going to look up the specifics but I recall reading that it was breaking a bunch of sales records and what not and while this number has likely gone up since I read it I heard that 3 million copies of the game were sold.   So if you are not good at math I'll tell you that 3 million times $20 is $60 million dollars.   The 3-person team that worked on *Silksong* is likely already quite happy with this result and the certainly are not going to be in line for the soup kitchen anytime soon but I do like the absence of extreme greed on their parts.  Honestly ya'll, they could have released the game for $50 for week one, then dropped it to $40, then slowly made their way to $20 and very few people would have complained.  

To go straight to the bargain price right at the start, I was shocked because in this day and age of greed and huge studios that crank out crap and then pay off the media to say that it is awesome so they can recoup their money, that's the norm right now.   

There are so many games in the past year that have been straight up trash but the media and influencers just sing the praises of it anyway.  Something has to be truly reviled by the online community such as *Anthem* in order for the big press to finally admit that "yeah, that was crap."  There was another arena style game that has fatties and pronouns that first brought everyone's attention to it but the game was also quite awful and that one failed in just a few weeks and it's my understanding that it was a very huge amount of money lost on that... Good I say!  

When we have companies like *Team Cherry* that make a high quality game that they are well aware everyone is chomping at the bit to get to and then they DON'T take advantage of that hype.. well, the AAA studios just must be rubbing their heads in disbelief.   

<center> 
![image.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/whoisjohn/243M6s3sCPrbqapxAL8cdY4VERjBnByxRcWbPbUGNytebZZLB6r5yGzo2ekEHfnQ61cRR.png)
[src](https://www.adelaidereview.com.au/app/uploads/2018/09/team-cherry-hollow-knight-adelaide-review-sia-duff-2-850x567.jpg)</center> 


Imagine how great it is though, to become extremely wealthy and still maintain some level of ethics at the same time.  Imagine how awesome that is actually.  This is what Team Cherry have done and I think it is just incredible.

Now to get back to my first point in the title, this game is really hard.  But then again, I definitely suspected that because Hollow Knight was the same.   It's gonna be a while before I finish this game I'm sure.  I just have to avoid all YT videos about the game until that time because I am sure there are a ton of spoilers out there already!  

I've only defeated the first named boss and I am taking my time.  There's no rush!  

 




I buckle and buy Silksong and well, it's tough

In the early 2000's I had a falling out with MMO's (Massive Multiplayer Online RPG's) in that I felt they were too addictive and had bad effects on a person's actual life.   I was an extreme example because I was so into this one game called "Dark Age of Camelot" that I ignored friends, family, school, and even lost a really cushy job because I wanted to go questing for hours and hours with strangers I never did meet in real life.   

I feel as though they are potentially very destructive to a person's life, and at the end when I finally gave up on DaoC, I looked at what I had accomplished and realized that I didn't really even enjoy the game... it was a grind for the hopes that some special piece of gear was going to drop even though it rarely ever did.  I equate it to being similar to gambling addiction:  Even though you lose most of the time there is nothing quite like the sensation you get from winning.

So from that point forward in my life - except for a brief period when i dabbled with Guild Wars 2 - I never play MMO's anymore.  I ignore them when they are released.  

Enter:  Diablo 4.

<center> 
![image.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/whoisjohn/Eo6D9ytduXHAsg3fY6mR6f18D83tFTQUumMfotPWyyPR3M6rxE26n5K5VCTxsVjc6ma.png)
[src](https://image.api.playstation.com/vulcan/ap/rnd/202211/3017/Oo1B84A7BLCT157YFSxjtwG0.png?w=440)</center> 

D4 is NOT an MMO.   However it does have a lot of characteristics of an MMO in that the game is never over and once you have completed the main story, which I will admit is really long for a game of this type, the story carries on and you work on other objectives to accomplish that get increasingly more difficult as you go along.  Unlike actual MMO's, these objectives are quite easily accomplished and you likely will not need a step-by-step guide the likes of which would exist in a real MMO.

<center> 
![image.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/whoisjohn/23swgEE2DuYYvrbGXKjyv196bpWyqjGkT14hm5egiJy2iUAUTxN5TosXwBWA5UyVzPUMH.png)
[src](https://static0.gamerantimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/diablo-4-paragon-board.jpg)</center>

This doesn't change the fact that there are a ton of options, perhaps unlimited amounts of them, and there are so many ways to play it.   

Lately, I have found myself parking my ass in front of the PS5 and heading into something called "the Pit" where the only objective here is to do essentially the same dungeon over and over (it is procedurally generated so it is never EXACTLY the same twice) so that at the end you can power up glyphs that socket into your upgrade "tree."   

This can be done for hours and hours at a time and the only objective here is to make yourself 10% more powerful than you were before so that you can...... run even higher powered "pit runs!"   

It all seems a bit pointless in the end yet I find myself unwilling to try out anything else and when I do, I end up exiting that game and entering Diablo 4 anyway.  

I see the same signs of addiction as far as my MMO days were concerned but I am not ignoring other aspects of my life because of it so it isn't really the same thing.   

It does kind of beg the question of what exactly am I doing here though?   If I was playing some other game like RDR2 or Horizon, the objective is to get through the game and do side quests, right?  Well in this game there are those things but they are all pointing to just one objective and that is to become more powerful.   The game has never-ending difficulty settings that is done using math to make your resistances to enemy attacks weaker, and to make the enemies take more hits to kill.   As far as I have seen this never results in any sort of increased intelligence as far as enemy attacks are concerned.  

So I'm not saying that people shouldn't play this game, they should.  It 's a great game.   But I think I have learned something about the industry that a lot of you probably already knew:  If a game so much as had the words "endgame content" in the description, it is basically an MMO in disguise.   It's a much simpler version of an MMO, and they don't call it an MMO, but let's be honest here:  It's an MMO.   :)   

As of now I am going to start playing something else and when I feel like endlessly and mindlessly running dungeons in the unlikely event something worthwhile drops, I can always go back to it.  The way it is now I can run right through almost all of the regular content without any real strategy, and there are only 6 buttons used so it's not like I am going to forget.   

<center> 
![image.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/whoisjohn/23tS2tin8dwCNe8pVq6f92QPWYsxcfKvwDSKjCeFpuqUggLP7NjLyv9JSt3sK6cMMFj5r.png)
[src](https://www.pcgamesn.com/wp-content/sites/pcgamesn/2023/06/diablo-4-lilith-final-boss-guide-lore-3-550x309.jpg)</center>

once you have completed the main story, which takes about 20 hours, you are able to repeat these battles as often as you like and you don't even have to "walk"to them either.  You can just teleport to them.  I suppose this is a nice feature and perhaps it is something that exists in most actual MMO's today as well.  The people over at Blizzard have done a great job making a ton of money off of this as even though the things you can buy with real world money are purely cosmetic in nature, I see plenty of other people running around with this stuff on.  

I do not understand the mind of a person that would pay $20 for a digital outfit that basically nobody is ever going to see, but whatever man!  it's their money.   

I looked it up and Diablo 4 has over $1 billion in revenue and $150 million of that is from cosmetic upgrades.  Wow!  A fool and his money are easily parted indeed.   that's a lot of shiny pairs of wings that cannot be found in game naturally.   

I do like that the only public celebration that Blizzard had of these earning was when the crossed over $666 million.   They managed to do this in just 5 days after the initial launch in 2023.   

Diablo 4 after 125 hours played:  What the hell am I doing?

I only started to realize this during my 2nd playthrough of the game and it is actually very important since a very larger portion of the game is all about drops and the various inscription or qualities (called aspects) that this particular item has.   These can normally sell for what appears to be a pretty penny at a vendor, but so far, I haven't noticed any sort of real need for a large amount of money in the game.   The people who have been playing for a long time would probably scoff at this as there very well may be some sort of endgame mechanic that I have not yet encountered that takes a bunch of money.  For me, after 35 hours playing the game or so, I have never not had enough money for anything that I am trying to do.  

<center> 
![image.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/whoisjohn/23tGXyun8tFbKYmzVFZWjZpUDxAroVXpX2WZWKb9tJkPsAJ8awxDUjR7MATqMGyvExuuQ.png)
[src](https://www.purediablo.com/diablo4/images/thumb/c/ca/Legendary_Item.jpg/210px-Legendary_Item.jpg)</center>

Like any game that functions like Diablo, you are going to end up with all sorts of crap that is dropping on the ground and as you move up in levels, your legendary gear that got you through the past 1-5 levels is no longer going to be any better than the rares or even common items that you find.   Some might feel compelled to sell this to get some cash (which is certainly the easier option) but when it comes to legendary items or better, you really should salvage these items so that you can bank the aspects.  

In the picture above the aspect is written at the bottom in orange, and all legendary items have one of these.  

Why is this important?   

<center> 
![image.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/whoisjohn/Eo1wPE6W2UYRjUrM7dgJVAnrKVCf54dSuALHHi656xd6eYMmDeyKbAMjBxgiBpMk3Gj.png)
[src](https://preview.redd.it/major-aspect-bug-on-the-occultist-v0-5d7dj0j3xg6b1.png?width=1947&format=png&auto=webp&s=05937d41591205826e915d804ed28aa63a7f9038)</center>

Later on in the game when you find more powerful gear, it might be a wonderful item but doesn't have exactly the sort of perks that you are looking for.  Well if you travel over to your friendly neighborhood Occultist, you can imprint any aspect that you want on certain gear.  This isn't an RNG thing, it is guaranteed to work.   You also have no limit as far as I can tell as to how many times you are allowed to change the aspect of it.   *I could be very wrong about this, but I haven't encountered it yet*

Making everything in your inventory as junk and selling it all is certainly a lot faster than salvaging things, but as you are progressing through the game you may encounter certain items that you don't actually find useful, but you, or some other character that you are using MIGHT at some point down the line.  If you figure it out later that you want one of these aspects but don't have any, then you are at the mercy of the dreaded RNG gods as far as getting some random loot drop is concerned.   

On my second playthrough I **always salvage all of my legendary gear that I no longer want** via the blacksmiths that are located all around Sanctuary.   

This has come in very handy for me on my 2nd playthrough and the fact that I didn't do this on my first playthrough kind of rather heavily held my character back from getting the exact perks that I would like to have.   

Since farming for legendaries actually happens by accident quite frequently, I wouldn't say that it is actually very important that you know what you are actually looking for, especially when you are below max level.  

I don't feel like there is really much point to bother micro-adjusting your gear at lower levels, because a level 15 legendary is NOT going to be more powerful than a level 20 common item.  It's kind of a waste of time to even bother.  I know that as I am leveling up, I don't really even pay any attention to anything about the items I am equipping other than their overall damage, armor, or elemental resistance depending on what part of your body it covers.   

<center> 
![image.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/whoisjohn/23tGVhp9dJDQnCeEfbyUxyL1u617chY9weHyBq1XQMqxu2ziyeMEUZvExRtBNeMpARPko.png)
[src](https://static.icy-veins.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/blacksmith-salvage.jpg)</center>

Honestly, as far as I have seen gold is so prevalent that I don't see much reason to ever sell anything honestly, you can just salvage all of your gear that you mark as junk rather than bothering with it.  Plus, there is always the fact that if something in your inventory has a very high sell rate, you may want to investigate whether or not it has some sort of amazing value that you are not aware of at first glance.  

Happy gaming!   







Tip for Diablo 4 beginners:  Salvage, don't sell, unused equipment

This game has held my interest for a lot longer than I thought it would when I chucked out $20 for it around a week ago.  I have no illusion that I am going to 100% this game, in fact I know that I wont be completing all the things you can do because it is just too big.


This game is pretty polished and runs really well on a PS5 but I suppose it is quite normal in a game as huge as this that there are going to be some strange things that happen.

<center> https://www.destructoid.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/How-to-fix-the-blue-characters-graphical-glitch-in-Hogwarts-Legacy-12-1.jpg
[src](https://www.destructoid.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/How-to-fix-the-blue-characters-graphical-glitch-in-Hogwarts-Legacy-12-1.jpg)</center>

This first glitch that I encountered was annoying and was resolved by simply resetting the PS5.  There is a spell that reveals all nearby treasures and potential objectives and when I was in a tight hallway setting it turned my character blue and it wouldn't go back.   I exited the area, i shuffled the camera all around, I exited the game and shut the game down and re-entered the game and well, I guess I'm just blue now.   Thankfully I saw that this happens to a lot of people online and their first suggestion was the ol' turn it off and turn it back on solution and that worked.   I wonder what makes this happen though and why it gets stuck like that?  There is no time in the game where you are meant to turn completely blue so this is just bizarre.  

The 2nd glitch I found was considerably more annoying.   When you get near something important your character will often say aloud a clue that indicates that you need to look around because you are nearby something of importance.  In this particular situation I was near a sort of statue that if collected enough of, will enable you to upgrade your lockpicking skills which is one of the most fun aspects of the game... stealing stuff.  

Well I could see the statue and my character kept repeating the phrase to tell you it is nearby

<center> https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/demiguise-moon-statue-hogwarts-legacy-31c9.jpg?quality=90&strip=all
[src](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/demiguise-moon-statue-hogwarts-legacy-31c9.jpg?quality=90&strip=all)</center>

They are called Demiguise statues and they are all over the world map.   You can cheat and look up their locations online but this game is already easy enough that I don't feel like it is at all necessary to get the internet involved with this game.  Anyhoo, I was standing right at this thing, right in front of me, nothing in my way, but it simply wouldn't allow me to interact with it.  These statues locations are not indicated in the map in any sort of way so I knew that if I didn't pick it up right now, there was a very good chance I wouldn't end up picking it up at all in the game since there was no good reason for me to return to this area ever again.   

