Topic: Pure Xbox Game Club - Halo 2 (Nov)

@K1LLEGAL Yeah they showed off a reveal trailer at E3 and watching it again, you can easily recognise Amicia's voice at the beginning so you'll be able to realise immediately that it's A Plague Tale. I just imagine if the trailer was released today and I had no idea what game it was. Would be absolutely freaking out after hearing her voice, lol. Also, when I watched it, I thought Amicia genuinely looked badass this time around. Imagine TLOU's Ellie in the first game and then how much she's changed in the second one, that's how much Amicia has changed in the sequel. Like she looks way more determined compared to in the first game.

I mean I would personally love it if more people wrote down their thoughts about games they've completed on the forums since it feels like I'm the only one who ever writes in those threads, lol. As long as it's games that I've played or that I'm interested in then I'd be happy to read people's thoughts and discuss the games with them!

Ok so I'm behind as I'm still playing Pshyconauts but it's a fantastic game so far. I'm LVL 23 and just finished the levitation level with the disco lady. Bought myself the cobweb gun so I'll see what i pick up in the next run-through of my mind. Buying that deep arrowhead finder was great as you really need to find them caches to buy the items. I'm saving up for that magnetic patch next. Really has me excited for Pshyconauts 2 as this game is very old and I'm really digging it. Funny how the cutscenes look worse than the gameplay thanks to the power of the series x.

I have a Plagues Tale installed so at least in ready to play that once I'm done.

@Krzzystuff Nice man! Hopefully you'll enjoy the rest of the game as well. There is one level in particular that can be rather confusing, so feel free to read our previous posts for some tips. It definitely stands out compared to the rest of the levels so hopefully you'll be able to manage it.

Regarding Psychonauts 2, I wonder if we should make a thread for that game when it comes out considering how many of us have played through the first one and are ready to play the sequel. I know that it would feel kinda unnecessary to play through it as September's Game Club title (and also that we'd have to wait a whole week until September starts to play it, lol) since people are going to play through it anyway. Perhaps it'd be worth it to make a separate thread for the game then so that we can post our thoughts and discuss it.

@LtSarge there's not been that many votes in for September yet. I'll probably do a nudge tag closer to the time. But yeah, whether or not it gets picked as September's game, could be worth having an OT for it. Even if it did get picked for September, we can just start the month 5 days early 😅

Ok…. Ended up putting 51 hrs into Prey (SUCH a game) and a light Links Awakening break with the 6 year old to cleanse the palette led me to starting A Plauge Tale the day before yesterday. Smashing stealth concept, gorgeous graphically ( that Series X lighting!)…very affecting voice cast (I think Hugo is particularly good especially) and that Rat Swarm effect is something to behold. Asobo are gonna be one of MS’s big hitter Studios soon.

Going to tip along an hour/ 2 chapters a night as I’m really enjoying it, even though it’s emotionally effecting and as a parent ;just constantly want to give the kids a hug!

Good choice folks (and yeah, let’s just make Septembers Psychonauts 2)…

@antifyre nice one, I really enjoyed Links Awakening DX actually. It's a decent remake. I found it a tad easier than the original, maybe the objectives were better signposted? Or maybe I just knew better where to go etc after playing the original. I think I had to use a guide for bits of the game boy colour one, not sure, i probably played it like a decade ago

I've preinstalled Psychonauts 2. The first game I have ever preinstalled and it's part of subscription. I feel very fancy with all this modern technology at my finger tips 😅

@ralphdibny heh… I’m old enough to remember it the first time. Played it after Link to the Past, half the joy of these remakes are the re-record of the soundtracks! So good. I went Sony once the PS appeared and missed a lot of the later Zeldas… have an old 2ds now, and playing them through with the kids is great craic.

Same here on the tech too… I constantly rant to people about Quick resume, like it’s a new way to breathe or something😂.

