Spider-Man - PS4

I've heard since forever that Spide-Man for PS4 was like one of the best games for the console, and a must have!

My only Spider-Man game was Spider-Man: Return of the Sinister Six for Master System besides some party MARVEL's heroes in PS2 games.

I've always loved Spider-Man but concerning videogames you cannot go just for the love you have for a character. None the same I was ever curious, and when the game got a discount I got the GOTY edition.

And even if I was afraid about all the hype, I was so happy I did risk it and bought it because it is an awesome game indeed!

I'm reaching 50% of the game and I Can tell it's one of those games I install and cannot put down, and other games I was playing are right now in stand by until I finish this beauty.

And why? Because one cannot stop playing not only the main story with all of its missions and characters, but also all the available side missions that one will unlock throughout the game.

One of my favourites were the backpacks which you get right at the start. You get to find lots of backpacks around the city and get to find little things like this Spider-Man 'doll'.

And finding backpacks and other stuff in the world for side missions will also give one tokens that can be spent upgrading suit powers, web stuff, fighting moves, etc... Like a true RPG.

You also get to fight some thug criminals around the city, when the Police asks for help. You get to chase cars, stop robbers, kidnappings, etc...

And you get mini-objectives in each one of those.

I got to web one of those thugs to the post. I love this game!

One little thing you get when reaching this time in game is fast travel. Which you do selecting the possible spots to fast travel to and then the loading screen shows Spider-Man using the underground to travel around the city. And you get to see a variety of mini-scenes with Spider-Man in the middle of other people.

Other thing you get to do in the game is absorb the great graphics this game has. What a beauty to see specially in a PS4 Pro. And so the Photo Mode, so in vogue nowadays, is like a game in itself.

With selfie mode included.

After finishing the main campaign I get 3 more DLC episodes to keep going in this great videogame.

And probably yeah, one of the best for de console and this generation.

Sinking City - PS4

I saw the box at my local store and got intrigued by it.

Searched the YouTube, like we all do nowadays, and got not that good reviews...like in Vampyr case I got cold feet and didn't buy it right away.

But then I got to think...as in Vampyr example I saw not so good reviews but I eventually got the game and it turned out to be my favourite so far in PS4, so why not risk here as well and get Sinking City and don't care about the reviews!?

And so I did just that.

I just started the game so I just played the tutorial part of it that works as the first case we get to investigate in Oakmont with our PI Charles Reed.

The title sinking city to which you travel in order to find what is happening with you and all the weird visions you get lately of freak monsters and the ocean swallowing you up.

Yep this is one of those games you have a huge map (which is offered as a poster with the Day One Edition I got) that makes you jog a lot to go from place to place. Just like I did in Vampyr, but here at least we get little help with the fast travel system (but that takes you to load screen which takes more time than those in Bloodborne...).

And the map will be one of your best friend because the cases and side quests are not quite marked there and showing in the HUD like in other games automatically...you have to pin the evidences and the places you should go on the map by yourself.

The clue states an address and you have to find it in the map. Some may say this gets boring, but since I like the Wally books I don't mind, it actually plays like a little game inside the game. And it also makes you start to know the huge map by doing so.

The world you get into is just like this...octopus and other sea creatures all around you.

The world is mesmerizing. And I simply just get lost in details.

But as the world is very interesting with parts of the city already sank where you can only go by boat and others where the NPCs still can live their tortuous lifes, there are some problems, mainly decisions made by the dev team, for sure, where you can travel the city from west to east or north to south and you will investigate buildings that inside are just the same as the others you visited before on the other side of the city.

They re-utilised too many textures...I got confused just now when I travelled to an other part of the city I've never been before (I just started playing the game!) and when I entered the house I thought I was Reed on one of those trips and was seeing the first house I visited just before...but nops...it was an other one but exactly the same textures inside...

Not the perfect thing to do in an open world, which is so reach from the outside. It seems the dev team only got time to make the city outsides and the rest used the same textures to cut time.

But I can live with this. Even if it gets you confused sometimes.