Thankfully, this glitch was resolved by my simply fast-traveling out of the area and then fast-traveling back to it.  I am presuming that just like in almost all open-world games, using fast travel does a sort of reset on all areas on the map, not just the one you happen to be in.  When I returned to this same 2nd story of a house, I was able to pick it up with no issue.   WTF?

So this is kind of annoying because what if you were in a dungeon that doesn't have a fast travel option inside of it and yes, this is something that you will regularly encounter.  This would mean that you would have to do the entire dungeon over again because unless you loot that dungeon, enemies can get respawned.  You can't normally just warp out of a dungeon either, you have to walk out.   Now to be fair this hasn't happened to me yet with a key item but there have been many instances where I loot a chest and there is simply nothing inside.  I don't think there is meant to actually be nothing inside, something just doesn't work as far as the game's programming is concerned.   

Perhaps they put a bit more time into assuring that this doesn't happen with major key items.  Perhaps these glitches were pointed out to them and they actually aren't easy fixes and each one has to be addressed individually so to save time and/or money, they only corrected the ones that are truly crucial to the main quest.  Who knows?  I just know that it is very frustrating when you worked your way towards and item only to be staring at it and completely incapable of interacting with it.   

<center> 
![image.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/whoisjohn/242N2rgqkPj8U2pqdYtUBmoHid1oeoH43daCLhD8sN6n8oDWi8YZRHdpfdLNTReDhXJzc.png)
</center>

I am nearly 70% done with the main story or at least I think that is what that means, with 22 hours spent playing.   However, according to the main screen stats I have only collected 10% of the collectibles and well, there is no chance I am even going to try to accomplish all of those, especially if some of them are going to have a bugged workaround that I must go through in order to get it done.  

Annoying glitches discovered in Hogwart's legacy

I'm at the point now where I am considering asking for the very first refund that I have ever asked for as far as PlayStation digital downloads are concerned.   While I realize that the game is in beta it is still something that I paid for and while bugs here and there are acceptable in a game that is not yet complete, the ability to actually play the game without constant lag and rubber-banding is not.   

<center> https://m.economictimes.com/thumb/msid-116050898,width-1600,height-900,resizemode-4,imgsize-244946/path-of-exile-2-server-launch-time-can-you-download-poe-2-release-updates.jpg
[src](https://m.economictimes.com/thumb/msid-116050898,width-1600,height-900,resizemode-4,imgsize-244946/path-of-exile-2-server-launch-time-can-you-download-poe-2-release-updates.jpg)</center> 

If you didn't read what I posted before, I got tired of playing Chaosbane but still wanted to have some sort of multiplayer something or other than I could play with the 3 people I have in my friends' list on the PS Network.   I saw a trailer for POE2 and it looked just amazing and exactly the sort of thing that I would enjoy playing online for hours on end.   

Well the joy that I felt when I fired up the game and went through the very cool and inventive cutscenes and the VERY VERY cool character creation process... well that joy was short-lived.

<center> https://i.ytimg.com/vi/_mSTVqB4euA/maxresdefault.jpg
[src](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/_mSTVqB4euA/maxresdefault.jpg)</center>

The issue here is that this game is a game that must be played in an always online sort of sense, even if you are not playing multiplayer at the time, which is dumb.   I guess they do it because of the fact that it will be free to play at some point and in order to make money, they will need to be incentivizing the playerbase to spend real-world-money on upgrades, which it is my understanding a lot of people actually do this to the point where free-to-play games that get a large audience can actually make a lot more money than games people pay for the complete package up front.   

At the moment there are hundreds, probably thousands of players complaining about lag spikes, rubber-banding, really poor ping results and a lot of things that basically just mean that your machine, be it a console or a computer, cannot maintain a good enough connection with the game servers for the game to run fluidly.

I can definitely identify with what these people are talking about because I don't think I have ever played the game where it **wasn't lagging**.   This can vary from what I call "stutter-stepping" where it appears as though the game is struggling to load the upcoming areas, and can get as bad as the system pausing and unpausing over and over again during a battle because it is **seriously struggling** to keep up with the connection.

<center> 
![image.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/whoisjohn/23tS2jXvSppTHufQ4UGjRMkyWmbwV12xiTm2uSocxKyrnztBgRZueQvQMXbVez8V92W8g.png)
[src](https://www.pcgamesn.com/wp-content/sites/pcgamesn/2024/12/path-of-exile-2-early-access-impressions-the-crowbell-boss-fight-550x309.jpg)</center>

The above is one of the early sub-bosses that at the time I didn't realize was totally optional, haha.   Well he does some sort of attack that is seriously telegraphed but the first time you see it you aren't going to know what is going to happen.  The problem is that it involves a lot of flickering and summoning of some tendrils that are also mean to attack you.  This, even on a brand new PS5 slows the action on screen to a damn near halt.  Now my strategy as a ranger was always going to be to kite and attempt to get some damage while rolling around, but the game kept auto pausing and I'm just sitting there mashing the dodge button like crazy and when the network finally caught back up, I had rolled myself into a corner and then been hit.   Bosses in this game function like Dark Souls in that you cannot take very many hits from them.  Some of their attacks are one-hit kills.   So you actually NEED to have quick reflexes and zero lag to deal with them effectively.   

Thus far the only way I have been able to progress in the game is to get over-leveled and just beat down enemies by my superior level, which isn't much fun.  

I spend a great deal of my time very frustrated because the stutter stepping simply doesn't end.  

This game is HARD too, so when the damn thing is pausing on you every 5 seconds it gets old really fast.   The only reason I haven't moved on is because of the fact that I really do want to play this game but it needs to be a functioning product.  

<center> 
![image.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/whoisjohn/23u6Z4bLwNPoAHk2QG1fj4cceQybRQYK4P1fPqPuWxQajbw7qT55M1edQqfSVMi9yjYVs.png)
</center>

That's not me but in a shell this is the root of the problem here.   There are [tons of threads like this one](https://www.reddit.com/r/PathOfExile2/comments/1h8rpoz/poe_2_on_ps5_terrible_stunning_and_lagging_issue/) and it seems to be basically unfixable on PS5 because, from what I understand, while the devs are working on it, they are focusing on their primary audience, which will be PC players.   

That's another thing to keep in mind:  Even if this game was functioning perfectly it is evident that it was designed with PC's in mind and not so much consoles.  There are a ton of possible skills, for more than the PS5 has buttons, so this has encouraged me to not even use a lot of the skills that are available to me.   

<hr>

This is a shame because this game looks like it could be absolutely awesome but I am not going to play something that just makes me angry because of the poor performance.   

While I understand that Grinding Gear Games has a lot on their plate right now and almost certainly wants to improve things, being part of the beta has kind of encouraged me to not want to play the game even when it is complete.   They have remained rather quiet as far a the PlayStation complain crowd goes.  In fact, I can't even see where they have addressed it at all.    Some comments they have made have been to blame it on the customers though and I really don't like that.   They suggest that OUR internet connections are not good enough or that we should be using a LAN cable.   I'm calling bullshit on that.   I can play games that are far more graphically demanding than a top-down AARPG like this one.   I play Destiny 2, Chaosbane, and Helldivers 2 with ZERO issues.   Am I expected to believe that this game, which appears as though it has the graphical complexity of something on the PS2, needs more bandwidth than those games?  Horsefeathers!   

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfhI_3OVlcQ

Then you've got people like this who are getting obliterated in the comments section when they suggest things like "make sure your PS5 isn't too hot" and "avoid long gaming sessions."   

I am going to apply for a refund today.  I actually don't even know what the process looks like.  If they say no or whatever, it will just be a $30 mistake.   Shame on GGG for releasing this to consoles before it was ready and shame on Sony for allowing it to be sold with issues that are this widespread.  



Path of Exile 2 extreme lag continues on PS5:  Read before buying!  

I haven't completely moved on from *Path of Exile 2* but I got kind of frustrated with running around in circles hoping for a drop and trying to level up.    I realize that this is exactly how these games function but I needed a break.   I pulled down some random game from the PS-Plus network that the trailer looked pretty cool for.   The name of the "game" is Gris and so far it has been quite the experience that is difficult to compare to many other games I have played.

<center> https://cdn2.fptshop.com.vn/unsafe/1920x0/filters:quality(100)/2023_11_27_638367044379833027_gris-0.jpg
[src](https://cdn2.fptshop.com.vn/unsafe/1920x0/filters:quality(100)/2023_11_27_638367044379833027_gris-0.jpg)</center>

I don't know the story of what is going on in Gris and I don't think you are actually supposed to know.  You simply fire the game up and you are a girl/woman sitting in some gigantic stone hands of a statue singing, then something happens, you lose your voice and go crashing to the ground.   There are no words put on screen explaining what this is all about and in a way, this is actually really good.   It is up to you to interpret what this strange world is and what your part in it is.

Controls are very limited but they expand as you move on with various simple puzzles that eventually will expand the abilities that you have but they are few and far between.  

<center> https://shared.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/store_item_assets/steam/apps/683320/ss_973175ba1865c5716c5f37588d00ac135b7d34ba.1920x1080.jpg?t=1728690313
[src](https://shared.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/store_item_assets/steam/apps/683320/ss_973175ba1865c5716c5f37588d00ac135b7d34ba.1920x1080.jpg?t=1728690313)</center>

The levels that you face, or at least the ones that I have faced thus far at 50% completion, are quite simple but this doesn't take away from the fact that the visuals as well as the music are very unique, very impressive, and blend together in a way that made me feel as though I was playing art rather than a game.   

Also, you can't really "die" as far as I have seen and I don't think you are ever meant to.   There are certain things that will stand in your way that you will not be able to pass without figuring out what the tricks are and all of the tricks have been quite evident thus far and also incredibly creative.   

<center> https://i2.wp.com/girlsongames.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/GRIS-12_15_2018-12_06_06-AM.jpg?fit=1920%2C1080&ssl=1
[src](https://i2.wp.com/girlsongames.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/GRIS-12_15_2018-12_06_06-AM.jpg?fit=1920%2C1080&ssl=1)</center>

now before we get ahead of ourselves I want to explain that despite this beauty and wonderful integration of sound and music into the game, that doesn't necessarily mean that this is a great game.   It is something that I enjoy as a winding-down of sorts from playing something far more intense, such as POE2 for example.   Gris has been described as "wonderfully beautiful..... and boring" and I can totally understand why people would come to that conclusion.

Quite often in the game there are vast swaths of nothingness that you are forced to cross over and there really isn't any particularly good reason why that needs to be the case.   Perhaps the artists behind this wanted to instill in the player as sense of the world that you inhabit being a vast wasteland and it is your duty to restore it.   Again, there is no story so it is largely up to the player to decide what the heck is actually going on here.

This is casual gaming at its pinnacle because unless something kind of crazy happens in the latter 50% of the game that I haven't yet completed, this game is extremely simple and easy to get through.   I finished 50% of the game in an hour as well.   So yeah, this isn't going to appeal to everyone.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtWnBHG6dis

If that trailer doesn't tell you a whole helluva lot about the game, well I think that is intentional.   For me this game was a great sort of break from intense gaming but for only a few hours or so, or so it would appear.   I occasionally enjoy games where it is left up to you to create your own version of the story and there are not many games that are able to pull this off while still being playable.   This is very playable and was never intended to be difficult.   So if you have a PS-Plus membership I think that you should go ahead and download this one seeing as how you don't have to pay extra for it anyway.   

I've enjoyed it thus far but will admit that my thumb has gotten tired a few times from simply running to the left or right for very long periods of time.   

For the right person this will be a great distraction from far more difficult and hardcore games because you can really just jump right in with this one and with almost zero direction given, figure it out.  



Gris:  This isn't a game, it is a work of art

This is not a new game.  I think it is having a bit of a renaissance because of all the fame and attention that Warhammer in general is getting right now due to their new release because the player base is higher now than it was 6 months ago.

This quite old and relatively basic game is the reason why I purchased a PS5, because I wanted to be able to play along my brother and some close friends but since they all have PS5's and I was on a PS4 it would kind of ruin the experience for them because they had to stream the older version of the game, which is a feature that I was unaware even existed.   Also, they couldn't use their toons that were many levels apart from mine, which doesn't exist as far as I can tell in the PS4 version of the game.  

Anyway, here are some tips that are by no means expert advice, but something I wish I had known when I first started playing.

<center> 
![image.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/whoisjohn/23tbo3ZAxmU1jFffoCwQA3Y6YRLc2R61Fs7NftkRC36Pk3ThGSkhZEu3nJTGbSKn5fTw1.png)
</center>


<h3> First tip!  Get the game, it's free </h3>

Well it is free if you have a PS-Plus account, which is something that I think is just pretty standard right now.   For me it just makes sense to pay $10 a month for something that gives you access to nearly 300 games and a catalogue of games that is ever-evolving.   I kind of look at it as a free trial to lots of things and near permanent access to older titles.   Chaosbane:  Slayer Edition is currently free on PS-Plus and has been for a long time.   I can't imagine any financial incentive for them to attempt to sell this game again because I don't think anyone would pay for a game that is 5 years old.  

<h3> Second tip!   Rush that XP and don't focus too much on items in early game </h3>

<center> https://shared.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/store_item_assets/steam/apps/1004910/ss_521a3c1e0bed74d7d71cede36776b8ba0aa8045f.1920x1080.jpg?t=1599207288
[src](https://shared.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/store_item_assets/steam/apps/1004910/ss_521a3c1e0bed74d7d71cede36776b8ba0aa8045f.1920x1080.jpg?t=1599207288)</center>

"Blessing of Wisdom* is a skill that everyone has access to at the start of the game and it boosts your XP gain.   I think this was introduced as the game got older because everyone was basically rushing to max level.   There is a reason for that because the game truly starts when you hit level 50, which is the max level.   

