Topic: Pure Xbox Community Game Club | Now Playing: South of Midnight

@Balta666 Considering how slow I am at video games the 30/40h mark is probably more accurate

@themightyant well, perhaps I'll try it out then. 15hrs is manageable.
Expedition 33 on the other hand, no matter how badly I want to play, might be best to wait. I've been playing too many rpgs

@themightyant Slow is good I guess.

I am now at stage 7 and the pacing continues to be a marvel. I have most of the combat achievements locked in and the upgrades should not take much longer too.
I am trying to get all collectibles but I have missed a few pages which makes think I may have missed some of the others too. I hope they have a stage select in case I want to go back later for full achievements.

I'm more than halfway through ch 9. I had to put it down since it was getting late. I may just try to power through this weekend instead of flip flopping with xcx. I'm probably in the last 3-4 or so hours. I did get the gliding ability, which is really neat.

Ok, I have finished the game. Still have a few collectibles to go, not sure yet I will go back for them but happy that you can choose chapters after credits.
It is definitely a AA game with wonky collision, small in scope and its structure gets samey to the end but I Loved my time with it. Favourite game I played this year my a margin.

@Balta666 good to hear. I'm trying to finish it up tonight or tomorrow. I feel the same way 3/4 of the way too. But it's still the best game I've played this year.

Rolled credits myself. Really enjoyed this one more than I expected to. Very nice ending as well.

I started South of Midnight on Saturday, as my wife was out and I had the TV to myself. I've just finished chapter 7 and I'm finding the game quite good. It's good to know that I'll be able to replay chapters to go back and get all the collectables as I've definetly missed some. I'm finding combat a little difficult so I may need to lower the level to have an easier ride with the game.

@themightyant Liked it quite a lot. Did you or anyone else took time to explore the side content?

@oliverp you're talking about ninja garden, right? Don't remember what side content it has to be honest

Just finished South of Midnight. Woo. I am blown away. Now first I am going to admit my biases. The game speaks to my culture (from the Southern US), family background (my mom is/was a social worker), and I love action adventure games and have been longing for a African American/FBA female protagonist for a while. So I was going to be interested in the game no matter what.

What I didn’t expect was for it to be that good. Both in narrative (running me through the gamut of emotions) as well as giving my mother and I an interesting discussion topic and in gameplay, the game isn perfect but I encountered few control issues or glitches and the controls felt responsive and fluid if not from a previous gen (I got a lot of Remember Me and Prince of Persia gameplay cues from this game) and I adored the pacing. Going from mundane (I am from hurricane country so as horrible as they are, they feel…normal to me) to, personal (both in culture and the mother/ daughter story on display), to fantastical while feeling grounded in a mythology that I admit I ignored growing up. The best part is the characters were good. Hazel is a well meaning, relatable protagonist but still makes mistakes (fatal ones) and grows and learns from it. I want to see her function as a Weaver not out of necessity but as her new Station in a sequel (please let this game get a sequel). Her villains had complex but understandable motivations and I love that she was more a healer than a destroyer. I love action games but have always felt dissatisfied that so much of the “solution”/power fantasy of these games is in the form of violence. South of Midnight allowed for action without violence and wanton destruction being the only method to be the heroine. I absolutely love that. (One of the reasons I adore Zelda in the current BoTW era games) The ending ticked me off and felt fitting at the same time. People like Bunny exist in my hometown. People that have done cruel things to anyone and everything including family (which one can not forget that Hazel is) that would rather be right/refuse to change than see the path forward right in front of them. I knew the choice Bunny would make before Hazel ever reached her. I loved that the pacing allowed for so many different ways to tracers the world as well as different gameplay mechanics from normal combat, to hide and seek to chase sequences. Even better that the game respects one’s time despite the variety. Absolutely a fantastic experience from beginning to end. Will be buying this one on Friday. Need to replay as I missed notes. There is a lot of very good but subtle storytelling and world building in the notes.

Games like this remind me why I like gaming and what I had hoped to see from gaming as a child. Every time I start to think I no longer align with gaming anymore, I get a game or two that recalibrates me and I fall back in love with the hobby again. Also very much hoping it eventually gets ported to switch 2. Will double dip gladly.

@Balta666 Yeah. NG 2 Black have some imo *intresting Have you beaten and played the game btw?
*And I dont think that can be said about every game...

@oliverp yes, I finished the main campaign of the game. I was looking now and there are challenge missions that I did not try. Is that what you're talking about?

@Balta666 Your partner . Your gears. And well…