But the combat system is a pain...you get to shoot monsters (yep...they truly exist outside Reed's visions) but you get a couple of guns at the start which have no effect on monsters you get to find right at the beginning. And that's because you get to craft your own bullets (the coin in the city) from stuff you find around the world, but you can only carry a couple of them.

So, if the bullets are scarce and not quite effective against the monsters it's almost certain you kinda get stuck like I am right at the beginning on some side quests, because I still have to find the shotguns and stuff.

It might feel easier in the PC because...mouse! But in a PS4 controller is quite off...

The lucky thing is that the difficult level in this game separates the investigation level from the combat level. So you can set the investigation part for hard and combat for easy.

Sorry...but that's what I'm doing...

Besides this dev decisions about the gameplay, the most pain I find is the load screens which take too much time for what we are used nowadays.

That and the fact that opening the map, an action you do the most throughout the game, kinda freezes for a a bit the game and won't load immediately the map menu.

But since the game came out just now, hope there will be a patch to fix some of these problems in the near future. That's what happens with almost every single game in modern times...

But don't think after reading last paragraphs the game sucks and wonder why I still said to start off that I like the game. Because I do like it!

There is something about the game that pulls you in and makes you want to wonder the city as Reed and find about all the cases and side quests you get to investigate.

The mechanics make you go the day wishing you can return to Oakmont and see what the world has more to show you. More of Reed's visions and more looking for clues and try to make some sense of them and try that way to find the answer to the crimes and visions.



See you in Oakmont.

Vampyr - PS4 >> The End

And that's the moment I reach the final of one of my favourite games ever.

After beating the final boss in Vampyr we get to the last chapter of the story where we tighten the final straws and see which of the 4 different finals we get, based upon our choices during the game.

It seems there are 2 bad endings and 2 good ones. I got the best one from those 2 good finals.

Vampyr was one of those games that after playing it I got the feeling of not knowing what play next, knowing them won't be as good as it was.

And I was a bit orphan of what to really play and enjoy myself until I got to know Sinking City. Which I'll address in the next post.

But for now, just go and get Vampyr and play it!

Vampyr - PS4 >> Final Boss

And I'm approaching the end of Vampyr game and I cannot tell you enough what a great journey it has been.

I got to the final boss yesterday and beat it on the first try!

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW

I'm around level 30, mainly because I've completed all main quest tasks and all the side quests and never turned a NPC into a vampire or killed them.

But even if I could have reached a higher level it doesn't matter because I have encountered other bosses than seamed more difficult to beat. And why so!? The level or the powers you have are important, for sure, but it's the strategy you use that decides it all.

You have to know the enemy to use the best elements into your favour.

That's why, even if the final boss are in fact two bosses you can beat them if you have beaten the previous ones.

First you have to fight Harriet Jones who transformed into something similar to her daughter with that crazy Gadget arm.

Then you face your *mother* the Red Queen, the manifestation of the mother of all vampires which seems to take this form every now-and-then.

If you define a strategy and keep with it, without trying to accelerate hits and using too much power attacks, you can win easily.


But if you were expecting to end the game here, you still have a couple more dialogues to go to try and understand the reaction of Lady Ashbury before.


I haven't enjoy so much playing a game and discovering its story in a long time, maybe since I've finished Breath of Fire IV for de original PlayStation.

Vampyr - PS4 >> Killing Mary

I think I just reached the middle of the game. I started chapter 4 in the game, right after having to kill an other boss. But only this time the boss was Jonathan own sister, Mary, whom he bites right at the beginning of the game.

Each passing hour I play I love this game even more. Really, what was I afraid before buying the game!? lol

I tried fighting Mary but the couple first times I couldn't pass the few strikes, so I went a did some other side quests and evolved so I was around 20 XP level when I tried again fighting Mary and did it. Just have to keep moving, and biting here and there to have enough blood power to use some better vampire tricks and...be patient. She will fall to her knees...

And that's a great scene. The dialogue between brother and sister is something that kept resonating into my memory since then. So sad...

But then Jonathan go and visit Lady Ashbury and he seems a bit happier to share his pain with her. And that's the start for a new chapter in the game where you discover something about Lady Ashbury...she adopted a girl, a mortal girl, that knows all about her being a vampire.