You might feel tempted to try to spec out your toon in earlier levels but this is kind of a waste of time since so much gear is dropping and you'll be swapping out stuff regularly.   It isn't until reds and green items start dropping that you should really focus on the stats and certain combinations too much.   I found that it was just a waste of time to spend a bunch of time in the equipment menu until I got to level 50 items and even then unless they are red or green you will end up replacing them later anyway.   

<h3> Third tip!   If you have a friend, use them! </h3>

There doesn't appear to be any sort of cap on level differential when playing in private online games so there is absolutely nothing stopping you from joining a raid with your level 50 character alongside your friend who is level 1.   If the higher level character jumps up the difficulty to a medium level, which is something they should have very little difficulty accomplishing, the level 1 character can just stand at the entrance, fight nothing, and still get massive amounts of XP.   I tried this with my brother when he wanted to start a new character and he gained 10 levels by just standing at the entrance.  After half a dozen raids which I easily completed unassisted, he was max level.     

Of course you need to have your level 50 accomplice be damn sure that everything has been killed near said entrance because at such a level differential you will likely be one-shotted by almost anything other than a rat.   

<h3> Fourth tip! Save the gem shards for later! </h3>

<center> 
![image.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/whoisjohn/23wMWDSo4jCAwG1uyYnreNAu4cGNy9rE5pPqZB1ohRiJr42zYUJ1WAJDHx6TdjPAZGxrP.png)
[src](https://res.cloudinary.com/lmn/image/upload/c_limit,h_360,w_640/e_sharpen:100/f_auto,fl_lossy,q_auto/v1/gameskinnyc/b/l/e/bless-958f2.jpg)</center>

When you are running around in early game you will notice that a lot of gem shards are dropping.  The game doesn't even tell you what these are for until a bit later, I think it was level 20 or so.   You might feel tempted to bless the items which will embed the gem shards into them and as you would expect, boost your stats quite a bit.   However, since you are going to be tossing out these lessor items later anyway, this use of shards is a total waste.  You are going to **need a lot of shards** in later play, so I believe it is best to simply stockpile them until you are level 50 and start finding green and red items, which will happen a couple of times in every run.   

<hr>

That's all I can think of for now.  There are other things that I could mention but this is already a post that is long enough that I am in danger of nobody reading it.   The biggest tip is the first one because why not play something that is free anyway?   

Warhammer:  Chaosbane tips for beginners

First off I want to explain that I absolutely love this game and feel as though Nintendo really knocked it out of the park.   The scaling difficulty that results in 90% of the map being totally optional, the way that there is no one true way to complete the game and the fact that there is more than one way to skin a cat are just epic and like nothing I have experienced in an open world game at any other point in my life.  

I love this game... well almost all of it.  

<center> https://oyster.ignimgs.com/mediawiki/apis.ign.com/the-legend-of-zelda-breath-of-the-wild-2/3/3f/Splash_Fruit_Zelda_TotK_Tears_of_the_Kingdom.png
[src](https://oyster.ignimgs.com/mediawiki/apis.ign.com/the-legend-of-zelda-breath-of-the-wild-2/3/3f/Splash_Fruit_Zelda_TotK_Tears_of_the_Kingdom.png)</center>

If you've played this game, you already know that that is in the picture but if you haven't played it I'll explain was a splashfruit is.   

Splashfruit is introduced to you in the Kingdom of Zora, which are the fish hybrid creatures that as I recall we were first introduced to in *Ocarina of Time.*  

Their livelihood is dependent on clean water sources and when you first encounter them in their part of the map, there is a bunch of goop on the ground that is cluttering up the area and as you will find out later, is causing a lot of problems for their empire.   This stuff on the ground is called sludge in the game.

<center> 
![image.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/whoisjohn/23w2cj7y7uBbEv6uBaJB1NSFWp4srZ2FR1tqowFrHYvfoiResQQE311tPhu7mPEVn66Fo.png)
[src](https://static0.gamerantimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/legend-of-zelda-tears-of-the-kingdom-how-to-clean-brown-and-purple-goo-splash-fruit.jpg)</center>

Stepping in sludge doesn't hurt you directly thankfully, but it does make you move really slow and leaves you open to attacks.   Until much later in the game (so I've heard) you do not have the armor necessary to withstand very many hits so being in sludge during a battle can make you open to death very quickly.   

There are a couple of fights with large, heavy-damage-dealing enemies that I have encountered so far that if you are standing in sludge, the fight will be over quite quickly.  Both of these enemies are covered in a sludge type of armor that is impenetrable unless the sludge is washed away with..... you guessed it, splash fruit!

That is fine in itself because it is evident that this will be the case because by the time you get to those battles they have been talking about sludge for a long time and many of your quests have been directly related to it.   The problem is that the splash-fruits are not just everywhere and I have run into a situation where I am extremely low on them.  Therefore, I was forced to abandon what I presume is the end of a rather long quest in order to go and run around and search for trees... and there aren't very many of them.   

In *TotK* money is very difficult to come by so even though there are a few vendors that sell splash fruit, you really should be saving your money for various armor upgrades later on because that is where you will really need it.   
<center> https://www.tuppencemagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/The-Legend-of-Zelda-Tears-of-the-Kingdom-Sludge-Like-guide-How-to-defeat-the-mud-monster-jpg.webp
[src](https://www.tuppencemagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/The-Legend-of-Zelda-Tears-of-the-Kingdom-Sludge-Like-guide-How-to-defeat-the-mud-monster-jpg.webp)
<sub> this sub-boss is actually defeatable by other means but is much easier with a splash-fruit covered arrow, which is also a rare and limited resource </sub> </center> 

I don't really mind wandering around to gather resources but since there is no XP in this game, getting into fights randomly that aren't not attached to your overall game progression is just a waste of other resources such as your very breakable weapons.   I try to avoid battle as much as possible but every now and then some throwaway mobs corner me and I am all but forced to lay down the law, deteriorating my weapons in the meantime.  

I suppose if I were to offer any advice here it would be to not use your splash fruit or really anything else unless you absolutely must, because it will be a big factor later on, you can basically count on that.   Restocking of any sort of supply is a true pain in the butt in this game and for the most part they are completely optional.  On this particular boss that I am facing though, there isn't really any other feasible way of removing his sludge-shield and therefore you must have a lot of it.   

I'm sure there are other similar moments awaiting me later on in the game and while this is annoying, it certainly isn't a deal-breaker.   

One aspect I actually don't care for in Tears of the Kingdom

The list of games that I used as a footer for my features was getting too long and making my posts kind of unreadable to some degree so every now and then when I get far enough along in the amount of games that I have tried I compile them all in one link.  

In case you are new here the system goes like this:  I play **every single PS-Plus** game for at least an hour even if I am moaning and groaning during the entire hour.   Sometimes this results in me finding an indie-gem that I might not have ever tried without using this system.  Mostly it ends up in me discovering that the games were offered for free because they are terrible.  

Here is the 2nd list that I have done in the past couple of months.

<center> 
![image.png](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmNqqhzLbgBsfNw8kBVopykhvurJEyx4Uv6bcp19cK8rPc/image.png)
[src](https://www.pcworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/playstation_plus.jpg?quality=50&strip=all)</center>

* **Gravity Rush 2** (action adventure game with fast movement in every direction.  It has RPG elements and a pretty decent story.  Make it past the first hour and the game really opens up.  Recommended) 
* **Oddworld:  Soulstorm** (2D+ platformer with great graphics, sound, and voice-acting.  Unfortunately it is plagued with a lot of repetition.   Recommended for a few hours)  
* **Bee Simulator** (sort of like a flying FPS game but with no combat.  It's graphically impressive and filled with tidbits of knowledge about bees... unfortunately it is repetitive as hell and gets boring fast.  Not recommended) 
* **Prison Architect** (a prison management simulator game similar to SimCity.   It's a great game but just like most simulation games, it just isn't very playable using a controller.  Not recommended on PS4)  
* **Hotline Miami 2** (a top-down shooter with gruesome violence and terrible AI.  Would be great for speedrunners and hardcore gamers.  Casuals like me are going to quickly tire with it)  
* **Battle Chasers:  Nightwar** (turn based RPG of medium-length that does a good job of teaching you how to play in the first hour.   It's pretty old-school and I happen to like that... recommended)   
* **Chorus** (3rd person open-world space fighting game.  It's graphically impressive but combat is too repetitive to really hold your interest for the entire story.  Still recommended though.)   
* **Portal Knights** (a very well made survival action builder game similar to Minecraft.  I really enjoyed this and look forward to playing it more.  Recommended)   
* **Saints Row:  The Third** (clever and funny FPS game that intentionally puts you in impossible and absurd situations.  It's innovative and humorous but ultimately quite dated and got repetitive and boring pretty quick.  Not recommended)  
* **Balan Wonderworld** (A rather beautiful 3D(ish) platformer that is extremely easy but still engaging enough to hold your attention for a few hours.  Recommended for casual gamers)  
* **The Artful Escape** (an adventure game of sorts with awesome visuals and music, but repetitive areas and controls combined with IMO far too much dialogue makes this game get boring, fast...  Worth a look but not recommended to play)  
* **Until Dawn** (interactive horror game that you don't really control a great deal of.   It's reasonably entertaining, you can't lose, and the graphics and sound a pretty great.   It's not really a game but I enjoyed it and played it to its finish.  Recommended) 
* **11-11:  Memories Retold** (a WW1 story that doesn't actually involve much input on the player's part.   The game is very boring despite having a wonderful graphical style:   Not recommended)  
* **Desperados 3** (a real time tactics / stealth game that I personally do not feel belongs on consoles at all.  If you have never played these sorts of games on PC your opinion might be different.  This one gets a "maybe.")  
* **Maneater** (Action RPG where you play the role of a deadly shark.  The idea is decent but ultimately the extremely repetitive gameplay makes this one easy to miss.  Not recommended)
* **TorqueL** (physics puzzle platformer that is simplistic at first but quickly becomes maddeningly difficult.  Gets boring pretty quickly on consoles and would be better suited as a time-waster on mobile devices.  Not recommended on PS4) 
* **Final Fantasy Fables:  Chocobo's Dungeon**:  Turn-based cutesy RPG that is extremely story-driven just like anything Square is involved in.  If you are huge fan of Final Fantasy you might like it, for me it was one hour then done forever.   
* **XCOM 2** :  (Turn-based Sci-Fi game set in a dystopian future where you are part of the rebellion.  Despite a very slow start IMO the game really gets involved later on... recommended)  
* **Darksiders Genesis** (Top-down hack and slash that reminds me a lot of Diablo 3 but with a more restricted environment.   It's very fast paced and as easy or difficult as you want it to be.  It's a lot of fun and therefore comes highly recommended.)   
* **Guardians of the Galaxy** (a copy/paste of so many other RPG's out there with too many cutscenes as is so typical of Square-Enix.   Recommended for superfans of the movies, but not for really anyone else.)   
* **Injustice 2** (a DC comics oriented fighting game with tons of characters and IMO extremely complicated gameplay.  It could be great for someone who is willing to devote enough time to memorizing all of this, but I am not that guy.)   
*  **Life is Strange: Before the Storm episode 1** (A graphic adventure that isn't really a game so much as it is a movie that you have some control over.   Recommended for people looking for something extremely casual but with a very well-written story)   
* **Evil Dead:  The Game** (a team based multiplayer game that has the humor and gore that you would expect from anything done by *Evil Dead*.  Unfortunately, it doesn't really stand out from the pack well enough for me to give it high props.   Recommended for a short while - see if you disagree with me)  
* **Immortals:  Fenyx Rising** (A Zelda-esque open-world game based on Greek mythology that is one of the best games I have played in a while.   Highly recommended)  
* **Pixel Piracy** (an 8-bit adventure game of sorts that puts you in the role of a pirate ship commander.  I'd love to tell you what the objective in this game is, but I don't know what it is.   I was extremely bored after the required 1-hour of play and immediately deleted the game from my hard drive.  Not recommended)   
* **I am Satsuna** (an old-school turn-based RPG developed by Squre Enix that functions exactly like Squaresoft games from the 90's.  Recommended for people who really love that sort of game environment but not so much for anyone else) 
* **Killzone:  Shadow Fall**  (an open-world(ish) FPS game with RPG elements.  I found the interface to be hard on the eyes and that they really do a terrible job of teaching you how to actually play the game.  Not recommended for average gamers but possibly a real winner for veterans of the franchise because the story seems quite good.)  
* **Dead by Daylight** (A multiplayer survival horror game that was probably very fresh and fun when released in 2016 but these days there are so many clones of this type of game that there isn't much incentive to play this one) 
* **Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands** (A open-world RPG/FPS game similar to the *FarCry* series.   IMO the world is unnecessarily huge and there is a lot of dead space with nothing in it.  This means a lot of your time is spent just traveling from one mission to the next and the missions all start to feel the same after a while.  I lost interest after 4 hours or so)   
* **Sakuna:  of Rice and Ruin** (a metroid-vania-esque platforming with townbuilding elements.  This is a casual game that will appeal to most people I think, especially those who are looking for a little less "hardcore" game to play.   I have gone well over my 1-hour requirement and think I will continue and perhaps complete it.  Recommended)  
* **Shadow of the Beast** (an action adventure platformer fighting game that is a throwback to the 1989 original.  It looks promising at first but ultimately the action part of the game is pretty repetitive and well, this isn't much of a surprise seeing as how it was drawing its inspiration from a game that is nearly 40 years old.   Fun for a while but I bet you won't stick with it.  Maybe recommended) 
* **OMNO** (a puzzle-solving story game that is lovely, cute, and has great ambiance.  The only downside is that if you have already played a few games of this sort such as *Journey* you are going to get bored pretty fast.  Recommended for a few hours and only if you can get it for free.)   
* **Endling** (A fantastically beautiful and ambient game that is quite touching.  The great soundtrack and story combined with simplistic controls is unfortunately overshadowed by a rather extreme amount of loading screens that ultimately chased me away from playing it at all)  
* **Source of Madness**  (a beautiful looking and sounding game that unfortunately is a rogue-like.  If you like that sort of thing this game might appeal to you.  I do not like 90% of rogue-likes so this one fell flat with me)

[All other games I have already reviewed in part one (there are a lot of them)](https://peakd.com/gaming/@whoisjohn/the-list-of-games-played-in-ps-plus-extra-part-1)

Trying all PS-Plus Extra games list number two

I am going to attempt to answer my own question here but realize that I don't really know what the hell I am talking about because I have only got about 9 hours logged in the game and honestly, am mostly just wandering around not really knowing where the hell I am going or what I am meant to be doing.  

