Page 13 of 18
Re: The STR Screenshot Thread
Posted: Mon Mar 09, 2020 9:17 pm
by Anubis
Been a while since I contributed here, but I'm hereby starting my Life is Strange 2 series (long overdue). So my choices abound! Spoilerified though, obviously
Life is Strange 2: Episode 1 (PC)
Re: The STR Screenshot Thread
Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2020 3:02 am
by M.Steiner
You'll have to let us know how you find the rest of the series! I was very impressed with the first two episodes and became very quickly attached to the characters but I ended up getting distracted with other games after that and haven't gone back to it since. I really need to as it was shaping up to be pretty special.
I will always be thankful for ep 2 which is where I discovered and became a big fan of
First Aid Kit. I had admittedly heard one of their songs before (was actually in
Tales from the Borderlands) but it was LiS 2 which got me checking out the rest of their stuff on Spotify, resulting in me buying most of their albums heh. Dontnod really are great when it comes to picking music in their games!
Re: The STR Screenshot Thread
Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2020 5:36 pm
by Anubis
M.Steiner wrote: ↑Sun Mar 15, 2020 3:02 am
You'll have to let us know how you find the rest of the series! I was very impressed with the first two episodes and became very quickly attached to the characters but I ended up getting distracted with other games after that and haven't gone back to it since. I really need to as it was shaping up to be pretty special.
I will always be thankful for ep 2 which is where I discovered and became a big fan of
First Aid Kit. I had admittedly heard one of their songs before (was actually in
Tales from the Borderlands) but it was LiS 2 which got me checking out the rest of their stuff on Spotify, resulting in me buying most of their albums heh. Dontnod really are great when it comes to picking music in their games!
Haha, I just finished Episode 2 and came here to post my choices before heading to Youtube to find that song
Thanks for sharing bud, and good taste - very catchy!!! Hope we see more of Cassidy too going forward!
Anyway, choices:
Life is Strange 2: Episode 2 (PC)
Re: The STR Screenshot Thread
Posted: Sat Mar 21, 2020 9:13 pm
by Anubis
Life is Strange 2: Episode 3 (PC)
Re: The STR Screenshot Thread
Posted: Sun Mar 22, 2020 10:46 pm
by Anubis
Life is Strange 2: Episode 4 (PC)
Re: The STR Screenshot Thread
Posted: Wed Mar 25, 2020 9:23 pm
by M.Steiner
Re: The STR Screenshot Thread
Posted: Sat Mar 28, 2020 10:14 pm
by Anubis
Life is Strange 2: Episode 5 (PC)
So I finished LIS2. Overall, I really enjoyed it - it was a really powerful game that told a serious, powerful story. Episode 5 in particular was very emotionally cutting, and a desperately sad reflection of what life can be for some people. A definite worthy entry into my favourite game franchise. I actually really hope Deck Nine get to do another "Before the Storm", as I would really love to play some of Sean's life in Seattle before the game begins.
My choices are above. I didn't take many screenshots throughout the game though, as I was more focused on the story than looking for photo shots. But I did take some shots of the end of the game, to show how Sean's story ended up for me:
Also, on a really specific note (and I'm not spoilering this because I'm not getting specific), I loved that the game followed up on my choices in LIS1 and gave some hints and details as to how life went for Max and Chloe after I left them. Not too much detail, nor too little, just enough to give an inkling into where their path led them:
I will say that I was really surprised to find David turned up and see him changed so much! But reading the letters and looking around his trailer, it all kind of fit. Very sad to see how much it affected him, but happy that it ultimately brought him and Chloe together. They both deserved it.
I really hope it's not too long before Dontnod do a third game (or, as I say, we get another prequel)! Really do love this franchise!