This game is a surprise on every corner.

Sorry, now I shall go back and play a bit more.

Bloodborne - PS4 >> The Father Gascoigne encounter

In a world connected with Internet is quite impossible to play Bloodborne and not know Father Gascoigne right from the start, from that moment you make the first search.

And he is only the second boss in the game!

But he's like the image of the difficult of the game. It's like, like written and said everywhere, if you can beat him, you can beat anything from then on.

Don't know yet if that's quite so, but for sure after defeating him I got to the next two lamps in a row without much difficult...But have yet to face other boss. Only then I can see if Father Gascoigne was truly the top of them or not.

I think it took me like half a dozen times to beat him and after that, for sure, I screamed like my team had just won the championship. Because that's what this game gives you. It gives you that accomplish feeling for you have studied the enemy right and used your resources to defeat the enemy like you were a professional. Even if you are not a hardcore gamer.

People who gets this love the Souls Games. Like I do.

Vampyr - PS4

I've always loved the myth...So I was drawn to this game the moment I've seen in around.

But then I committed that somehow dangerous action of going and check the game on YouTube and of course there are people who don't like it and those were the top videos for some scrolls...so I pushed the buy for some time.

But then I decided to let myself go.

And I did well.

We play as Jonathan Reid. A doctor returned from WWI front and newly reborn as a vampire.

The story starts right there and with some crucial things happening to him that made me hold my breath!

And that's because even if the characters and story might seem sometimes a bit stiff, it touches you in a way you're not quite ready to admit at first to yourself.

You start to care for Jonathan and the NPCs around in a blink of an eye.

And yep, the game might be a bit clumsy here and there, but that's one vector that actually pulls you even more into the game. Because like the people it pictures in the story, that are not perfect, far from that, the game isn't as well.

You have lots of dialogues to navigate through. Some options are not available right at bat but only after you talk with other NPCs and unlock the hints about the characters. It works a bit like the Telltale Games a bit. And when you decide for a way you block some of the hints in the hints tree. So you might want to return again to the game after finishing and trying other ways to play it.

Besides talking you actually got to play as a true vampire and kill people. The militia trying to catch the vamps, or other vampires like the Skals (vampires lower in their food chain) and other bosses like beasts and ultra powerful vamps that use their smoke screen tricks to make you think they are one place when they are already right behind you...

And there is where this game try, and kinda gets near, the famous Souls Games.

The combat system is similar in that you have like a left-hand/right-hand weapon choice and some possible combos which will consume your stamina bar. Like the very important dodge feature. This consumes more stamina than anything else and the dodge is that smoke thingy that it's quite a fun effect to watch in combat.

Of course you can upgrade not only the weapons but also the vampire tricks to make you more powerful.

You also have a vamp-sense that can be activated and you see everything in grey around you and only the heart beating inside everyone's chest and their veins is the only colour you picture besides the grey.

That's a sight!

You can also follow blood trails in this mode. But one thing that in other games this mode allows also is to acknowledge other interactive points around you, like collectibles to gather, but here they don't appear. It would be cool too.

I know I was in love with Yharnam and Bloodborne...but after starting playing Vampyr I cannot stop. I want to know more, about Jonathan and even about the strange NPCs around him.

I'm in love with the ambience, the story, the vampire myth and powers...and Jonathan.

Bloodborne - PS4 >> The first Boss encounter

And just like that I faced my first boss ever in Bloodborne and won the fight!

AT THE FIRST ATTEMPT!

I still cannot believe it!

Cannot get the stupid smile off my face!

Just yesterday I was reading some opinions about the game and found this one here from Games In Focus and it's just like what I was trying to explain in my last post about the game.

I've always was kinda 'afraid' of the so called hardcore-ultra-difficult-games that needed lots of try-and-error hours spent. But maybe it was all just because I've never found a game like Bloodborne before.

The game was pushing me to it, and the moment I started it I was addicted. I'm day-dreaming about it throughout my day! But not addicted to that degree to which I cannot play anything else, but that's a story for an other post.

The thing is that I knew I'd die a lot. And I did, to the extent I thought I'd be killing the same enemies for the rest of my game-life.