The game is not very good at explaining what you are supposed to be doing and maybe that is the point.  Maybe you are SUPPOSED to be lost and stumble upon things in the game, maybe you are supposed to be overwhelmed in the story missions and then leave them for later.  

I know that when I do end up in a team I kind of feel bad about my presence because I am always being carried by the team even though my power ranking or whatever it is called is actually around the same level as theirs.  Some might say "git gud" but I don't want to dedicate hundreds of hours to a game that in the end is just a game to me.

<center> 
![image.png](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmQrHfAU8qKc2Q2sooLe3PpZZ6u6kGKuHzmY6ZH9j6Jv1r/image.png)
[src](https://preview.redd.it/0zb29wi87ns71.png?auto=webp&s=fe8eea979b68a15f1d459998a38c3c5ef2848658)</center>

Very often in this game you will encounter stuff that you want to do, but can't because you don't own the DLC necessary to make that happen.  The game is now Free to Play so this was to be expected.   I thought it might be a bit different because the PS-Plus membership gave us one of the most recent DLC's for free - well it is free if you pay for the PS-Plus membership.  

Unfortunately a LOT of what I would like to do is behind a paywall and the game is so complicated that if the idea was to entice me to pay for some of the other features they are not doing a very good job of it.   How can I feel compelled to buy more into a game when I can't really even wrap my head around what it is that I am supposed to be doing in the game portions that I already own? 

I don't like this sort of business model but it is what it is.  If you don't like it don't play, right?   It's not like I don't have 200 other games that are already sitting in my library gathering dust.   

<center> 
![image.png](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmTnnV3ZGLRARp61zKggVuWiEzDtqEgSAMpFnzu12GZDZk/image.png)
[src](https://static-prod.weplay.tv/2019-08-22/261c3c84ad2bd3a636e2099ef0c2f39d.jpeg)</center>

I spend a lot of time wandering around the tower looking for missions or bounties that I can do but mostly to no avail.  If I do actually find something that I am allowed to have with the DLC that I already have, it is not very good at explaining what this terminology actually means.   For someone that has been playing since launch this would all seem elementary but I only found out by accident while watching a YT video that it was even possible to upgrade the weapons that you already have and like.   As far as I know this was never pointed out in game and well, that just seems wrong to me.  

But anyway, the point of all this is "can this game be fun for a casual player?"   Even though it seems as though I am kind of bagging on the game up to this point simply going to a particular planet and wandering around joining group missions can be kind of fun - even if your contribution to any battle is going to be rather miniscule since any veteran players are going to be doing far more substantial damage than you are.

<center> 
![image.png](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmdRfT3BLWXJVEREy1nGL7huCxFJo586StDFRVK4Ub98K4/image.png)
[src](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/enRNmbV6cys7whqCwhakv4.jpg)</center>

I have been wandering around some of the planets or areas and joined group events or accidentally joined heroic events and then yes, it is fun.   You may not know what the fuck you are doing but basically the objective is pretty much the same no matter which one you do.  KILL EVERYTHING.   Also, when you die it isn't that big of a deal even if nobody rez's you.   You can respawn not far from where the event is taking place and as far as I can tell this is an endless process.  It is fun and you will end up with a loot chest at the end of it.  So yeah, this is fun in my mind.   What isn't fun is when it is over and now you once again don't know what the hell to do.   

Story progression is tough to wrap your head around and seriously, the lore and what not goes back so far since this game has been out for years that I don't even know who most of the characters are that they are referring to.  Nor do I particularly care.  

It does get a bit annoying when character progression is clearly and intentionally placed behind a paywall but well, we all need to relax a bit I guess, these people don't make the games to give them away for free and we should always be leery of any game that claims to be "free to play."  There is no such thing as free.

There are THOUSANDS of videos with tips and tricks to master the game but honestly, I don't see myself ever ending up that way.  I do get annoyed when the pop up window tells me an objective that I am meant to complete and I have no idea what they are talking about and have to go and do "research" in order to figure it out.   What is this?  School?

However, I also realize that I am in no way obligated to do any of those things and who knows?  After a group event that pops up on most maps continually, you may just get some sort of amazing drop.

<center> 
![image.png](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmeuET4VmEuET6viHPYcZbdT6sSbykYvRoxQe3nPMu4AvU/image.png)
[src](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/p9DEGWeUIEU/maxresdefault.jpg)
<sub> weeeeee!  Please hit something </sub> </center> 


For me, I will continue to play this on the side for a while but I can't really imagine putting in the hours of actually learning all the things that go on in this game.  For a casual player, as long as you accept the fact that you are not going to be able to successfully participate in much of the content, you can still wander around and have fun just pew pew-ing stuff for a couple of hours at a time.   

I feel like this game will be dead soon so I'm just going to enjoy it every now and then for the time being.  If you are just starting Destiny 2 and feel like you are a numb-nuts because you don't know what is going on, just realize that most new players feel exactly the same way as you do and honestly, I don't know how Bungie could make it easier for the userbase.  If they streamline progression for new players the risk chasing off the veteran players who buy anything that is thrown their way but at the same time by keeping it complicated they are perhaps chasing off new players as well.  

I say get in there and figure it out for yourself.... just know that most of the content is intentionally locked behind a paywall.

Destiny 2:  Can it be fun for a casual player?

Developed by a very small studio that I have never heard of before called Quadro Delta, I was initially excited about this game because I quite like throwback games that remind me of "the good ol' days" of gaming when graphics were limited.  

This elation was quickly squashed though when I found out that this very simple looking game is actually quite complicated in what the hell it is that you are supposed to do and by the end of the required 1-hour of gameplay I was relieved and quite delighted to delete it from the hard drive.  It was one of the most miserable 1-hours spent playing a game that I have experienced in quite some time.

<center> 
![image.png](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmWTjKm5V4aUnDP8NLrxwuzYTVRvFSxwNvb2yBeMoAjEDP/image.png)
[src](https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/264140/capsule_616x353.jpg?t=1680512805)</center>

The game annoyed me right out of the gate.  You character creation consists of a bunch of reading and answering questions that determine what sort of character you are going to be right out of the gate.  Then they put you through a tutorial of sorts and indicate what it is that you need to do in terms of hiring a crew on your boat and how to keep them happy.   Then they send you out to sea.  

<center> 
![image.png](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmcTKepUqLG6cJxb3GCp5aRtk8ZbWmLjSf2gXsgWcpNjg7/image.png)
[src](https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/rLcgL1zS-X9HzP1KFehMgNJvOoc=/0x120:1009x688/1600x900/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/24395155/63.0.png)</center>

The animation is remarkably bad and a lot of this might be intentional.  I mean if we are going to have pre 8-bit graphics why bother with animation at all.   Well, they barely did.   I will always take good gameplay over amazing graphics and this is a big reason why I have recently had a falling out with *Square-Enix* since I think they have completely given up on having good gameplay in lieu of making hyper-realistic looking graphics.  Give me pixelated graphics and good gameplay over realism and stupid gameplay any day.   Unfortunately this game becomes incredibly boring very fast and after your 3rd or 4th invasion (which you easily win) you hope that the game is going to evolve a bit.   Well, after an hour, it remained the same all the way through and that was enough for me to not ever want to investigate the game further.

<center> 
![image.png](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmRo1QZHF1zfYyKcQXKsr6pu4gHjb1GzUFrfAC5tDKX7GA/image.png)
[src](https://images.gog-statics.com/a4db894a5b98bf8a3ae46c88c133f8076afb3844bcade3a4806f06aa5d012579_product_card_v2_mobile_slider_639.jpg)</center>

you go from island to island and roaming rival boat to rival boat and your crew and yourself crawl over a line, attack the enemy, and then scuttle their boat.   This results in you getting more and more materials so that you can upgrade your own boat, presumably for more exciting encounters in the future.   For those that can endure this immediate grind, I suppose it could become mildly interesting once you have the option of building cannons and firing on other ships.  However, after an hour of gameplay I hadn't encountered any of this and to me the repetition of just doing the same shit over and over again was enough for me to head to the hills.

<center> 
![image.png](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmdb12FiY8cKhU8tGa4BSkEvmPtuAVhxPioSVzG6nqfD6i/image.png)
[src](https://www.thexboxhub.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/pixel-piracy-pic-1.jpg)</center>

In the stuff that i have seen from people that drudged on through and upgraded the hell out of their ships, it looks like it could have been fun but remember, I base my opinions of games based SOLELY on how well the game engages you in the first hour of play and this game simply doesn't have any of that.  Perhaps it was because of the fact that I was part of the MMORPG generation that grinding for anything just became commonplace and did hundreds of hours of it, but I am NOT going to grind in games anymore and feel as though it is a lazy and stupid addition for any game to have.   

*Pixel Piracy* had a decent concept in its design, but ultimately the game is both complicated and too simple at the same time.  The scenery doesn't change unless you make it change by altering your boat.   This is another downside of the game that may have something to do with the fact that I was playing it using a controller.   The build menu for your boat is really difficult and time consuming to interact with using a controller, and perhaps this would be better and faster if I had been using a mouse and keyboard.

<center> 
![image.png](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmTa2aYWH5zKL92MVDdywthc4mKpKWZF3UBuPC3k93wzEh/image.png)
[src](https://www.nextgenbase.com/files/2016/02/pixel-piracy-screen-27-ps4-eu-27jan16-1280x720.jpg)</center>

There are shops where you can buy stuff on certain islands but my inventory quickly became packed with crap that I had no idea how to use.   I don't want to be confused about "what the hell am I supposed to do?" in the first hour of playing a game - that is supposed to come later after the game has already sucked you in and gotten you accustomed to how the game is going to work.  In my mind, this game doesn't work and it also has a few bugs I discovered early on such as menus that simply don't want to appear.   I also had some of my shipmates just get stuck in the scenery on god knows what, and no matter what I did they couldn't move.   

Another gripe would be that you have to deal with the attitude of your crew and unhappy crew members will simply refuse to do what you ask them to do.   

I don't even know what to call this sort of game:  Is it an RPG?  Is it sandbox adventure?  I never died so I don't know if it is rogue-like - god I hope it isn't.  I can imagine finally getting to an interesting part of the game only to lose and have to start back from nothing.   

I did not enjoy anything about this game other than the music.   The rest of it, is quite stupid and boring in my mind.   Sorry small dev companies!  I do try to be extra nice to the little guys, but this game simply sucks.

<h3> Overall, I was dead bored after an hour of grindy gameplay and I cannot recommend this game to anyone </h3> 

<hr> 

<h3> Games I have already tried in my journey to play at least 1-hour of every PS-Plus Extra game </h3> 

* **Gravity Rush 2** (action adventure game with fast movement in every direction.  It has RPG elements and a pretty decent story.  Make it past the first hour and the game really opens up.  Recommended) 
* **Oddworld:  Soulstorm** (2D+ platformer with great graphics, sound, and voice-acting.  Unfortunately it is plagued with a lot of repetition.   Recommended for a few hours)  
* **Bee Simulator** (sort of like a flying FPS game but with no combat.  It's graphically impressive and filled with tidbits of knowledge about bees... unfortunately it is repetitive as hell and gets boring fast.  Not recommended) 
* **Prison Architect** (a prison management simulator game similar to SimCity.   It's a great game but just like most simulation games, it just isn't very playable using a controller.  Not recommended on PS4)  
* **Hotline Miami 2** (a top-down shooter with gruesome violence and terrible AI.  Would be great for speedrunners and hardcore gamers.  Casuals like me are going to quickly tire with it)  
* **Battle Chasers:  Nightwar** (turn based RPG of medium-length that does a good job of teaching you how to play in the first hour.   It's pretty old-school and I happen to like that... recommended)   
* **Chorus** (3rd person open-world space fighting game.  It's graphically impressive but combat is too repetitive to really hold your interest for the entire story.  Still recommended though.)   
* **Portal Knights** (a very well made survival action builder game similar to Minecraft.  I really enjoyed this and look forward to playing it more.  Recommended)   
* **Saints Row:  The Third** (clever and funny FPS game that intentionally puts you in impossible and absurd situations.  It's innovative and humorous but ultimately quite dated and got repetitive and boring pretty quick.  Not recommended)  
* **Balan Wonderworld** (A rather beautiful 3D(ish) platformer that is extremely easy but still engaging enough to hold your attention for a few hours.  Recommended for casual gamers)  
* **The Artful Escape** (an adventure game of sorts with awesome visuals and music, but repetitive areas and controls combined with IMO far too much dialogue makes this game get boring, fast...  Worth a look but not recommended to play)  
* **Until Dawn** (interactive horror game that you don't really control a great deal of.   It's reasonably entertaining, you can't lose, and the graphics and sound a pretty great.   It's not really a game but I enjoyed it and played it to its finish.  Recommended) 
* **11-11:  Memories Retold** (a WW1 story that doesn't actually involve much input on the player's part.   The game is very boring despite having a wonderful graphical style:   Not recommended)  
* **Desperados 3** (a real time tactics / stealth game that I personally do not feel belongs on consoles at all.  If you have never played these sorts of games on PC your opinion might be different.  This one gets a "maybe.")  
* **Maneater** (Action RPG where you play the role of a deadly shark.  The idea is decent but ultimately the extremely repetitive gameplay makes this one easy to miss.  Not recommended)
* **TorqueL** (physics puzzle platformer that is simplistic at first but quickly becomes maddeningly difficult.  Gets boring pretty quickly on consoles and would be better suited as a time-waster on mobile devices.  Not recommended on PS4) 
* **Final Fantasy Fables:  Chocobo's Dungeon**:  Turn-based cutesy RPG that is extremely story-driven just like anything Square is involved in.  If you are huge fan of Final Fantasy you might like it, for me it was one hour then done forever.   
* **XCOM 2** :  (Turn-based Sci-Fi game set in a dystopian future where you are part of the rebellion.  Despite a very slow start IMO the game really gets involved later on... recommended)  
* **Darksiders Genesis** (Top-down hack and slash that reminds me a lot of Diablo 3 but with a more restricted environment.   It's very fast paced and as easy or difficult as you want it to be.  It's a lot of fun and therefore comes highly recommended.)   
* **Guardians of the Galaxy** (a copy/paste of so many other RPG's out there with too many cutscenes as is so typical of Square-Enix.   Recommended for superfans of the movies, but not for really anyone else.)   
* **Injustice 2** (a DC comics oriented fighting game with tons of characters and IMO extremely complicated gameplay.  It could be great for someone who is willing to devote enough time to memorizing all of this, but I am not that guy.)   
*  **Life is Strange: Before the Storm episode 1** (A graphic adventure that isn't really a game so much as it is a movie that you have some control over.   Recommended for people looking for something extremely casual but with a very well-written story)   
* **Evil Dead:  The Game** (a team based multiplayer game that has the humor and gore that you would expect from anything done by *Evil Dead*.  Unfortunately, it doesn't really stand out from the pack well enough for me to give it high props.   Recommended for a short while - see if you disagree with me)  
* **Immortals:  Fenyx Rising** (A Zelda-esque open-world game based on Greek mythology that is one of the best games I have played in a while.   Highly recommended)  
* **Pixel Piracy** (an 8-bit adventure game of sorts that puts you in the role of a pirate ship commander.  I'd love to tell you what the objective in this game is, but I don't know what it is.   I was extremely bored after the required 1-hour of play and immediately deleted the game from my hard drive.  Not recommended)   

