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General Gaming / Re: Backlaugust 2025 - Nintendo Switch 2 Edition

« Last post by broodwars on August 17, 2025, 12:47:02 AM »

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice - I played this game back when it launched on PS4, but Microsoft recently released a free upgrade for the PS5 version so I figured I'd give the game another playthrough. It's a pretty short game and very straightforward. Overall, I still like the game, but playing it now I can't help but get the whiff of "Oscar Bait" off of it. Yes, the performance capture and voice acting are still incredible, but the gameplay is not especially good (combat in particular could use more nuance and variety); some parts of the game feel like they were never play-tested (the section where you have to run around scanning runes while an insta-kill fire demon chases you while ALSO slowing you comes to mind); and the way the game ends just...doesn't make a whole lot of sense however you look at it. Yes, the subtext of the game is as subtle as a brick to the face, but it's really not clear what actually happened by the end.

I didn't play the sequel and I don't plan to (I never though this game particularly needed one), but the original is an enjoyable enough experience.

Pumpkin Jack - Picked this one up a few months back after Austin Eruption highlighted it as an Indie spiritual successor to MediEvil, and at the time it was on sale for like...$5. Played through it in 1 sitting, and yeah...it's OK. This same team made Akimbot, a Ratchet & Clank knockoff I found rather frustrating a year or so ago, but I much prefer this one. I suppose I see the MediEvil resemblance, but IMO MediEvil (the remake, anyway) had more variety in its environments and combat encounters. This feels at times more like a spiritual successor to Gauntlet with all the enemy generators, crossed with the Nightmare Before Christmas (the main character being a walking corpse with a Jack O' Lantern head doesn't help).

The platforming is solid, but not particularly special. The combat's pretty terrible, with enemies feeling like they take way too many hits to down considering how many of them get spawned at once in the late game. I also could have done without both all the on-rails segments and especially the public domain Classical Music that plays during most of them. No, you're not allowed to just throw Flight of the Valkyries and the William Tell Overture during random Minecart and Chase Sequences. I don't care how much you jazz them up. Those songs are just way too recognizable to just throw into a game like this without expecting them to massively distract.

I did complete 1 other game...sorta...but I'm going to hold onto that one for a while. It's a live service game with a fixed story progression, so I may or may not consider it "cleared from my backlog" until I've gotten the Platinum in it.

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General Gaming / Re: Backlaugust 2025 - Nintendo Switch 2 Edition

« Last post by broodwars on August 17, 2025, 12:29:04 AM »

Oh, I hope y'all didn't have any notions of catching me anytime soon.  Gonna break these up for the sake of readability.

Bendy & the Dark Revival - The sequel to Bendy & the Ink Machine, a 1920s cartoon-styled 1st person stealth game I kinda liked despite the fact that it ran like absolute garbage back on the PS4 and ran off the rails altogether about halfway through. Well, here we are with the sequel and it's...somehow even worse on the technical front. The framerate is all over the damn place, event triggers are randomly bugged in absolutely bizarre ways, the game's Insta-kill Ink Demon can kill you even if you successfully hide through his appearance (especially lovely if you're going for a no-death run), enemies will randomly lock into place and T-pose, collision detection is more of a suggestion than a rule, the game will randomly crash, and if you save in a place the game doesn't like your save will get corrupted. Yes, even on console.

I haven't seen a game this fundamentally broken since the last time I played a Bethesda Game Studios game. I see you only paid for the best porting teams, Rooster Teeth!

What's sad is that when the game WORKS, it's actually pretty decent, although infuriating on hard mode. It's basically Budget Bioshock with the focus on exploration and scavenging, the art is still as strong as ever, and the voice acting is excellent. The basic design of the game is FINE, albeit (again) infuriating on Hard Mode where every single goddamn room has 3-5 patrolling enemies who can kill you in 2-3 hits even at the End Game. I know fans of the first game despise the Ink Demon not being a patrolling enemy anymore, but I vastly prefer this new system where he'll just randomly appear with a countdown timer for you to find a hiding spot. That said, the fact that you can't USE anything other than a special designated hiding spot if you've been spotted beforehand is annoying.

They just announced another Bendy game, and I hope this one finally releases in something approaching a competent technical state, because this franchise has always had artistic promise and apparently we're not going to get a new Bioshock anytime soon.

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I'M BACK / Re: This forum is a James Jones POWER zone.

« Last post by BeautifulShy on August 16, 2025, 03:47:38 PM »

Apparently he is still locked out of the forums atm. The time for us to take over has come at last.

Yep he definitely isn't here. It's safe to come out.

I came out before it was fashionable to return.

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I'M BACK / Re: Can I make a quote monster on WAP?

« Last post by BeautifulShy on August 16, 2025, 03:44:25 PM »

Okay everyone,  That's a WAP.

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I'M BACK / Re: I'm ankle.

« Last post by BeautifulShy on August 16, 2025, 03:43:16 PM »

How are you doing Back?

I probably laughed more than I should have at this.

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I'M BACK / Re: Great "Report to Moderator" Reports in Forum History

« Last post by BeautifulShy on August 16, 2025, 03:41:41 PM »

I'll see what I can come up with but I think it may be a lot of reports sent by me. I seem to be more creative than most who will just report with a spam or spambot comment.