Finished A Plague Tale (or the "Rat Game" as my daughter now calls it!) over the weekend and I have to agree with what @LtSarge and @K1LLEGAL said previously; this is the best game we've had in Game Pass Club yet. The story, setting and characters were all fantastic and the companion mechanic and level design kept it interesting; a few stealth based games I've played can get a bit same-y, but not this one.

The first half of Chapter 9 was the only part where I felt the quality dropped off a little, but it was by no means bad - just felt a little generic in comparison to the rest, but it quickly got back on track. Difficulty curve seemed about right too, with the puzzle elements being relatively straightforward, but fitting into the overall story quite well; nothing seemed particularly 'tacked-on' as can often be the case with a game like this. I did notice that I hadn't got very far into the upgrade paths or finding many of the collectables, so guess I could've spent a bit longer looking for items on the way.

There was really only one section where I hit a wall in terms of difficulty in Chapter 16 where Rodrick is pushing the cart for cover and guards are running at Amicia & Hugo where I felt like the aiming was a bit off and if I missed a guard I didn't have enough time to fire again. There was an upgrade workbench immediately before this section where I upgraded the slingshot to silent, but probably should've gone for the quicker re-load upgrade instead which would've been more useful at that point in the game - the game auto-saved after the upgrade so couldn't even go back to change it when I died. I lost count of how many times I re-tried on Saturday before giving up and trying again on Sunday - I got it on about the 5th attempt on Sunday though and the rest was relatively straightforward.

Another 'Win' for Game Pass though as this is one that I feel would've passed under the radar for so many people otherwise. Can't wait for the sequel next year.

@dmcc0 Congrats mate! Nice to hear that you enjoyed it a lot as well. I honestly wasn't expecting much going into this game, I only knew that people really liked this game for some reason and now I know why!

I too noticed that I had missed out on a lot of the collectibles and it's sad that 300 G of the gamerscore are earned by getting all the collectibles. I feel like this is one of those games that I don't really feel like exploring everywhere since that would slow down the experience severely.

Yeah I also had some difficulty with that section in chapter 16 even though my slingshot was fully upgraded. Out of curiosity, did you get the upgrade where you can shoot two times with the slingshot without having to reload the second shot? That upgrade was especially useful in this section. My problem was mostly that I wasn't able to stand behind the cart successfully. The first time I was standing a bit too far ahead and Amicia got hit. Then I waited too long at the end of the section and it passed me so I got hit once I exited my cover. Doesn't help that there's no checkpoint halfway through so you have to start over from the beginning, which sucks. Glad to hear though that you managed to get past this part eventually!

@LtSarge I tend not to go back and get the collectables in most games unless I'm pretty close to having them all after the first play through - I'm nowhere near on this game though, so won't bother. The Gamerscore stuff doesn't really bother me either as I'm new to Xbox this gen my score is pretty pitiful by most standards anyway, although it can be a a bit disheartening when you finish a game and you've only got 250/1000G or something. Again, if I'm close to getting full Gamerscore after I play through I might go back and try to complete, but from memory I think I've only ever done it with Donut County, the rest seem to be <50%. Certainly haven't played anything just for the easy Gamerscore.

No, I didn't get that upgrade - that would definitely have been useful. I found the slingshot aiming was a little inconsistent when the guards were running at you. A few times I had it locked, and just as I released, I lost the lock and missed with no time to reload. The last upgrade I did on the slingshot was the silent upgrade and I'm not sure if it was actually any use to me after I did it - should've upgraded the other branch at that point. For the slingshot upgrades I think I had 3/3 upgrades for the strings and 1/3 for the pouch at the end.