[All other games I have already reviewed (there are a lot of them)](https://peakd.com/gaming/@whoisjohn/the-list-of-games-played-in-ps-plus-extra-part-1)

Trying every PS-Plus Extra Game:  Pixel Piracy

While I don't know if this is available on other platforms - I have to presume that it is - I am playing it on a PS4.   I was actually putting this one off for a while because I am such a big fan of the original films and to a lessor degree the newer ones.   When I fired it up it wasn't what I was expecting and perhaps this is a big part of the reason why I was less than impressed with it.   While I wasn't expecting (nor would I want) a re-hash of the well-trodden grounds of remaking the original cabin and what not, I don't really even know what to consider this game to be.

<center> 
![image.png](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmSppHQ5bbTAdC269XfX7KqdUHvtXCsRNwqVfntnqovMTS/image.png)
[src](https://image.api.playstation.com/vulcan/ap/rnd/202209/2810/5pMeT7L4g3VHw6z9A9Qa8tix.png)</center>

I think that they were aware that there are likely enough Ash-fans out there in the world that they were going to sell enough of these to make it worth their while.  They have incorporated various characters from the films, mostly from Evil Dead 3 or as it is better known *Army of Darkness*.    

According to the wiki, this games is an "asymmetrical multiplayer" or "survival horror" game.  I think it is more of the first and not really so much of the second.   It functions kind of like an RPG in that you can level up and in many ways it is like any *Diablo* type game as well because you are constantly finding more loot that you can choose to equip if you want to.   

<center> 
![image.png](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmQdJZ4pzNzgHcK3Uh29dkfbfKDYfrAeR1HD7psyNvtsBr/image.png)
 [src](https://oyster.ignimgs.com/mediawiki/apis.ign.com/evil-dead-the-game/0/01/Scotty.png?width=814)</center>

After doing the tutorial, which isn't really very informative at all, you enter the real game which does not function like an RPG at all.   I don't do online multiplayer for the most part, so I selected to have AI partners or teammates.  They do their jobs well enough but I was really kind of perplexed as to what the hell we were supposed to be doing.  I would kill everything that we encountered but I had a very difficult time figuring out where the hell we were meant to be heading towards.   They could have done a much better job with that than they did do.

<center> https://www.thegamecrater.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/New-Project-6.jpg
[src](https://www.thegamecrater.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/New-Project-6.jpg)</center>

Basically you are just running around in a farm-like wasteland and enemies appear, you kill them, and then you move on and do it again.  The ultimate objective is to carry on to new places, but again, I couldn't really tell where this was or what we were meant to do once we got there.   

One big gripe I had with the tutorial and how I don't think it prepares you for the game very well is that they never tell you how to heal yourself..  They also don't go into a great deal of detail about what "fear level" can do to you.   I just all of a sudden started seeing that "Your fear level is high!" appear on the screen but I had no idea what I could do to take care of that.

<center> 
![image.png](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmWA2hGDuHvK4P262wzZgYq2RRVn3EJ1pG4PcGmoLkcVT6/image.png)
[src](https://whatifgaming.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/evil-dead-7-1024x576.png)</center>

Apparently, if you don't get back to near where your friends are, get indoors, or get back to a light source, your fear level will continue to rise until you end up being temporarily possessed by a demon.   It would have been nice if they had covered this in the tutorial seeing as how it becomes a very big part of the game - one of the most major parts of the game actually.   

I think the type of person or audience that is going to enjoy this game is unfortunately very limited.  If you enjoy team-based games with varying objectives and a leveling up system and are ALSO a big fan of *Evil Dead* this might be something that you really enjoy.   Unfortunately I think that for most other people, that this is going to seem rather inferior to other similar games that utilize the same game mechanics.   I only played the game for an hour and a half and I was ready to not be playing it anymore, which kind of made me sad because I really wanted to like it.  

I don't particularly enjoy finding new weapons when for the most part they are exactly the same as the one I already had, they just function slightly different.  I would much rather that loot finds be much less frequent and a lot more meaningful.   

I do also need to say this:  I am very suspicious when a game becomes "free" so quickly after its launch.  This kind of says to me that there are probably some microtransactions that are built into the game (although I never encountered any) and I truly hate any game that tries to build that in.   

I can't really recommend this game but because of my love for the *Evil Dead* franchise as a whole I am going to say that people out there should definitely give it a try if you are a PS-Plus Extra or higher-tiered member.   Maybe it's just me that is doing it wrong and I just don't get it.   The "mixed to average reviews" that it has on Metacritic would indicate that I am not alone in thinking that this game is just OK.  


<h3> It's just OK.  I would give it a try if you don't have to pay for it </h3> 

<hr> 

<h3> Games I have already tried in my journey to play at least 1-hour of every PS-Plus Extra game </h3> 

* **Gravity Rush 2** (action adventure game with fast movement in every direction.  It has RPG elements and a pretty decent story.  Make it past the first hour and the game really opens up.  Recommended) 
* **Oddworld:  Soulstorm** (2D+ platformer with great graphics, sound, and voice-acting.  Unfortunately it is plagued with a lot of repetition.   Recommended for a few hours)  
* **Bee Simulator** (sort of like a flying FPS game but with no combat.  It's graphically impressive and filled with tidbits of knowledge about bees... unfortunately it is repetitive as hell and gets boring fast.  Not recommended) 
* **Prison Architect** (a prison management simulator game similar to SimCity.   It's a great game but just like most simulation games, it just isn't very playable using a controller.  Not recommended on PS4)  
* **Hotline Miami 2** (a top-down shooter with gruesome violence and terrible AI.  Would be great for speedrunners and hardcore gamers.  Casuals like me are going to quickly tire with it)  
* **Battle Chasers:  Nightwar** (turn based RPG of medium-length that does a good job of teaching you how to play in the first hour.   It's pretty old-school and I happen to like that... recommended)   
* **Chorus** (3rd person open-world space fighting game.  It's graphically impressive but combat is too repetitive to really hold your interest for the entire story.  Still recommended though.)   
* **Portal Knights** (a very well made survival action builder game similar to Minecraft.  I really enjoyed this and look forward to playing it more.  Recommended)   
* **Saints Row:  The Third** (clever and funny FPS game that intentionally puts you in impossible and absurd situations.  It's innovative and humorous but ultimately quite dated and got repetitive and boring pretty quick.  Not recommended)  
* **Balan Wonderworld** (A rather beautiful 3D(ish) platformer that is extremely easy but still engaging enough to hold your attention for a few hours.  Recommended for casual gamers)  
* **The Artful Escape** (an adventure game of sorts with awesome visuals and music, but repetitive areas and controls combined with IMO far too much dialogue makes this game get boring, fast...  Worth a look but not recommended to play)  
* **Until Dawn** (interactive horror game that you don't really control a great deal of.   It's reasonably entertaining, you can't lose, and the graphics and sound a pretty great.   It's not really a game but I enjoyed it and played it to its finish.  Recommended) 
* **11-11:  Memories Retold** (a WW1 story that doesn't actually involve much input on the player's part.   The game is very boring despite having a wonderful graphical style:   Not recommended)  
* **Desperados 3** (a real time tactics / stealth game that I personally do not feel belongs on consoles at all.  If you have never played these sorts of games on PC your opinion might be different.  This one gets a "maybe.")  
* **Maneater** (Action RPG where you play the role of a deadly shark.  The idea is decent but ultimately the extremely repetitive gameplay makes this one easy to miss.  Not recommended)
* **TorqueL** (physics puzzle platformer that is simplistic at first but quickly becomes maddeningly difficult.  Gets boring pretty quickly on consoles and would be better suited as a time-waster on mobile devices.  Not recommended on PS4) 
* **Final Fantasy Fables:  Chocobo's Dungeon**:  Turn-based cutesy RPG that is extremely story-driven just like anything Square is involved in.  If you are huge fan of Final Fantasy you might like it, for me it was one hour then done forever.   
* **XCOM 2** :  (Turn-based Sci-Fi game set in a dystopian future where you are part of the rebellion.  Despite a very slow start IMO the game really gets involved later on... recommended)  
* **Darksiders Genesis** (Top-down hack and slash that reminds me a lot of Diablo 3 but with a more restricted environment.   It's very fast paced and as easy or difficult as you want it to be.  It's a lot of fun and therefore comes highly recommended.)   
* **Guardians of the Galaxy** (a copy/paste of so many other RPG's out there with too many cutscenes as is so typical of Square-Enix.   Recommended for superfans of the movies, but not for really anyone else.)   
* **Injustice 2** (a DC comics oriented fighting game with tons of characters and IMO extremely complicated gameplay.  It could be great for someone who is willing to devote enough time to memorizing all of this, but I am not that guy.)   
*  **Life is Strange: Before the Storm episode 1** (A graphic adventure that isn't really a game so much as it is a movie that you have some control over.   Recommended for people looking for something extremely casual but with a very well-written story)   
* **Evil Dead:  The Game** (a team based multiplayer game that has the humor and gore that you would expect from anything done by *Evil Dead*.  Unfortunately, it doesn't really stand out from the pack well enough for me to give it high props.   Recommended for a short while - see if you disagree with me)  

[All other games I have already reviewed (there are a lot of them)](https://peakd.com/gaming/@whoisjohn/the-list-of-games-played-in-ps-plus-extra-part-1)

Trying every PS-Plus Extra game:  Evil Dead:  The Game

I think that for most people that when they enter into a game that looks like this and is actually called "Every Buddy!" on the poster for it that you don't really set your expectations very high when you are going in.   I was always going to play it anyway and I have a certain tendency to like Chocobo's anyway since they are pretty delightful characters dating all the way back to the beginning of Final Fantasy lore.   

The game is cute and it is reasonably entertaining.   The problem that I have with it is the same problem that I have with a lot of Square-Enix games and that is that they put way too much story into this and a lot of it is done with poor voice acting and unskippable cutscenes.  This destroys almost any gaming experience in my mind.

<center> 
![image.png](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmP1nZKwj4H6AERtynmw68LSYeH4QsT4jqhUeyD6qGix3r/image.png)
[src](https://assets.nintendo.com/image/upload/c_fill,w_1200/q_auto:best/f_auto/dpr_2.0/ncom/en_US/games/switch/c/chocobos-mystery-dungeon-every-buddy-switch/hero)</center>

It's silly, it's cute, it's got a wonderful and quite easy to understand learning curve, and for the most part the dungeons are well-designed even though they are procedurally generated.  

<center> 
![image.png](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmZZJw4EP3ovuA7vyrDVYdcfL82xyQeaGLc4Ts8yp7iM9d/image.png)
[src](https://images.nintendolife.com/screenshots/16367/900x.jpg)</center> 

The battles and the movement is all turn-based and this can be nice for someone that is looking for a more relaxed game to play after doing something that is likely a lot more intense in another game.  You have as much time as you want to choose your next move and this is fun sometimes.   None of the early enemies are very difficult at all and I believe they are intentionally designed to be pushovers so you can gain some levels and get familiar with the game.  This is typical of all games and I like that it is that way.  Nothing complicated happens in the first hour and to me, I think that they were hand-holding a little TOO MUCH in that first hour to the point where I was kind of getting bored really quick.

<center> 
![image.png](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmNwWaRa1pk3ViKP6dfSHyAM9HSJ2XAroG6cCh7TzVZGmK/image.png)
[src](https://www.gamingnexus.com/Images/Article/1920/5.jpg)</center>

I like finding new gear.  I like how the dungeons are going to be different for everyone everytime they play it, I also like for a game to be cute.  What killed the experience for me is the constant interruption of gameplay so we can have cutscene after cutscene, most of which are voiced over very poorly.   The first time I heard Chocobo make it's silly sound that is a response for everything that is said to it I laughed and thought it was super cute.  Fast-forward about 127 of the same sound effect and I am getting more than a bit annoyed.  

