Intro
September is usually Tech-tember, but it’s also when a lot of new games are released. What has the team been playing lately?
Allen
What Have You Been Playing in September?
- Resident Evil 4 (2023)
- Hollow Knight: Silksong
- Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter
What Are Your Thoughts?
SPOILERS AHEAD
I was never really good at any Resident Evil games, going back to the PSX and its crazy tank controls. I always felt intimidated by the tough challenges, even if you got wild upgrades on your guns and weapons. When I had the chance to borrow Resident Evil 4, I felt a mix of excitement and nervousness, but I couldn’t resist giving it a run.
First off, this game is gorgeous. The creepy, dark settings were lit incredibly well, setting the tone right away. While the GameCube version was oddly bright, the remake nails the vibe. The higher-resolution character models also looked impressive—main characters and monsters alike.
Going through the game wasn’t too much trouble, so I actually felt a bit relieved. I can see they cut some scenes from the original, which left me surprised since they were wild even for Resident Evil. I spent a lot of time in the shooting galleries, which were tough but genuinely fun—they challenged me, but finishing them was rewarding. About a third of the way through, I went back to Mercenaries mode to unlock the Handcannon; it felt great to have something to help me out for the rest of the game. It was still tough at times, but knowing I had the Handcannon made things less daunting.
At the end, the game unlocks Professional mode. Honestly, I felt a bit overwhelmed—I couldn’t bring myself to do extra runs and try shaving off time for the platinum trophy. The launch of Silksong distracted me, too, drawing me in with excitement. Still, I’m genuinely excited and hopeful about Resident Evil 9: Requiem next year.
Switching to Hollow Knight: Silksong, I really wanted to like this game. I remember liking the original Hollow Knight years ago, and maybe the hype got to me. At $20, it felt like an easy buy. It was even difficult to buy the game as all the servers went down trying to make purchases; it wasn’t even up on PSN for a few hours.
Getting right back into the world of Hollow Knight, the art style and mood were set right away. Took me back to years ago to the original game. I was excited to just walk around the different stages and see the animations of not only Hornet but also the other bug NPCs and enemies. Tight controls, which is what you would expect, as well as slowly gaining powers and tools to help slowly buff you up.
However, I kept running into tough spots with certain bosses and some optional or storyline content. Savage Beastfly and Last Judge especially left me feeling frustrated and stuck. Endurance rooms full of enemy gauntlets just wore me down—I started doubting if it was my skill, my reflexes, or just unfair design that kept beating me. I felt genuinely annoyed and disappointed each time.
I felt frustrated not just by dying to a boss, but by retracing the long path back to try again. Navigating multiple screens and managing my cocoon for lost rosaries, I tried to hold off on touching it to save extra silk for boss fights.
That loop was as frustrating as the hard-hitting boss patterns, which sometimes left me deflated after a handful of deaths. I didn’t feel satisfaction after overcoming endurance rooms or difficult bosses—just relief not to repeat the ordeal, only to face new versions under different enemy skins.
I know you can just go explore other places, but I felt like I had exhausted many of my options for paths on the map. That’s when the exploring to me got tedious, and no amount of pretty artwork and level design was going to make me feel anything other than that exploring became a slog.
Even when I felt better equipped with more tools and charms, I still didn’t feel truly powerful. Halfway through Act 2, I decided to stop playing. I switched over to Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter, feeling a lingering sense of burnout from Silksong—the experience left me too drained to return and enjoy the rest of the story. I now just think about watching a YouTube playthrough instead.
The rest of my month was spent playing Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter. After a very successful demo and a lot of positive word of mouth, I knew I had to finally sink my teeth into this franchise. What I noticed right away were the plentiful accessibility options, ranging from the game’s actual speed to its overall difficulty. Seeing the much-talked-about Nightmare difficulty kind of sent me shivers—especially after going through Silksong—but I knew about New Game Plus and will tackle that later if I choose.
There are so many cosmetic options that they can go a bit overboard. I just like that you can get as ridiculous as you want, like dressing Estelle and Joshua up as mascot versions of themselves. As the game went on, I kind of kept it simple by just changing the hair color and outfits. One thing I really appreciated was that you can pretty much fast-travel anywhere once you’ve visited a place at least once. Going from the guild, to the orbment factory, to the hotel in the city, all from the map menus, just felt so convenient.
I usually ran with Estelle as my tank, with high HP and hard-hitting Arts. Joshua was my evade/counter character, prioritized for skills and S-crafts. I always kept impede and speed quartz leveled and equipped to get more turns. Early on, I missed a lot because enemies were countering, so I used Hit Quartz. The rotating 3rd and 4th characters just slotted in as needed.
I was also a bit late in upgrading not only my quartz but also my equipment. I hit a few boss fights that were a bit tough, which kind of forced me to be smart about upgrading equipment. Upgrading the accessories was the way to go, as they offered bigger gains than armor, mainly in base stat upgrades.
I’ve found myself surprisingly invested in the story. Connecting small stories into a bigger political problem feels refreshing and has kept me genuinely interested, especially compared to the usual universe-threatening JRPG plots. I’m hopeful and a bit excited to finish this game soon.
What Are You Looking Forward to in October?
Ghost of Yotei is the big one among the team and me. Absolum is interesting, but I have that game in my FantasyCritic league, so I’m curious how well it does. I’m also a big Dragon Quest fan, so I will be excited about Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake.
Greg
What Have You Been Playing in September?
- No Games This Month
What Are Your Thoughts?
My entry this month is pretty much blank; my September was also very busy and too packed to play any games seriously.
What Are You Looking Forward to in October?
Ghost of Yotei.
BigFreaky
What Have You Been Playing in September?
- Pokémon GO
- Pokémon White
- Ghost of Tsushima
What Are Your Thoughts?
In September, I continued collecting Zygarde Cells to reach the maximum of 300. I still haven’t changed for me. I’m waiting till the end of the season (and the release of Z-A) to see if anything seems like I should have them readily available.
Aside from just random grinding on XP and the Zygarde Cells, Sept was pretty chill in Pokémon GO. Thankfully, after an insanely busy summer.
Pokémon TCG Pocket – Nothing particular to report back. Opening packs and wonder picking. I decided to put my subscription on hold (and will probably cancel it). The cards have wonderful art, as to be expected from Pokémon. But since I don’t do anything other than open, it seems a bit of a moot point to pay much for it.
I played Pokémon White for a couple of hours, but didn’t accomplish much. I will continue to try again later.
I fired up Ghost of Tsushima to get a bit of a handle on how the game plays again. It was much like riding a bike. Some button combos were rusty, but I’ll pick them up when the new game drops next month.
What Are You Looking Forward to in October?
October is HERE!!!! Ghost of Yotei and Pokémon Z-A are finally releasing!!!
October is HERE!!!! Ghost of Yotei and Pokémon Z-A are finally releasing!!!
Pokémon GO will be updating to allow us to reach level 80, up from 50. A big jump compared to the last update, which was just 40-50.
I will finally be busy!