Re: The STR Screenshot Thread
Posted: Sat Apr 04, 2020 1:45 am
by M.Steiner
Re: The STR Screenshot Thread
Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2020 8:50 pm
by M.Steiner
Final Fantasy VII Remake (PS4)
More here from later chapters:
M.Steiner on Discord wrote:FFVIIR finished. Going to go back through chapter select to finish off a few other things before I put it down though). There are a few dodgy textures here and there (not sure if some of those were bugged and hadn't finished loading in as it were, or maybe they were meant to be patched at release with higher resolution versions but that has since been delayed? Not sure, but easily fixed either way), there was a little bit of pop-in at times and the camera could occasionally be awkward during tight spaces but the game as a whole was breathtaking.
The recreated scenes were beautifully done, loved how they expanded & added depth to the city & characters themselves, the real-time combat was God tier and the music sounded better than it ever has done.
Good luck to those of you waiting for it to come to other platforms (at least a year) & trying to avoid spoilers in the meantime. That's gonna be tough :/
Makes sense
now why they didn't call it "Remake: Part 1" heh. I can see some fans being unhappy with that ending but I <censored> loved it and find this approach far more exciting. All bets are off.
Favourite chapters would probably be 1, 4, 8, 9, 12, 16, 17, 18. Hoping they patch in a photo mode at some point as that would have been the icing on the cake for me.
Should they add a photo mode in the future I'll be back with scenes I've actually taken myself rather than relying on cutscene shots!
Re: The STR Screenshot Thread
Posted: Thu Apr 23, 2020 11:50 pm
by M.Steiner
Re: The STR Screenshot Thread
Posted: Sun Apr 26, 2020 6:38 pm
by Anubis
I know the game could never be for me, but DAMN Bloodborne has some amazing art!
Re: The STR Screenshot Thread
Posted: Sun Apr 26, 2020 9:38 pm
by M.Steiner
Re: The STR Screenshot Thread
Posted: Sun May 03, 2020 6:36 pm
by Anubis
M.Steiner on Discord wrote:FFVIIR finished. Going to go back through chapter select to finish off a few other things before I put it down though). There are a few dodgy textures here and there (not sure if some of those were bugged and hadn't finished loading in as it were, or maybe they were meant to be patched at release with higher resolution versions but that has since been delayed? Not sure, but easily fixed either way), there was a little bit of pop-in at times and the camera could occasionally be awkward during tight spaces but the game as a whole was breathtaking.
The recreated scenes were beautifully done, loved how they expanded & added depth to the city & characters themselves, the real-time combat was God tier and the music sounded better than it ever has done.
Good luck to those of you waiting for it to come to other platforms (at least a year) & trying to avoid spoilers in the meantime. That's gonna be tough :/
Makes sense
now why they didn't call it "Remake: Part 1" heh. I can see some fans being unhappy with that ending but I <censored> loved it and find this approach far more exciting. All bets are off.
Favourite chapters would probably be 1, 4, 8, 9, 12, 16, 17, 18. Hoping they patch in a photo mode at some point as that would have been the icing on the cake for me.
Ok, so my thoughts as promised.
So I have mixed feelings about the whole thing. Generally speaking first, To start with positives, their characterisation, world building was great. Visually, the game was stunning and there's nothing at all to complain about there (except perhaps some minor clipping issues with swords other than the Buster Sword during the Shinra HQ escape). I also thought that (with a couple of exceptions) that the soundtrack was top draw and incredibly good. I also really enjoyed the idea and for the most part the implementation of the sidequest system. And, of course, the JP voice acting. Shout out in particular for Heidegger, Reeve and Jessie - all of whom were elevated so far above their presence in the original for me, and I cared about them much more as a result.
As a counterpoint, the combat system obviously I pretty much hated. I also found it really frustrating at times how they went out of their way to put pointless content in just to pad the time out (for example, I was really enjoying the Shinra building until it made me spend 1/2 hours pointlessly running around Hojo's wards of test subjects - by the end I was very frustrated). It was also only late on (before heading to the Shinra building) when they opened up the whole map that I realised just how small a world they'd built, which surprised me as it hadn't felt that small till then. Oh, and load times - the chocobo system was pretty pointless as often I could run between the points quicker than the system would take to load if I used a chocobo. Not great.
