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.

Call of Dutty WWII - PS4 >> After 3 missions

So I've already completed the first 3 missions in the solo campaign for Call of Duty WWII.

And I have some war stories to report...

I feel like I've seen the horrors of war first hand. From smashing a Nazi solder's head with a helmet in order to escape to see a brother in arms falling in front of me decapitated... Big bloody WOW

Usually it takes me an hour, an hour and half to complete each mission. And when I end I'm all sweating because I can feel the stress like I was there!

Specially when I cannot get the grenades on the spot and throw them and they hit some wall and come back at me...

Like in Mission 3 one has to throw a signal grenade to call for aerial support...yep. I've ended failing the mission many times because 'Friendly fire will not be tolerated' only because I can't throw the grenade lol

This game is like watching a documentary but being able to actually participate in it.

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!

Call of Dutty WWII - PS4

I got a PS4 Pro for my birthday. I didn't want it but I was forced to accept it. Only because I know I already have enough games to last my lifetime to play in my PSP and PS2. But since I had to accept the gift I began to collect some must have games, and this beauty, the Call of Duty WWII was one of them.

I have all the Medal of Honor games for my PS2 and the thing I remember the most is the first time I played the begin of the first Medal of Honor, that D-Day level at the beach...it's one of those marks that a good game leaves on you forever.

So I was quite excited to see, after all these years, what it would be like playing it again, this time around in the CoD franchise, and leaving behind the 128bits and into the 4K era.

And it is the same feeling all over again!

You are a simple soldier and the game start aboard the ship where you meet your mates and that's the best way to bond instantly with your character and the others the game have to offer.

Then you are already in the middle of hell! You are being pushed by your mate to escape from the bullets and trying to survive the beach and then the bunkers full of German soldiers.

Only finished the first mission but I'm already in love.

The realistic feeling you get throughout it is immersive even if when you already turned off the game. After a couple of days I'm still telling about my friends about the guns I found, about how stupid I was not being able to throw the grenade well and how I ended up throwing it against a wall and exploding myself, how the context moments are quite gore (that helmet-head-smash is something...) but then how you feel the friendship in those moments you have to save your injured mate...

Yep. It's a great game!

Master System - Deep Duck Trouble Starring Donald Duck

One of the last games I got for my MS was this great platform Donald Duck game.

You, as usual, had to save your Uncle Scrooge who turned into a balloon, and to do so you had to travel around an island, collecting some elements at the end of each zone and then when you brought them together a new area in the island became available (it was a castle in the middle of it but heyyyyyy, shushhhhhhhhh, don't spoil!)

You had different areas that promoted different mechanics. So you could go and have to escape a volcano while running away from huge rocks, or have to swim your way through corals and really mean fishes, or you could get really cold feet while kicking ice blocks to kill your enemies...it was quite fun!

And the thing is that you could start and proceed to any zone you wanted with no any given order. You just had to finish them all and gather the prizes.

Maybe for other people this was an easy game, but since you could not save your progress, everytime I played it I had to start over again, and even playing it a lot, I've always found it difficult. So the few times I got to the castle I just played the beginning of that stage and never finished it or the game. Usually my 'videogames time' had ended by that time...Had to turn it off and play something else.

Sooooo, right now this is one of the games I'm most eager to play again, now that I've setted my MS up again and see if I can finally manage to finish the game!

Because this was and still is one of the best platform games I've played.

Master System - Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

This was, I think, one of the last games I got for my MS. It was a Christmas or birthday present.

Always loved Indy. So it was normal, in an era when we didn't get much merchandising of the films we liked (at least around here...), getting a videogame of it was the best thing!

The game was short. It was kinda hard at first, because you had to get the jump right or the whip distance on spot or you would end up with a jelly Indy on the floor, but you'd get the mechanics fast enough to end it in no big time.

At least that's what I thought at the time. Right now I cannot play as good as I used to, so nowadays the game seems quite difficult.

The game follows the main scenes in the film (was expecting to fly an air plane but no lucky...) but the end is so much easier than what it should be accordingly to the film.

I also had the point-n-click adventure by Lucasfilms to PC and that is more related and true to the film than this version. But hey! It was a good platform-action game!

First level you had to jump and climb some ropes and kill those cowboys.

Last level you had to jump a bit more and be careful of the saws and falling floor.

And then you'll get your holy grail.

Master System II

Lets start a new revival, retro, old-school thing in this blog.

Our life was full of consoles and games. My second console, the first I've bought by myself (after gathering all the coins I could find!) was my Master System II.

I bought it when it was almost the end of it. But since I could not afford to buy a Mega Drive and even less its games, I settled for the SEGA 8-bit.

I bought that compact pack that brought 4 games: Sonic The Hedgehog built in the console and also the Master Games 1 with Super Monaco GP, Columns and World Soccer.

I've used to wait for my weekends to play as much as I could. Even more because you got to be really good passing some of the levels because there was no saving point...Those were the days...

I got more games besides these 4, which I'll post next. And if games were not enough I also got some extra control pads because there is nothing better than play against friends and spend the next week at school talking about it.

It was almost about Mega Drive around here, but there was some Master System stuff too. Including this remote control that needed 4 AAA batteriesto work a couple of hours, and had a lot of buttons but only the A/B and D-Pad worked. This was the Mega Drive control. Don't know why they sold it for MS but ok...

The other control is the stick, which came as a pack with a game. It took me sometime to get used to it, because the normal control has de D-Pad on the left and action buttons on the right, and here is the opposite. But after a couple of hours I'd prefer playing with this one. It was like playing in Arcades.


I still have my MS and controls and all the games. And it still works. Even if the original control pad is behaving a bit funny in some games, but working perfectly fine in others.



Will be posting about games next.

Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris

I got a couple of years ago the special box of Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris. The one with the art and little Lara doll.

Since then I've been playing it on-and-off the game.

It takes a while for you to recognize this as a Tomb Raider game.

And you mainly do that because of the puzzles. Because besides that it's different.

You don't get to feel the same third-person feeling of surviving like you get on the normal series games. Specially since the 2013 reboot (which I finished and enjoyed so much...).

But you sure get the millimetric jumps. And even more difficult because you play with a isometric camera which sometimes is a pain to get the controls right to make Lara go in the right direction.

Besides that you get pretty good graphics. Not only on the cut scenes but also during the game play.

Which works like an RPG game remembering those full of dungeons to explore. But here you don't have to destroy your mouse while smashing your enemies. Here you have a bit more tactic to care about.

Which is a nice approach to the game.

You also have multiplay modes. But since I don't like playing online I've never tried those yet. So I don't quite know yet how those go.

I'm more old school and like to enjoy a lonely journey with a good story.

You will collect new weapons and cloths and other RPG stuff that will help you improve throughout the game.

You also have pretty big and nasty bosses to beat.

I already had to watch some youtube videos to pass some puzzles but also some bosses. The game is tricky sometimes.

Lots of Egyptian things...well, that's the game theme.

 You have to collect pieces of statues. Nice foot.

This one was quite difficult to pass. But the satisfaction you get in the end pays it off.

My Steam page says I've spent 10 hours already playing this game. I'm that clumsy or it is quite difficult for sure. Only unlocked 14 achievements from the available 40. Damnnnnnnn I say it's difficult.