Oh cool! I have been wanting to play (well finish actually. Started APT on PC…) this one. Will download today. Got some PTO later this month. I need to finish Yakuza 0 but I am not on xbox enough…

@dmcc0 Yeah most games don't really have streamlined achievement lists. I like ones such as the Telltale achievement lists where you just get full 1000 G in every game (except maybe for a few exceptions) by just playing through the story. I would've preferred if A Plague Tale had those 300 G reserved for if you've found half of the collectibles instead of just forcing you to find each and every one of them. I think I've played a few games like that where you don't have to find all collectibles but only a certain amount in order to get those achievements.

Ah, that's too bad. I agree that the aiming is a bit finicky, especially when you're trying to aim specifically for the lanterns that the soldiers are holding and the game keeps redirecting you to their heads, lol. Regarding the silent upgrade for the slingshot, I think I found myself in a few situations where a guard that I wasn't aiming at heard that I shot another guard and that's when I would've needed the silent upgrade. But other than that I think the other upgrade path was more useful in general, especially in intense situations.

@dmcc0 Haha yea I had an issue with that spot you mention too, but only a couple of times, if you missed then yea the guy would just charge you (since there were like 3 at once) But since it was the end of the game I think I crafted one of those items where if they catch you you could kill them and escape.

I went back and got the full 1000gs and my Xbox timer is now 17hours 20mins so I think it finally updated. My last two collectibles were in chapter 6 and it was fun to run through the camp and try and grab the item (so it would autosave and pop the achievement) before the guys got me!

Storywise there was one part I didn’t enjoy but not sure how to do spoiler tags.

@LtSarge yeah, I think the Back to the Future Telltale game on PS3 is the only one I've played so far, but not sure if I got the Platinum, but wasn't far off I think. Have got the Walking Dead games on my "to play" list at some point though. Might keep them for the next Gamescore Challenge to boost my reward points.

@K1LLEGAL I did think of crafting, but didn't have enough materials so had to stick with slingshot to the face!

@antifyre I've actually got my game titles mixed up 😅. DX was the game boy colour version of the original game that I played way back when. Not sure why I thought the remake had DX in the title, it was such a game boy colour naming convention

I sorta hopped between consoles, we had a mega drive and a SNES when I was a kid, then went PlayStation for PS1. Back to Nintendo for the GameCube (it was only £130 in comparison to the more expensive PS2 and Xbox). Then pretty much stayed with Nintendo until good offers came my way for the later MS and Sony consoles. I've had all the Nintendo handhelds too. I've retroactively picked up a lot of older consoles like the NES, master system, N64, Saturn, Dreamcast and PS2 but I can't say they get a huge amount of play because they don't have the nostalgia attached to them, unless there was a specific game in a series I wanted to play.

@dmcc0 nice one on beating the game!

@ralphdibny Finally have a space in the house now that I can get some older consoles in - but not sure if I'd get a chance to play them

Played a bit more last night - I do really like the ramp-up of different gaming aspects/mechanisms as you go, it's already adding the various pieces and blending them well.

@antifyre noiice! I got an old CRT for retro games but I doubt I'll have much space for it when I move in with my partner 😥. Oh well.

@Ryu_Niiyama welcome back, so many acronyms 😅. I think I understand APT (this month's game) and PC (your platform of choice) but I'm lost at PTO. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on it!

@Krzzystuff how are you getting on? Still chipping away at Psychonauts?

@ralphdibny yeah still going in Phsychonauts. I played the lake level with the monster that ate the one girl last. Gonna keep going this weekend some more.

Starting a new job next Monday so life has been very busy in August. Have another week of camping starting on the 20th so I'll likely be a month behind in the games again. Need a play-cation i tells ta!

@Krzzystuff nice! Nearly at the final stretch though. I think there's only like 3-4 more mental world when you get to that second hub area.

Sounds cool though, what are you doing for your new job? Good luck with it anyway and also I hope you enjoy your camping trip!

@ralphdibny haha sorry.

APT= A Plague Tale
PC= My poor gaming PC that thinks I have abandoned it for the Nintendo Switch.
PTO= personal time off (something I rarely take as I work remotely and thus live at my job.).