Plot wise. Hmmm. I think there are questionable decisions there, or stuff that doesn't make a lot of sense to me that leaves me a bit unfulfilled and frustrated. The Whispers don't really make much sense as a concept given they never appear in the original game, the hinting about Aeris being more aware of them was frustrating as it wasn't explained. Why can some people see them and not others, etc - Rufus sees them around the Shinra building but Tseng seems to not be able to.
The end leaves an awful lot unclear - much of Midgar appeared to be destroyed then just fine a minute or two later. They won the war in the original game so why would Aeris seem to be so keen to change destiny without showing much to suggest she wants to save herself (I have to assume there's either some kind of time travel going on or she's not really there, she's like a projection of the planet or something). Also, how did Sephiroth appear to know and understand what was going on. It's like a clash of two universes with no explanation as to how this is possible, what happened to their original counterparts, etc. I get what they were doing it for - so they can change the plot up going forward - but this felt far too incomplete and poorly done. It has lowered my interest in Part 2, rather than increased it (and made me more certain than ever that I never want to see them even consider giving this treatment to any other FF games).
Some changes to the original narrative irritated me. Like, Sephiroth just deciding to leave President Shinra dangling over the edge of a building for no reason, just so they could have him monologue. The way they basically ripped away most of the point of Avalanche by making them totally useless, with Shinra having to blow up everything for them because they were so incompetent. Their need to be politically correct and not let their heroes be terrorists was always likely to need changes, but this effectively neutered them for me. It isn't believable to me that "terrorists" who weren't able to execute a single thing right all game are able to raid Shinra HQ as they did at the end successfully.
Similarly on the PC front, I was hugely disappointed by the Sector 7 plate falling, because they made so much of the slums and so many of the people survive. With a plate that big falling, it's impractical for as many to get out of the sector in time, AND beyond unlikely that the sector would be in the state we saw it in afterwards. Frankly, the original graphic of a huge slab of metal filling the whole floor is more realistic than what we saw. Again, them trying to stick with but neuter the original narrative to suit what is currently seen as PC. A poor decision for me.
It's not a bad game, but I thought overall it was good at best unfortunately. The combat system in particular, and some poor and confusing narrative choices really handicap all the amazing work they did on the characters and the world itself. It's unfortunate. I guess we'll see where they go next in 3 years or so.
Oh, also, best part of the game (and most improved) was hands down Wall Market to me from start to finish. The Shinra building was up there too for me before I got to those wards, so maybe if you consider everything before then that's up there too!
Re: The STR Screenshot Thread
Posted: Mon May 04, 2020 8:00 pm
by M.Steiner
Re: The STR Screenshot Thread
Posted: Tue May 12, 2020 12:26 am
by M.Steiner
Re: The STR Screenshot Thread
Posted: Wed May 27, 2020 1:34 pm
by M.Steiner
Re: The STR Screenshot Thread
Posted: Tue Jun 09, 2020 2:21 pm
by M.Steiner
Re: The STR Screenshot Thread
Posted: Tue Jun 09, 2020 5:30 pm
by Anubis
I really must replay Persona 3 some time soon. Absolutely one of the best JRPGs I ever played, and those pics take me right back
Glad you enjoyed bud!
Re: The STR Screenshot Thread
Posted: Wed Jun 17, 2020 3:58 pm
by M.Steiner
Re: The STR Screenshot Thread
Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2020 12:23 pm
by M.Steiner
Re: The STR Screenshot Thread
Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2020 8:00 pm
by M.Steiner
Re: The STR Screenshot Thread
Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2020 12:27 am
by M.Steiner
Re: The STR Screenshot Thread
Posted: Sun Jul 05, 2020 1:04 am
by M.Steiner