Until yesterday.

When I've tried to take the gamepad and tried to put into action all the things I've been listening to in the videos I've been watching about the game. Mainly is to think outside the box the games for the past decades have put the gamers into.

We got a bit numb.

Not that I'm saying that games like Dragon Quest or Ni No Kuni are not great, because they are! But those are in a category of their own.

But I know that even if I loved the Tomb Raider reboot, and the way they deal with the new scheme of context-actions, it kinda helps you out in many ways that ends up numbing you to other games. Specially to games that a mere enemy right at the beginning of the game kills you with a couple of strikes.

We are not ready to think outside the box any more.

So that's what I've tried yesterday, like I said. I've tried to have fun, and simply let it go.

And so I ended up in the right place. Right where I knew I'd find a boss but, also thanks to the notes other gamers leave behind in the game (I thank the PS+ subscription just for that) I entered the fight ready to try it no matter what.

And when I knew it, I beat the Cleric Beast, the first boss of the game, like it was nothing.

But it was. It was a big deal!

It finally made me realize, that yep, I'll keep dying a lot, like I did just next because I fell from a great high and didn't see the couple of enemies just right behind me, but I just have to keep on dancing.

But that's the game! And that's the fun of it.

I just have to do it. To have fun with it. And waltz.

Bloodborne - PS4

There are just a few games that burn themselves onto your skin like a tattoo you'll forever display with pride.


Those games are like your favourite books, TV shows or films.

Bloodborne is one of those.

I knew Bloodborne was a Souls game. So I was not quite 'turned' to go and buy it. But then I could not stop looking at the game. So I did it. And finally bought the Hit version of it.

And I got prepared to die.

And I died, and keep on dying a lot.

But I don't mind. I just keep on coming back and playing the same enemies over and over again.

Why!? Because next time I'll advance a bit more and the moment you manage to discover a new short-cut, you win that battle you've been losing for the past 10 or more tries, you feel like on top of the world!

And the Bloodborne world is a beauty.

The details are infinite like you get lost in them each time you pass by.

And Bloodborne is the only game nowadays that made me watch more videos on YouTube besides the walk-through kind.

I've been watching many dissertations, thesis and other philosophical videos about the game than every other game before. It also helps that I didn't have YouTube or even the internet when I used to play other consoles...So yeah!

And why I watch the videos!? Because they remind me of the old times when we used to discuss the games for the games. And that can only happen because the game appeals to a more adult audience but also a kind of different hardcore gamers, besides the FPS hardcore gamers. It's a mix from the old days Arcade gamers that tried to pass those platform/RPGs games that ate our coins like the Cookie Monster.

I've seen people caring for the game like I've seen in a long time.

And I'm in love with the game. That much that I don't mind being killed all the time and even just watching other people playing.

Monster Hunter: World - PS4

I got two games when I got my PS4 and Monster Hunter: World was one of them.

I already had Monster Hunter Freedom and Monster Hunter Freedom 2 for my PSP and I must confess the games were always a mess to me, but I decided I should take some risk and get this new game. You see, I like typical JRPGs by turns but some action JRPGs are cool too. So even if I've never quite understood the structure for the games I got it.




I still cannot get quite well the online structure of it. And it is all mixed up with the offline structure. And I never get how I have to accept the Quests, if I have to create one, join one, or whatever...But maybe I'm the one that needs to get into the web and search for the game handbook lol

None the less the game is kinda cool. The version is enhanced for the PS4 pro so you get HDR TV show that is a beauty to the eyes.

And then you're off to kill some monsters that are like colossus next to you!

 You get lots of NPCs to go to that gives you inside notes about a lot of things going on in this enormous world and I don't have more that age to acknowledge it all...I'm at that step where sometimes I click too much in the 'next' option without reading all of the information and then I'm all 'ups!' because I missed something useful. So pay more attention to it than I do! lol

As you can see the other characters are well designed and even during gameplay they look like this. Not only on the cutscenes. That's the power of true 4K. I was never that gamer that got big eyes and all that impressed with the HD and 4K graphics if the game is only that and poor story and poor gameplay. But if it's a good game in it's essence, with a good design level, good characters and stories, etc...if you add to that these impressive graphics it's like Heaven!

