Insomniac Nightmares

Okami has fallen. The platinum now resides in my trophy shelf, immortalized as my 125th Platinum. Hooray?

By the time I finished the game, I was honestly starting to hate it; it was severely overstaying its welcome, and the boss rush and 6-stage final boss, especially after the pain that was the Wakwu Temple, was just dragging its feet in an apparent attempt to pad the runtime. When I started, I was skeptical… not really understanding why everyone seems to think it’s one of the best games ever. By the midpoint, I was warming to it, somewhat; still not one of the best games, but definitely a decent game. By the end, I hated it again.

Oh well.

I also finally kicked Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords to the curb. It’s been literal years since I grabbed the PS2 Classics version, and began inching my way through it. Honestly, having finished it again (because I had it for PSP and PS2 back in the day, and bought it again for XB360), I don’t know why I was so bloody enamored of it. It’s slow, clunky, ugly, and frequently blatantly unfair. (To this day, I swear the CPU opponents “know” what’s going to fall when they make a move. The number of times some random green in the corner starts an 8+ move cascade with multiple +5 Skulls involved seems a little too frequent for mere chance.) But at least it’s done.

Stared The Sinking City, which is much more entertaining… to me, at least. The combat is a little janky and unnecessary, and sometimes navigation is cumbersome (walk down this street, hop on a boat, take the boat to that street, get off the boat, sneak through a combat zone, get on a boat, get off the boat, and now you might be where you were headed), but overall I think it’s a solid game. The fact it doesn’t hold your hand, making you actually do some detective work to sort out where you’re headed and why, is certainly different and (in my opinion) enjoyable. In a lot of ways, it feels like the game Call of Cthulhu wanted – and failed – to be. CoC still has a couple of things going for it over TSC – the graphical style (though not the fidelity, I fear), better load times, and more detailed environments – but if I have to pick one for my Mythos gaming, Sinking City wins. (But can we maybe get the two developers to work together, plastering over each other’s weaknesses, and make a Mythos game that shakes the walls of R’lehya? It’d be AWESOME.)

About halfway through the game, about 35% through the trophy list. It’s pretty enjoyable so far, though I would likely be somewhat irate if I was playing without a “warning list” of “no return” trophy points and choice-based ones. Almost every case has two (or more) resolutions, and there’s generally a trophy attached to each. Given that, while I enjoy the game, it’s not really one I see myself wanting to complete in full more than once, save-scumming is a must.

Still picking at the Devil May Cry trilogy, Labyrinth Life and the Vita God of War collection, as well as Siren. Will probably be taking on Yomawari: Midnight Shadows this week as well, if GameFly and the postal service cooperate with me. Just hoping that one doesn’t have another “play for 50 hours” trophy like the first one.

That wraps up the trophy round up on this end; what about you folks out there? What are you playing? What should I be playing? What trophies have you earned that you’re stupidly proud of… or do you wish you could hide on your profile? Let us know down below! Until next time.