A lot of studios are guilty of intermingling cutscenes or cinematics into the game a bit too frequently but I think no studio is more guilty of this than Square-Enix.   All i can say is that there must be enough people out that that actually LIKE this sort of gameplay because they keep doing it with virtually everything they release.  

I would have preferred the game if they would interrupt play significantly less with the rather silly story that I don't think many adults are actually going to care about.   

<h3> Overall I would say that if you actually ENJOY excessive cinematics that you might enjoy this but for me it was a dud:  Pass! </h3> 

<hr> 

<h3> Games I have already tried in my journey to play at least 1-hour of every PS-Plus Extra game </h3> 

* **Gravity Rush 2** (action adventure game with fast movement in every direction.  It has RPG elements and a pretty decent story.  Make it past the first hour and the game really opens up.  Recommended) 
* **Oddworld:  Soulstorm** (2D+ platformer with great graphics, sound, and voice-acting.  Unfortunately it is plagued with a lot of repetition.   Recommended for a few hours)  
* **Bee Simulator** (sort of like a flying FPS game but with no combat.  It's graphically impressive and filled with tidbits of knowledge about bees... unfortunately it is repetitive as hell and gets boring fast.  Not recommended) 
* **Prison Architect** (a prison management simulator game similar to SimCity.   It's a great game but just like most simulation games, it just isn't very playable using a controller.  Not recommended on PS4)  
* **Hotline Miami 2** (a top-down shooter with gruesome violence and terrible AI.  Would be great for speedrunners and hardcore gamers.  Casuals like me are going to quickly tire with it)  
* **Battle Chasers:  Nightwar** (turn based RPG of medium-length that does a good job of teaching you how to play in the first hour.   It's pretty old-school and I happen to like that... recommended)   
* **Chorus** (3rd person open-world space fighting game.  It's graphically impressive but combat is too repetitive to really hold your interest for the entire story.  Still recommended though.)   
* **Portal Knights** (a very well made survival action builder game similar to Minecraft.  I really enjoyed this and look forward to playing it more.  Recommended)   
* **Saints Row:  The Third** (clever and funny FPS game that intentionally puts you in impossible and absurd situations.  It's innovative and humorous but ultimately quite dated and got repetitive and boring pretty quick.  Not recommended)  
* **Balan Wonderworld** (A rather beautiful 3D(ish) platformer that is extremely easy but still engaging enough to hold your attention for a few hours.  Recommended for casual gamers)  
* **The Artful Escape** (an adventure game of sorts with awesome visuals and music, but repetitive areas and controls combined with IMO far too much dialogue makes this game get boring, fast...  Worth a look but not recommended to play)  
* **Until Dawn** (interactive horror game that you don't really control a great deal of.   It's reasonably entertaining, you can't lose, and the graphics and sound a pretty great.   It's not really a game but I enjoyed it and played it to its finish.  Recommended) 
* **11-11:  Memories Retold** (a WW1 story that doesn't actually involve much input on the player's part.   The game is very boring despite having a wonderful graphical style:   Not recommended)  
* **Desperados 3** (a real time tactics / stealth game that I personally do not feel belongs on consoles at all.  If you have never played these sorts of games on PC your opinion might be different.  This one gets a "maybe.")  
* **Maneater** (Action RPG where you play the role of a deadly shark.  The idea is decent but ultimately the extremely repetitive gameplay makes this one easy to miss.  Not recommended)
* **TorqueL** (physics puzzle platformer that is simplistic at first but quickly becomes maddeningly difficult.  Gets boring pretty quickly on consoles and would be better suited as a time-waster on mobile devices.  Not recommended on PS4) 
* **Final Fantasy Fables:  Chocobo's Dungeon**:  Turn-based cutesy RPG that is extremely story-driven just like anything Square is involved in.  If you are huge fan of Final Fantasy you might like it, for me it was one hour then done forever.   

[All other games I have already reviewed (there are a lot of them)](https://peakd.com/gaming/@whoisjohn/the-list-of-games-played-in-ps-plus-extra-part-1)

Trying every PS-Plus Extra Game:  Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo's Dungeon

The footer at the bottom of my posts was getting to be absurdly long and when I look at other people's posts and they have a link to dozens and dozens of things they have written I find it quite annoying.  So, because I didn't want to become the thing that annoys me, I decided to split the footer list into parts and this is the games that I have played in the PS-Plus Extra catalogue up to this point.  I have a TON of games to go.

If you are just joining here is my system for trying out all the games.

*  I do zero research on what the game is about
*  I play i completely blind for at least 1 hour even if I hate it
*  I base my opinion exclusively on how well I feel the developers introduce a new player to the game, and how good of a job they do of compelling you to continue playing.


If you would like to read the read the individual writeup about each game simply go back to my profile and find it, they appear in the reverse order that they are listed here in that the most recently played ones are listed last in the list on this page.   Once I have finished reviewing all of them I will hyperlink them all at once.  

<center> 
![image.png](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmWenR5kQgmn2JZt2FbLwVjUAmgkQBzJgY8c5NyR9rB1Es/image.png)
</center> 

<hr> 

<h3> Games I have tried in my journey to play every PS-Plus Extra game for at least an hour </h3> 

* **Windbound** (survival game with rogue-like elements - not recommended) 
* **Magicka 2** (top-down humorous multiplayer hack and slash-sort with immense spell system - maybe recommended)
* **Tearaway:  Unfolded** (charming casual 3D platformer with inventive graphics and gameplay designed for all ages - recommended for casual players)  
* **Spiritfarer** (casual simulation / resource-management style game with an extremely good story - recommended for all)
* **Observation** (point and click survival sort of... interactive game of sorts set in space - found it very boring after just one hour and do not recommend)
* **Gabbuchi** (simplistic puzzle game that I feel is better suited to mobile devices.  Not recommended on consoles)
* **The Messenger** (8-bit style action/platformer that is a throwback to original Ninja Gaiden.  It's simplistic fun.  Recommended)
* **Megadimension Neptunia VII** (typical JRPG with some adjustments made to combat for uniqueness.   Could be fun and I lukewarmly recommend for someone willing to dedicate 50 hours to a turn-based RPG)
* **Monster Jam:  Steel Titans 2** (monster truck racing game that will appeal only to people who are already fans of the sport - not recommended for any other people)
* **Entwined** (Visually appealing rhythm pace game that is very easy to pick up but gets repetitive after 30 minutes or so - recommended for anyone that can get it for free.)
* **2Dark** (8-bit graphic survival horror/stealth hybrid.  The game becomes extremely difficult really fast and therefore failed to hold my attention - not recommended)
* **Virginia** (interactive-cinema...not really a game and it is over in a couple of hours.  Not recommended)
* **Trials of Mana** (simplistic action RPG that will definitely appeal to the casual gamer that is a fan of old-school RPG combat mechanics - recommended)
* **Journey to the Savage Planet** (FPS exploration game in a semi-open-world environment.  The game is intentionally silly and I loved it - recommended)
* **Resogun** (arcade-style single-screen SHMUP that will get boring to most people after an hour or so.  Not recommended)
* **The Book of Unwritten Tales 2** (point and click adventure game that doesn't work on consoles and is just irritating to play - not recommended)
* **Mighty No. 9** (it's Mega Man but terrible.  Definitely not recommended)
* **Moving Out** (delightfully funny moving company simulator.   It gets boring and repetitive pretty quickly.  Recommended for a short laugh)
* **Last Day of June** (a sad story done in 3rd person perspective that while an interesting story and/or life lesson, quickly becomes repetitive and dull.   Not recommended)
* **Shiness:  The Lightning Kingdom** (action adventure RPG with an inventive combat system that unfortunately becomes very boring very fast.  Filled with bugs and invisible walls, I lost interest within the first hour.   Not recommended)
* **Hue**  (inventive puzzle-platformer that whose basic controls are the reason why it is fun.  This is also the reason why it gets old after a couple of hours)
* **Dragon Quest Builders** (simple building game similar to Minecraft with a quest and story system built it.  A lot more fun than I thought it would be and highly recommended)
* **Bound:  Shattered Kingdom** (artistic 3D platformer with an unusual graphical style that has an amazing story.  It's only 2 hours long but still very good.  Recommended)
* **Hohokum** (an artistic and relaxing experience but ultimately it isn't really a game because there are no clear objectives.  Not recommended.)
* **Bound by Flame** (basically a budget *Witcher* but fails in almost every way.  This game was frustrating to endure for an hour.  Not recommended )
* **Stray** (a simplistic and beautiful adventure / puzzle game that I think most people would enjoy.  However, it isn't as perfect as professional reviews would indicate IMO)
* **Alienation** (action RPG that plays similar to Diablo3 but set in a futuristic world.  Recommended for casual multiplayer with friends)
* **Scott Pilgrim vs. the World** (A classic beat-em-up akin to Double Dragon that loses its appeal in the first 15 minutes of gameplay.  Not recommended)
* **I am Dead** (Point and click puzzle-hunt game with a fantastic story that is unfortunately bogged down by very boring gameplay.  Not recommended)
* **The Gardens Between** (puzzle adventure game that has a wonderful story in it that involves no words being spoken.   It's a wonderful casual experience and is very-well made although a bit on the simple side... recommended)
* **My Time at Portia** (building management / RPG that is like so many other games out there that are exactly the same.   Since there is basically no innovation here I would give this one a hard pass)
* **Infamous:  First Light** (fast paced action adventure game that I found to be absolutely awesome.  Controls are easy to pick up and the game almost never has to load.   One of my favorite games on the PS4 and highly recommended)
* **Mud Runner** (Truck driving simulator that is honestly one of the most mind-numbingly terrible games I have ever played.  Not recommended at all)
* **Zombi** (FPS rogue-like in zombie-infested London.  It's interesting enough but the dreadful melee combat makes the game kind of boring.   Maybe recommended for someone itching for a free survival zombie game)

The list of games played in PS-Plus Extra (part 1)

In my quest to try every single PS Plus Extra game for at least 1-hour, I have to say that I have mostly been disappointed.   A vast majority of the games that I have played I will play for exactly one hour and then don't even feel a little bit or hesitancy to switch it off after that hour, never to play it again.   

This isn't very surprising, because of course PlayStation isn't going to shell out 100 really great games when they can reserve those titles to sell to you instead.  A great many of the games are pretty damn terrible though.  After going through 4 or 5 really bad titles in a row I was kind of delighted to finally play a game that I actually enjoyed.  I enjoyed it enough in fact that I played it all the way to the completion of the story, which only took about 4 or 5 hours.

<center> 
![image.png](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmfDmbX87JXfSKjdU3Z276F5eDzwiNwB8YLqKW2sCzUVeU/image.png)
[src](https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/infamous/images/b/ba/First_Light_front_cover.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20140630191508)</center>

In this game you take on the role of a late teens or early 20's girl named "Fetch" and how she and her brother are meant to be doing "one last crime" and then they are going to take off together.  While the backstory is taking place they kind of hint at the fact that "Fetch" has some magical powers that she has to keep hidden for some reason and this is all fine and dandy until her and her brother get approached by police and she has to set up a diversion.  This is where her super-speed powers are revealed.

<center> 
![image.png](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmSasVH6hFdSMkZg3A5HcNR5ojVEV54mYXrkRMk1BjxEP2/image.png)
[src](https://www.gamerevolution.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2014/12/file_66423_infamousfirstlight_powers.jpg)</center>

This ability is really easy to control and the only times that it gets a bit messy is if you are meant to be looking for a particular underpass or cave or something and then instead you end up scaling the building next to it because Fetch can also near instantly scale almost anything.   

I will admit that I nearly gave up on the game in the very first mission because it simply says "evade the police" as being your objective and after running all around the enormous city, the police kept popping up out of nowhere, including on the tops of buildings from the helicopter that is following me.   Because the game flowed so well, I looked up what the hell you are supposed to do online and found out that you need to find somewhere that the helicopter can't see.   Also you are not supposed to actually attack the police because that will make more of them magically spawn nearby.  

<center> 
![image.png](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmTABq27cRQQtm9U5RnazmnntjoYdkkM9z4BFDeD2GAx5y/image.png)
[src](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/xsPWvTbWwEA/hqdefault.jpg)</center>
Get past that and the real story begins as do the really fun powers that Fetch has including laser beams of some sort that she shoots out at enemies.   Things only become more and more involved and fun as far as combat is concerned later and while I was playing the game on Easy mode for the sake of enjoyment I do have to say that the combat was a little too easy.  This chick is almost impossible to kill and the few times I did die, I wasn't really even sure why.  It wasn't from getting shot too many times.   

<center> 
![image.png](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmPJzJnmmqvdH23gvmrWXZXFvMvzxSBxtE9pDRLwkrzgje/image.png)
[src](https://www.gamereactor.se/media/33/infamous_1253304b.jpg)</center> 

I found it rather amusing that Fetch can run straight up all buildings, even scale the Space Needle and then jump off of it taking zero fall damage, but if she puts so much as a knee into water, she is dead in her tracks and unable to continue.  I understand that this tactic is used to keep you from wandering off into the distance but it is always funny to me that this exists in so many games.   

Now the graphics are fantastic but I want to talk about the main thing that makes this game so amazing to me.   The map is huge, the graphics are probably pushing the PS4 to the limit of its capabilities, there are instances of voice over acting that just comes out of nowhere and plenty of environmental enemies and NPC's yet the game ALMOST NEVER LOADS.   