Right now I'm just at the beginning of the game (because I cannot play a single game for too long and I'm always jumping form game to game) and I already have this cat figure as my companion that I called T. He's cute! And together we already hunted 2 monsters. I was trying to get the third one, even got a trophy doing so because it was my first ever monster that I mounted, but it leaved the area before I could actually killed it. Because only after like an hour hitting it like hell I understood the only hitting points actually causing damaged were the ones inflicted during the times I mounted it and the other times I hit it with things I've thrown at it with my sling. I have an other chance to go after it, so that's what I'll do!

King's Bounty - The Legend

Since I've read the preview for this game on some magazines I new I had to have it.

It took me some years (the game was released back in 2008 and I only got it this year) to get it. Well, not because I was afraid of the game or that I couldn't find it, it was just that when it came out it was tagged as around 60€ which was like a big no-no. So after all this years I bought it for some 15€. Which is better than nothign.

If you love old school RPGs and RTSs like those played in a isometric view you'll love this!

The thing is that the game mixes RPGs components with Turn-Based Strategy games. Which, for me, is like, if well done, like Heaven.

You start the game choosing between the normal 3 types of characters in a RPG game: Warrior, Paladin and Mage.

Each type has a specific character avatar, but you can chose the house emblem like your family arms. But besides that you chose nothing more and proceed to training where you learn some skills and how to use them.

Then you go and talk to the king and start making errands like a normal RPG.

The battles are like in the Turn-Based Strategy where you have hexagons to move, and each battle character has limited moves and arm range as well as specific skills and magic.

The interface is quite intuitive and easy to learn. You can do almost everything with the mouse.

The graphics are quite beautiful and you kind of lose yourself in the details.

Here's the wiki page.

Breath of Fire IV - PS1

I've played this game for around 6 months, I think, and it was such a terrific experience that I'm still thinking about it.

As you can see I as lucky enough to grab this beauty for PS1, not a Platinum version (which I don't know if it exists), but like the others I played it in my PS2.

I have this love for JRPG that transcends me!

I did a first attempt at playing the game back at early 2000s around when the game came out, I think in 2001. It was not cheap! But then I bought others and forget about it...But it was always at the back of my mind that I should play it until the very end!

And so I did it a couple of years ago (it's always confusing making years math at the beginning of a new year). And what an experience it was!

As you can read on the back besides the enhancements for the gameplay and graphics the story is as common as it can be.

But the magic about the Japanese RPGs is that they always manage to turn each story unique.

Our main character is Ryu, whom we find in a crater...all naked. The Princess (damsel in distress...or not) rescues him and brings him along in the search for her older sister who was kidnapped.

And so the story goes.

If you know the BoF series you know the main character can always turn into a dragon. And there are more dragons.

Besides Ryu and Princess Nina we also meet Cray, who defends the Princess and her sister (whom he's in love with), Ershin who is like an armor that speaks kind of fun (she's the Yoda in the troop) but seems to have some one inside, Scias the talking ninja-dog who remains silent most of the time, Ursula that works for the military in search for Ryu but in the end she turns to our friends side, and finally, Fou-Lu that is the other half of Ryu. They are like a unique soul scattered into two bodies.

One thing during the game is that will be able, as Ryu, to transform into dragons spirits that you will meet during the game.

You can play as any character because you see max 3 people of your party and sometimes you must have some specific character on the front to be able to perform some actions. You can re-arrage all of this in the menu all the time (while not in combat mode).

About the combats. They are in turns, not real-time but it's not strategical like other JRPGs. But if it's in turns of course you have some kind of strategy associated to it. Like choosing the characters to put on the front and the others to put on the back and when to heal other character or call some dragon to help you in the battle.

About the graphics is your common PS1 3D graphics where you can use your R/L buttons to turn the camera 360 (in 4 turns) and you see each zone as individual from the others but there is no long or eternal 'loading' screens between the areas.

The scenarios are not that rich as the FF IX's but they are quite good and I must say that the characters design and graphics are better then FF IX ones.

Everytime you exit some city or specific area you see the world map view and you can travel between the points you already visited.