I guess I am not the most creative in the past on here. I'll try to remedy that.

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I'M BACK / Re: My posting times

« Last post by BeautifulShy on August 16, 2025, 03:39:05 PM »

Rise from your grave!!!!

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

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General Gaming / Re: Backlaugust 2025 - Nintendo Switch 2 Edition

« Last post by Luigi Dude on August 16, 2025, 03:22:41 PM »

After 4 months I'm finally done with Xenoblade X: Definitive Edition.  At first I told myself to just go through the main story so I could get to the new story content, but I got so wrapped up in the world that I eventually ended up going for 100% map completion again.

Here's my original thoughts for when I completed the original game on the Wii U over 8 years ago since I don't feel like retyping everyone again.

https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/forums/index.php?topic=41328.625

For the most part I still really enjoyed the game, but I would say this game doesn't hold up as well on a second play through.  The biggest problem is this is by far the easiest Xenoblade game to completely break the combat once you realize what to do.  This made the first part of the game more fun in Definitive Edition since I was able to take on enemies over 20 levels higher then me earlier on, but this eventually lead to my characters becoming insanely overpowered, which made the rest of the game get kind of boring much quicker.  Of course because of this I was able to 100% the game much faster.  The original Wii U version took over 270 hours, while I was able to 100% Definitive Edition in over 145 hours, and that includes all the new story content as well.

Speaking of the new content, it's kind of a mixed bag if you ask me.  I like the actual new story content and it's great to have an actual ending to the game now with a much better emotional payoff after everything you've been through.  Of course I wish they could have handled said new content better.  You basically get a bunch of fetch quest on Mira to open up giant expo dumb cutscenes, and when you finally get to a brand new area to explore, the new area is kind of lame.  Very small area and all the enemies are just recolored version of old enemies.  Anyone expecting something like Bionis Shoulder from the Future Connected epilogue in Xenoblade: Definitive Edition like I was is going to be disappointed in that regard.  I'd say this version of Xenoblade X makes it pretty clear Monolith Soft isn't going to be making an X2 anytime soon so they just wanted to give fans of the original some kind of closure after a decade of waiting.  Overall I'm satisfied with the new ending but feel like it ruins some of the mystery they were setting up in the original game.

So at the end of the day Xenoblade X can still be a fun game, but I do feel on a second playthrough it's flaws become a lot more apparent, and while Definitive Edition does improve a lot of things, the overall game still had some massive issues.  I used to feel this was my favorite Xenoblade, but having played all the Xenoblade games on the Switch over the last 3 years, I'd say I now consider X to be the weakest in the series.  The world is still great to explore and I love how many of the side quest make NLA feel more alive than the other games.  This is the single reason I was even able to still put over 100 hours in the game again because I love the world they created and love being a part of said world.  But when it comes to the actual gameplay, it's lacking compared to the other games in the series.

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General Gaming / Re: Backlaugust 2025 - Nintendo Switch 2 Edition

« Last post by M.K.Ultra on August 16, 2025, 11:12:27 AM »

With the month half over and some welcome support from longtime backloggers we have hit double digits on our score. Just nine more games to top last year 

I have another straw to add to the camel's back. I made my last delivery in Death Stranding 2: On the Beach on the Playstation 5. I started the game shortly after launch but just earned the Platinum trophy last week. This was my most anticipated game of the year and it did not disappoint. Despite large differences between this and Zelda and Horizon I could not help but compare it. Breath of the Wild, Zero Dawn, and Death Stranding were all 10's for me and in my top games of all time. They each had a sequel that was similar in style and while all improved on gameplay, I think only On the Beach really stuck the landing with a better narrative than the first.

My overall play time was 176 hours and while there was a little issue at the end with completion, the experience was still one of the best ever. From laughter to tears this game moved me to every emotional extreme. The gameplay loop was even more refined and satisfying. The new characters so developed that they seem real. The game is easily a 10 and my goty, but also possible my favorite game of all time now, though that might be recency bias.

While the game is better in almost every way and there is a story recap, I still recommend playing the first game first to truly appreciate the second game. Also, if you do get stuck at the end with the last trophy feel free to message me as I might have some tips. Cannot wait for the movie(s) and anything else Kojima does next.

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General Gaming / Re: Backlaugust 2025 - Nintendo Switch 2 Edition

« Last post by pokepal148 on August 14, 2025, 08:32:49 PM »

I hit credits on the story mode of Monster Hunter Wilds. I had played through the game on Xbox but I am kind of trying to move away from giving Microsoft money due to a combination of current events and the realization that I am not getting too much out of my Gamepass sub and so it makes sense to move away from the Xbox ecosystem as a whole because that's kind of all they have left. While my laptop struggled with the multiplayer betas, it seems to handle the full game pretty well, albeit at a much lower graphical fidelity than the Series X.

I can also use gyro aiming now that I'm not tethered to a console manufacturer who is stuck in 2005 in terms of controller features. That has been a pretty big deal, both for using the slinger and for the fact that I have picked up a light bowgun as my secondary weapon.