<center> 
![image.png](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQma5P1TaFmbcnw7zF9bo4NzMwUh7ZhxCsTQ3WBX5Ni3xiZ/image.png)
[src](https://gamingtrend.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/inFAMOUS_First_Light-Fetch_neon_melee_500-e14101909783061.jpg)</center>

This is one of the most graphically intense games that I have ever played on the PS4 and the map area is relatively massive.  You move exceptionally fast because that is kind of the point yet I never once experienced any slowdown and the few and far between instances where you do have a load screen, it only stays there for a few seconds.  

This is amazing programming I think because there are other PS4 games that I have played that are nowhere near as graphically intensive as this and they are stopping to load and reload all the friggin time.   I have quit other games that I considered to be good games in the past because I simply cannot deal with massive load times.  I quit playing RDR2 because of this.  

Seeing as how the graphics in *Infamous:  First Light* are pretty intense, I kind of wonder what it is that they did so well at *Sucker Punch* to make this game run so flawlessly.  Why don't other firms jump on whatever the hell that tech is that makes it possible.   

<center> 
https://assets1.ignimgs.com/2014/08/12/infamous-first-light-9jpg-0d2996.jpg
[src](https://assets1.ignimgs.com/2014/08/12/infamous-first-light-9jpg-0d2996.jpg)</center> 

There were sequences where you have to enter an escort mission or even situations where reinforcements will turn up mid battle and the game never stops, never interrupts you, never stops to show a "loading" icon that is all to friggin common in other games that are like this.   This lack of dead time is a huge part of the reason why the overall experience is so good in this game and I seriously commend them for making a game so seamless and fun.  

<h3> Overall Opinion </h3> 

This is one of my favorite action-adventure games on the PS4 and once again this has a lot to do with the near complete lack of loading times aside from the initial boot up that all games have.  The story is quite short though and this might irritate some folks out there because they try to make up for the lack of an enduring story by having arenas that you can conquer after the story is done.   The voice acting is solid, the music is great, the story is just fine, and the game flows so well.   This is a wonderful game that will appeal to casual gamers like me.

<hr> 

<h3> Games I have tried in my journey to play every PS-Plus Extra game for at least an hour </h3> 

* **Windbound** (survival game with rogue-like elements - not recommended) 
* **Magicka 2** (top-down humorous multiplayer hack and slash-sort with immense spell system - maybe recommended)
* **Tearaway:  Unfolded** (charming casual 3D platformer with inventive graphics and gameplay designed for all ages - recommended for casual players)  
* **Spiritfarer** (casual simulation / resource-management style game with an extremely good story - recommended for all)
* **Observation** (point and click survival sort of... interactive game of sorts set in space - found it very boring after just one hour and do not recommend)
* **Gabbuchi** (simplistic puzzle game that I feel is better suited to mobile devices.  Not recommended on consoles)
* **The Messenger** (8-bit style action/platformer that is a throwback to original Ninja Gaiden.  It's simplistic fun.  Recommended)
* **Megadimension Neptunia VII** (typical JRPG with some adjustments made to combat for uniqueness.   Could be fun and I lukewarmly recommend for someone willing to dedicate 50 hours to a turn-based RPG)
* **Monster Jam:  Steel Titans 2** (monster truck racing game that will appeal only to people who are already fans of the sport - not recommended for any other people)
* **Entwined** (Visually appealing rhythm pace game that is very easy to pick up but gets repetitive after 30 minutes or so - recommended for anyone that can get it for free.)
* **2Dark** (8-bit graphic survival horror/stealth hybrid.  The game becomes extremely difficult really fast and therefore failed to hold my attention - not recommended)
* **Virginia** (interactive-cinema...not really a game and it is over in a couple of hours.  Not recommended)
* **Trials of Mana** (simplistic action RPG that will definitely appeal to the casual gamer that is a fan of old-school RPG combat mechanics - recommended)
* **Journey to the Savage Planet** (FPS exploration game in a semi-open-world environment.  The game is intentionally silly and I loved it - recommended)
* **Resogun** (arcade-style single-screen SHMUP that will get boring to most people after an hour or so.  Not recommended)
* **The Book of Unwritten Tales 2** (point and click adventure game that doesn't work on consoles and is just irritating to play - not recommended)
* **Mighty No. 9** (it's Mega Man but terrible.  Definitely not recommended)
* **Moving Out** (delightfully funny moving company simulator.   It gets boring and repetitive pretty quickly.  Recommended for a short laugh)
* **Last Day of June** (a sad story done in 3rd person perspective that while an interesting story and/or life lesson, quickly becomes repetitive and dull.   Not recommended)
* **Shiness:  The Lightning Kingdom** (action adventure RPG with an inventive combat system that unfortunately becomes very boring very fast.  Filled with bugs and invisible walls, I lost interest within the first hour.   Not recommended)
* **Hue**  (inventive puzzle-platformer that whose basic controls are the reason why it is fun.  This is also the reason why it gets old after a couple of hours)
* **Dragon Quest Builders** (simple building game similar to Minecraft with a quest and story system built it.  A lot more fun than I thought it would be and highly recommended)
* **Bound:  Shattered Kingdom** (artistic 3D platformer with an unusual graphical style that has an amazing story.  It's only 2 hours long but still very good.  Recommended)
* **Hohokum** (an artistic and relaxing experience but ultimately it isn't really a game because there are no clear objectives.  Not recommended.)
* **Bound by Flame** (basically a budget *Witcher* but fails in almost every way.  This game was frustrating to endure for an hour.  Not recommended )
* **Stray** (a simplistic and beautiful adventure / puzzle game that I think most people would enjoy.  However, it isn't as perfect as professional reviews would indicate IMO)
* **Alienation** (action RPG that plays similar to Diablo3 but set in a futuristic world.  Recommended for casual multiplayer with friends)
* **Scott Pilgrim vs. the World** (A classic beat-em-up akin to Double Dragon that loses its appeal in the first 15 minutes of gameplay.  Not recommended)
* **I am Dead** (Point and click puzzle-hunt game with a fantastic story that is unfortunately bogged down by very boring gameplay.  Not recommended)
* **The Gardens Between** (puzzle adventure game that has a wonderful story in it that involves no words being spoken.   It's a wonderful casual experience and is very-well made although a bit on the simple side... recommended)
* **My Time at Portia** (building management / RPG that is like so many other games out there that are exactly the same.   Since there is basically no innovation here I would give this one a hard pass)
* **Infamous:  First Light** (fast paced action adventure game that I found to be absolutely awesome.  Controls are easy to pick up and the game almost never has to load.   One of my favorite games on the PS4 and highly recommended)

Trying every PS-Plus Extra game:  Infamous:  First Light

Back in the early 80's video games were extremely basic.  They had to be because the world had very little in the way of technology.   This was during a time when my house still had a telephones with rotary dials on it and making a small mistake in dialing a number was really frustrating because it was going to take a while to dial it in again.

Our expectations of gaming was as high as it is today when we were gaming on the 2600 and the reason for this was simple:  We didn't know any better.   Obviously attempting to compare any game on that system to games of today would be ridiculous because you could fit the entire world's electronic games one a very inexpensive memory card that exists today.  Most games were around 4kb in total memory.  That's kilobytes folks, not MB, not GB.   These days when we think about storage, even megabytes seem small.  Now combine all of the 2600 games that were ever made and you could fit them on a single 1.44Mb floppy disk.  That's crazy.

At the time game designers probably couldn't fathom that a game would ever be even a single MB, let alone the crazy sized games we have today that routinely encompass 20 GB or more.   That would just blow their minds if we were to go back in time and tell them what gaming had evolved to.  

So we were dealing with very simplistic games on the 2600 and in order to make games different, the concept of gameplay had to be very inventive in order for a game to stay interesting.   Warlords was one of those games.

<center> 
![image.png](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmXmY16Dc6txSPbmT2vrsZofjhpHWz71gSvCHUkphaGPYn/image.png)
[src](http://www.gameigloo.com/8525-large_default/warlords-atari-2600-1981.jpg)</center>

Just like any game that existed back then, the cover art of this title was quite deceptive but it didn't matter.  None of us thought that we were going to be dealing with realistic looking graphics.  We just kind of hoped that it wasn't just squares.   

<center> https://i.ytimg.com/vi/yGsC3vfIcCM/hqdefault.jpg
[src](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/yGsC3vfIcCM/hqdefault.jpg)</center>

In Warlords your objective was to defend your castle, and the only thing preventing the downfall of your kingdom was the walls surrounding it.   A ball or probably a cannonball, was bounced around the playfield and you would control the shield that protected your walls and eventually your exposed castle or keep.  

<center> https://cdn11.bigcommerce.com/s-ymgqt/images/stencil/300x395/products/16204/8977/Acc-Atari-Paddles-2__53307.1662757555.jpg?c=2
[src](https://cdn11.bigcommerce.com/s-ymgqt/images/stencil/300x395/products/16204/8977/Acc-Atari-Paddles-2__53307.1662757555.jpg?c=2)</center>

What made this game so great was the fact that it was one of many games that involved multi-player and as far as I know, Warlords was one of the only games that allowed up to 4 controllers to be used at once.   Unlike other games this didn't need to be you against the computer and that was what made it so great to replay.   

My neighborhood friends would bring over their paddle controllers and we would plug in and play every man for himself and it never really got old.   The direction that the cannonball traveled in at the start seemed to be random and this meant that nobody had an advantage.  Playing against the computer could sometimes be full of shit because it would make moves that probably aren't possible for a human to do.   The other way that this could be would be that the computer AI was so terrible that it wasn't even challenging.   I'm certain that there is only so much actual AI that can go into 4k of memory.   

I don't recall many games that used the paddle controllers and unless you were using the paddles, only 2 joysticks could be plugged into the 2600.   As you can tell from the above picture, two paddles would plug into a single joystick input.   I have no idea how this worked, but it just did.   

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zu3DYHm7qlw

This video shows how crazy fast paced this game could end up being.  I am quite certain that I suffered some sort of eye damage from attempting to squint or sit so close to the television to get an edge over my opponents.   

Like a lot of games that are in my memory banks from my youth, this one is best not played today.   The memories are a lot better than the experience would be today.   

To me it is funny to see what we considered cutting-edge entertainment back in those days because this, and every other game that existed at the time, was extremely simplistic.   That didn't mean that it wasn't fun though and of all the games that existed on the old-school Atari, Warlords is one of the ones that sticks out in my mind as being truly unique.

Great moments in video game history:   Warlords on the Atari 2600

Let me clarify what I mean by the above statement:  There are multiple endings to this game and you don't have to complete the entire map to get to them.  There are a number of endings in the game and thus far I have only found one of them.  I'm not going to spoil things but the ending I have seen already wasn't terribly satisfying, so I am still searching around the map to see what I have missed.  

<h3> Potential spoilers ahead </h3> 

<center> 
![image.png](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmdvyE1pVtRU34FnKxKtsRNKR3nBrzirugcJPYb8e477dg/image.png)
[src](https://cdn02.nintendo-europe.com/media/images/10_share_images/games_15/nintendo_switch_download_software_1/H2x1_NSwitchDS_EnderLiliesQuietusOfTheKnights.jpg)</center>

There are quite a few games out there with multiple endings but to my knowledge not many of them are metroidvania games.  I don't know who did it first but *Hollow Knight* is a great example of how wonderful this can be.  In *Hollow Knight* you can get to the first ending by completing a very small amount of the overall map and while it is still a bit tough, it is possible to get to the first ending without even powering up a great deal.  Some insane speedrunners have found various glitches in the game in order to complete the first ending in under 10 minutes.  The amount of dedication and memorization of the maps that these people have accomplished is some sort of Asperger syndrome something or other than I can't even comprehend.

Let's get back to *Ender Lilies* though.

After "completing" the game I thought to myself that there is no way that this is the real ending because in my search for tips on some really tough bosses - and the bosses are EXTREMELY tough in this game - I noticed that the tutorials involved skills or "spirits" that I had not yet obtained in game.  Therefore, I knew that there must be a great amount of the game that I have not even seen yet.

<center> 
![image.png](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmddCiMnTwKFTiLXEEyDZe6dEJncamYjgVvjG2tP8CXg8R/image.png)
[src](https://www.gamepretty.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/unnamed-file-590.png)
<sub> I've intentionally shown a very small portion of the map near the start of the game.  The actual entire map is HUGE </sub> </center>

One thing I really like about this game's map is the fact that once you have discovered all that there is to be found in a certain area, the map turns yellow to indicate that there is no reason for you to jump around looking for a hidden break in a wall.  This was a real issue in *Hollow Knight* and other games because sometimes the place you hadn't found yet was **extremely well hidden** and the only way that a casual gamer like myself was ever going to 100% the game is if you had some online help.  

Ender Lilies cuts out a lot of the this repetitive search by being very clear about what rooms you have completed.  They also indicate certain exits or doors that you have no opened yet, which makes the going back with your new skills a lot easier and less of a chore.  In Hollow Knight, I felt like a lot of the time I was just wandering over and over to the same places in vain with no real idea as to where I might even need to start looking next.  I feel as though this little bit of help is a dramatic improvement that *Ender Lilies* made to the process.  

There is a certain area that I at this point believe could be considered the "toughest" in the entire game called *Verboten Domain* and I only recently stumbled upon it after already discovering one of the endings.  

<center> 
![image.png](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmYDqiqMr5K9SUt8NZu5AY6jAKekSkDMmqFK77nXK4bbYF/image.png)
[src](https://cdn.staticneo.com/ew/thumb/7/79/EL_295.jpg/662px-EL_295.jpg)</center>

A lot of this zone has some sort of poison mist that you can not avoid being damaged by.  Therefore, tooling around in one area for too long is going to certainly kill you.  This brings about something else about this game that I really feel like they actually did **better** than most if not all Metroidvania games that exist:  There is a leveling system built in by XP acquisition.