But you have to pay attention to some '?' marks that appear in the middle of the ride that can guide you to specific zones to find new items or even get items or doing something needed to get the story going.

Other thing common in BoF games are the fishing spots (which are needed to get something done to get the story going too!) and are good to take some time off the battles and just relax while playing the mini-game to get the fish. You have like a collection of fishes to collect that you can only fish in specific spots.

The story has some highs and some lows. You get to play it from the Fou-Lu perspective and you get to understand he's not that of a bad guy.
And I must say I almost lost it when 'something' happens to Ershin... that moment made me love the game! Or, of course, when you get to Princess Nina sister and...I will not spoil it to you all, but if what happen to Ershin did touch my heart this moment was near it.

I also have the Breath of Fire III for PSP, which I got way later than the IV (don't ask why because I don't know too...PSP was way after PS1), but I have yet to play it. But I hope it is so good or even better than this.



I treasure each moment I played this game. Is one of those that you love for it all, not for some parts.

Final Fantasy IX - PS1

If you are a gamer and especially if you like RPGs you must know the Squaresoft series: Final Fantasy.

So in this post I'm talking about the IX game in the series.

I got the game in the Platinum edition for PS1 even if I don't have the console, but my PS2 has retro-compatibility so I can play games for the previous console.

You cannot say by the pictures but the case is big! It has 4 CDs!

You can not only imagine how big the game is but also what the tecnology got from going from CDs to DVDs.

Now more into the game...

Many say that the great and most beautiful game in the series is FF VII (which I'm playing on my PSP).

I'll be talking about the Cloud and friends game in future post, but from what I've played from both I can understand the feelings so many people have for VII but I must say that IX is as good as it and it might be my favourite Final Fantasy game.

We start with Vivi. The Mage in the game.

He's a strange figure but you almost fall in love with him in at the very beginning!

You get to look around the kingdom's town with Vivi learning to look for many objects hidden all over the scenario and also learning how to play the card game (Tetra Master) that works like a mini-game throughout the entire game.

And talking about the scenarios...They are simply breath taking!

I know they were made for a 32bits concole but they truly are one of the most detailed and beautiful scenarios you get to see in a game for PS1 and even for PS2 consoles!

They look like they were hand painted.

After walking around the city you get to enter the castle where a party is taking place.

A traveling theater is performing there but they are not your normal actors people. They intend to kidnap the Princess Garnet!

The thing is that in the middle of it the Princess herself wants to be kidnapped!

One of my favourite scenes occurs during the theater presentation in which you have to simulate a fight and you have to press the right buttons when they appear on the screen. I know this happens a lot in the games, even more in the current games (quick time events) but it is so into context and well made that I repeated the scene a lot of times. Even more because the better you perform the better the audience cheers and you get more money.

You can see that this game is all about the little details.

After this there is trouble all around to make the theater troup flies off the castle in one piece along side with the Princess.

The 'Rusty' comes along too. He is the Princess guard chiefe but he's a failure.

That's when we get to know better the main character of the game: Zidane.

Also we get to know the rest of the theater crew when the ship they were traveling crashes into Evil Forest.

Zidane, the Princess, 'Rusty' and Vivi go into the forest and get in trouble and they are helped by one of Zidane friends which ends up being 'stoned' in the forest.


That made me sad...and if I'm that touch at so early in the game I cannot imagine how it will be in the end!

After that keep their journey together.

I already went into Ice Cave where we meet some evil mage birds that want to stop us. But I did it! And now I'm in some town where we found out that they send weird packages to the Castle.

Something is going on...

The battles work like the other FF games, with ATB bars that need to get filled in order for us to attack.

But if in ither FF games I usually don't like the battles soundtrack but this one I like a lot!

Besides this you get to interact with other FF commons like Choccobos and Moggles. The Moggles are important in the game because it's through them you can save the progress and learn some tips about the game. Also we get to deliever some mail they send to each other. I still have to understand what we must do so.

I know I'm just at the beginning of the journey but I'm already touched by the game.

This might be one of my favourite FF or probably my favourite.

I'll keep you informed about my next adventures.

Good games!