If you are having a tough time with a boss or wander into an overpowered area, you can go and explore elsewhere and gain some levels.  There are 100 levels in total and as you would expect, you are significantly more capable of dealing out and taking damage at a higher level.   When I return to the beginning rooms at this point in my gaming journey, I one-shot basically all enemies.  This an also be a lot of fun if you missed a boss or mini-boss in your previous exploration because you just kick the hell out of them pretty effortlessly.

<center> 
![image.png](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmQYE5kAaQQupgZhCanvBd1WmMZsCgHtX2j4dDub77V1Wx/image.png)
[src](https://www.digitaltq.com/images/uploads/ender-lilies/fallen_sentinel.jpg)</center>

This miniboss kicked the crap out of me when I was level 35 or so and I walked away from it out of frustration.  I later returned at around level 80 and it was the opposite story.  I didn't really even try to have a strategy and easily vanquished him.    

I remain steadfast in my opinion of this game in saying that it is one of the best games I have played in years and if you are a metroidvania fan, this is a very good choice for what to play next.

Ender Lilies:  The end is not the end


![image.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/dlstudios/23swgJy21BS8ZS7Ck4HSvho9WTxnATx1D4bZBKBDTfD3nY9J7qpffaEtThvZJ9BCRoqnr.png)


This is not new for me, but not something I have ever posted here, but I have developed a theory in regards to Limp Bizkit. They have always sucked, but somehow they have just never gone away. Even when not in the mainstream, they have had a bizarrely long career. How can a band that is consistently bad still be here? I believe that Limp Bizkit has the supernatural ability to siphon off the career of other musicians they work with.

I remember Redman being a thing for a while in the more popular consciousness, though that came to an end after he did that one song with Limp Bizkit. Redman didn't go away entirely, but he certainly faded from a lot of people's minds. This was the beginning of Fred Durst's powers, and it would only grow from there. Remember a little band called Staind? Had a big hit with 'It's been a While', and after that, he did a song with Fred Durst. After that the relevance of Stained was dead. The lead singer apparently became a sup-par country singer and got some relevance recently with shitty political music (Seriously, the politics don't matter, this pretty much always comes out fucking awful). Limp Bizkit continued to soldier on.

That said, these were two careers that aren't often big in the mainstream regardless, so maybe this is all just a coincidence, right? Well my friends, in 2002 we had the biggest album of Christina Aguilera's career, Stripped. Multiple huge hits with Dirrty, Fighter, and Beautiful. The girl was on fire here, and with a history dating back even before this, you'd think she could keep going. But then she went on tour with Fred Durst and any kind of relevance she had died. Every so often she comes back featured on someone else song, but she's quickly forgotten about after that. Limp Bizkit continued making music.

There haven't been many notable collaborations with Limp Bizkit for a while, but then came Final Fantasy, where Limp Bizkit starts blaring randomly. Here is the thing, I never considered the ramifications of Fred Durst's powers were they to be applied to something outside of music. He clearly can't retroactively take away from something that is already successful, as Stripped was a success before the work with Limp, so I don't think Final Fantasy XIV is going to get hit by the curse. It is possible that it won't affect the title it's released with, Stranger in Paradise, but what are the possible effects of Final Fantasy XVI?


I did make this theory a joke a few years back, and it amused me. So seeing Limp Bizkit show up in Stranger in Paradise amuses me greatly, and I will laugh my ass off if we do see Final Fantasy start to tank with the next release. I don't want it to, but if you ever see me randomly laughing maniacally at that happening, you will know why.

Hive Gaming

Does my Limp Bizkit Theory apply to Final Fantasy?

I am going to limit this to just the SNES because it would be far too complicated otherwise.

I have long since said that I am a Genesis guy and that was true for everyone for around 2 years.   However, there is no denying that the SNES was a much better system than the Sega Genesis was.  Look up the specs if you want.  I'm not going to argue this point


Here are my favorite 3 SNES games in very specific order

<h3>  The Secret of Mana </h3> 
<center> https://hb.imgix.net/765650eadc6a5e152371a6f6aa08eaf6d6567637.jpg?auto=compress,format&fit=crop&h=353&w=616&s=3e5bd9b8dfd75e758880d4204bed4c6a
[src](https://hb.imgix.net/765650eadc6a5e152371a6f6aa08eaf6d6567637.jpg?auto=compress,format&fit=crop&h=353&w=616&s=3e5bd9b8dfd75e758880d4204bed4c6a)</center>

This game was different than anything that came before in that it was very similar to a lot of other games but was different in all the right ways.  I am no longer a fan of Squaresoft but I was at the time and this game was and still is one of my favorite games ever made by anyone.  

I had a look at the remake and realized very quickly that it was just a lazy cash grab on the part of Square.  I sincerely think that Square is going to go out of business in the next 5 years or so because they are just falling apart at the seams and everything they make is an unfinished mess and a lot of the procuction team aren't even trying to make excuses anymore.  They simply say "yeah, we know.... sorry" ... but there was a time when they made polished games like "Secret of Mana" and it was just amazing.  

<hr>

<h3>  Zelda:  A Link to the Past </h3>

<center> https://cdn02.nintendo-europe.com/media/images/10_share_images/games_15/super_nintendo_5/H2x1_SNES_TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast.jpg</center>

Go ahead and get all scorched earth on me because i didn't make this the defacto number one.  There are a lot of great games on the SNES ok and this one is one that I have in multiple other forms:  Some legal, some not so much.  It was such an amazing follow-up to what I consider to be one of the most groundbreaking games of all time (the original Zelda) that they had some really big boots to fill.  Fill them they did.... and their cup overfloweth afterwards because this game was just outstanding in every way imagineable.

<h3>  Super Metroid </h3>

<center> https://i.pinimg.com/originals/a7/40/c3/a740c3ba061b8762be32c15c2ee40438.jpg
[src](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/a7/40/c3/a740c3ba061b8762be32c15c2ee40438.jpg)</center> 

I think this might be the best game ever made by anyone on any system ever.  I don't mean this in that it looks better graphically, or something silly like that but given the technology available at the time, the amount of buttons on the gamepad and the fact that the first game already blew our heads off, this game was absolute perfection.  

They could remake this game with minor twists to the storyline the way that *Resident Evil* has been re-releasing just about everything and tons and tons of people including and especially me would line up to buy them.  I guess I have a bit of respect for Nintendo in that they haven't' done this yet.  

Give em a few years.  Money drives everything and while they got their own thing going on there that is very profitable for them as far as their systems are concerned it honestly wouldn't surprise me if they license the older games to other systems.  

<hr>

So what do you think of my top 3 SNES games?  Do you agree?  Do you want to punch me in the face for not listing Chrono Trigger or Final Fantasy games?  Tell me in the comments!

Favorite SNES games of all time

Long before *Tony Hawk's Pro Skater* took the world by storm on the PS 1 there were other games that attempted to recreate the magic of the world's best skaters.  I would imagine that even Tony Hawk wasn't a household name back then and even though I was in elementary school and basically everyone was into skating in some capacity, I don't recall skaters being world-famous and rich the way that they are now.  

We kind of looked forward to skateboarding games because it seemed like a nice concept and the 720 arcade game used a different kind of joystick in that it was very durable and was meant to be moved quickly in a circular fashion instead of being rigidly fixed in a central position.  This was so you could try (and of course mostly fail) to land aerial tricks such as well, a 720.

<center> https://www.surfertoday.com/images/stories/720-atari-arcade-game.jpg
[src](https://www.surfertoday.com/images/stories/720-atari-arcade-game.jpg)
<sub> These were considered awesome graphics in 1986 </sub> </center>

The arcade was a lot of fun and I would imagine that Atari made quite a lot of money off of the cabinets.  The graphics were pretty crisp (again, for the time) and the gameplay was innovative.  The concept wasn't terribly difficult in that you needed to get to a skate park in time and perform tricks in order to earn more tickets for admission into various skate parks.  

<center> https://i.ytimg.com/vi/4q4vR2Tp_Tw/maxresdefault.jpg
[src](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/4q4vR2Tp_Tw/maxresdefault.jpg)</center>

Once in the park you would compete with unseen others for cash that you could use to upgrade your board for additional speed and mobility but for the most part people wouldn't get that far.  You see this sort of concept isn't terribly conducive to getting people to shove more quarters into the machine so they had to have some method of making you "die."  This is where the infamous *Skate or Die!* mantra comes in.  

<center> https://www.arcadeclub.co.uk/cdn/game-library/720/screenshots/720-degrees-5.png
[src](https://www.arcadeclub.co.uk/cdn/game-library/720/screenshots/720-degrees-5.png)</center>

If you screwed around for too long in one of the neighborhoods trying to get money for your tricks eventually the game would shout "Skate or DIE!" at you and a horde of bees would appear on the screen that would relentlessly pursue you and they would eventually get faster until it was impossible to outrun them.  

It seems silly now, but I recall in arcades this game was actually one of the more popular ones and I would ogle the older people who had become really good at this game and watch them with a sense of awe.  That was something that was pretty awesome about arcades in the past, it s as social environment and the nerds who mastered the games were actually heroes to all of us youngsters and they would offer pointers and help us all to get better at the games ourselves.  

Given the success of the arcade machine it is no surprise that Atari attempted to port this game to many different consoles including their direct competitors who were at that time kicking their asses in the home console war (it wasn't really a "war", Nintendo had won by that point) and the home game was just awful in a way that almost all Atari games were awful.

<center> https://i.pinimg.com/originals/2c/46/79/2c4679a68b5637a330894de00023f934.png
[src](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/2c/46/79/2c4679a68b5637a330894de00023f934.png)
<sub> Is that supposed to be a car? </sub> </center> 

Let's be fair to Atari and go ahead and say that literally every single arcade game that was ported to any home console until the mid 90's was a very poor recreation of the arcade original.  It was impossible for it to not be given the huge difference in processing and graphical power that an arcade machine had over any home console.  

But Atari didn't just stop there.  We were accustomed to arcade games being much more crisp than the home versions but *720* on the NES was basically unplayable.  Since the rotational joystick of the arcade was a truly necessary part of the game, replicating this process on a D-pad controller fast enough was basically impossible.  You couldn't land any tricks that would pay out enough money to get any tickets to the parks and no matter how much you tried to injure your left thumb doing so, you would fail and fall.  

I think I tried to play this game just a few times before admitting to my friend who had bought this game that "this is stupid... wanna go outside?" and maybe that was a good thing because then we would go outside and actually skateboard... poorly.  

<center> 
![unnamed.png](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmXbVVSLQi7M2MCTbBGoL2nU1C9cNdiDZ51hPfTfKQKYK7/unnamed.png)
[src](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/lWJMLx0uAp7PF8kprzkShq6YAcH6Nu8hep4-AzTzXjvdgNJFZPEwnUdONgRyXmWb5UFSmYALwynPCS8fOhyOgunxn_BppwEl_CAg7GQ)
<sub> bodybuilders flexing in the streets because that is what those guys do, right? </sub> </center> 

According to the [Questicle website](https://questicle.net/) which is actually a really cool website for people who want to re-live the nostalgia of the "golden age of gaming," 720 is the 27th worst game ever made for the NES and at least in my opinion it is not at all surprising that it was made by Atari who at that point seemed to stop really caring anymore:  They had already badly lost the console war and were now further tarnishing their company name by porting really bad games to other consoles.  

The insulted us further by also porting 720 to the GameBoy, which was even worse than the one on the NES 

<center> 
![Thumb_720_Degrees_-_1999_-_Midway_Games.jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmTqFmJaekkWtzBqpLYEh1BWEoZqUVoReiGF8upVDjcBtD/Thumb_720_Degrees_-_1999_-_Midway_Games.jpg)
[src](https://www.gamesdatabase.org/Media/SYSTEM/Nintendo_Game_Boy_Color/Snap/Thumb/Thumb_720_Degrees_-_1999_-_Midway_Games.jpg)</center>

It should be no surprise that after an initial surge in sales based on enthusiasm over the arcade game that these terrible releases quickly dropped in sales because even though we only had word-of-mouth and gaming magazines to go by as far as evaluations of games are concerned, word got around very fast that 720 was to be avoided by all costs.  

At that point in my life I had very little money to buy games and thankfully I made the correct decision when I didn't get involved with this one.  When I saw it at my friend's place and he didn't even tell me that he had it I was at first excited, then after playing it for just a few minutes I realized why he didn't tell me he had it.  

720 is truly one of the worst ports of all time and its inclusion on Questicle's website as one of the worst is well and truly deserved.  I think they probably wanted to rank it higher but chose 27 since it has two of the game's title in the number.  It was actually a bit of a lesson for us.  Arcade games, at least at that point in time, were to be avoided on home consoles across the board.

whoisjohn (78)

I buckle and buy Silksong and well, it's tough

Diablo 4 after 125 hours played: What the hell am I doing?

Tip for Diablo 4 beginners: Salvage, don't sell, unused equipment

Annoying glitches discovered in Hogwart's legacy

Path of Exile 2 extreme lag continues on PS5: Read before buying!

Gris: This isn't a game, it is a work of art

Warhammer: Chaosbane tips for beginners

One aspect I actually don't care for in Tears of the Kingdom

Trying all PS-Plus Extra games list number two

Destiny 2: Can it be fun for a casual player?

Trying every PS-Plus Extra Game: Pixel Piracy

Trying every PS-Plus Extra game: Evil Dead: The Game

Trying every PS-Plus Extra Game: Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo's Dungeon

The list of games played in PS-Plus Extra (part 1)

Trying every PS-Plus Extra game: Infamous: First Light

Great moments in video game history: Warlords on the Atari 2600

Ender Lilies: The end is not the end

Does my Limp Bizkit Theory apply to Final Fantasy?

Favorite SNES games of all time

Really terrible arcade ports: 720: The game