Mr. Beaver’s profile

Games are something I can still enjoy, so I take the opportunity while I can.
English is not my native language, and I use a translator, so I apologize in advance for the strange verbal constructions.


August 2023 results

Month Backlog Added this month Beaten
August 2023 293 7 6
The Legend of Heroes: Trails into Reverie

The Legend of Heroes: Trails into Reverie

8/10
101 hours playtime

A breath of fresh air after the entire Cold Steel arc with a narrative structure built around clear, unbreakable patterns. Three storylines that develop in parallel and intersect at certain points; practically absent side quests and other content that distracts from the main story; a good pace, taken from the very beginning - due to all this, an adventure for 40-45 hours rushes in one breath and does not even have time to tire.

All additional material has been moved to a separate dungeon, similar to that of Trails in the Sky 3rd, which can be played both during and after the main campaign. A lot of side content was provided, here are additional stories, and mini-games with varying degrees of interest and duration, and challenges, and clearing the dungeon, which is wrapped up here in a separate small storyline. Both the main campaign and side stories do not play a special role in the big picture of things and serve rather as an epilogue to all previous games and a small bridge to the next arc, introducing new characters. The epilogue, by the way, turned out to be satisfying enough to turn a blind eye to moments that are strange even by the standards of the series - the farewell to the beloved characters turned out to be very pleasant.

Just don’t play Trails into Reverie right after Trails of Cold Steel IV, you’ll be in a lot of pain and discomfort. The control scheme has been changed almost completely compared to CS IV, while reassigning everything as it was is a very dreary and difficult process.

Inversion™

Inversion™

6/10
7 hours playtime
no achievements

From this game you get exactly what you expect to get. Yes, it’s a blatant clone of Gears of War. Yes, it’s a competent clone of Gears of War. Yes, it takes one evening to complete it. Yes, it has a feature that makes it stand out, and yes, it has been underused; there are very few game situations tied to it, and therefore it seems more like an optional gimmick than a full-fledged mechanic. This game is exactly what it seems at first glance, no more, no less.

Coffee Talk

Coffee Talk

5/10
5 hours playtime

VA-11 Hall-A at home.

Very weak visual novel. The features of the fictional setting are practically not used in the stories of the characters (replace all these fantasy creatures with people, and nothing will change at all, except for a couple of exceptions); the barista lacks his own personality, despite actively participating in conversations; background music is too background. The visual is beautiful, though, and it can be completed quickly, at least. Not my kind of game.

Sifu

Sifu

8/10
20 hours playtime

Awesome spectacular beat ‘em up that doesn’t make fun of you, with a well thought out exciting combat system focusing on dodges and parries, with fair difficulty and a great sense of your own progression. I really liked both the main campaign and the arenas (a re-creation of the battle with a bunch of Smith agents from The Matrix Reloaded is just rad). A very satisfying game.

I recommend that you start playing on normal (original) difficulty, regardless of your experience in “hard to master” games, and only if it doesn’t work out at all, switch to easy. The easy mode makes the game VERY easy.

Katana ZERO

Katana ZERO

6/10
8 hours playtime

Katana ZERO started out as a good game about planning a spectacularly effective cutting out of opponents, ended up as some unbearable stifling, where crowds of enemies with firearms and shields are stupidly thrown at you. But the first half is good, yes. The visuals, music, and dialogues pull the whole game through.

Baldur's Gate 3

Baldur's Gate 3

8.5/10, solid 9/10 after some polishing
82 hours playtime
no achievements

It’s been a long time since I’ve played a game that captivates you so much that time flies by, and one hour before going to bed at nine in the evening ends at half past three at night. A great story-driven RPG that I strongly advise all fans of the genre to play, as well as those who miss large-scale and expensive RPGs, and those who just passed by and became interested, but not right now. BG3 still has a lot of small bugs of varying degrees of harmfulness that can spoil the impression of the game; the third act especially badly needs additional polishing. But even now it’s still a great RPG, and games like this are sorely lacking right now. Especially the AAA grade. Oh, if Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous had a Baldur’s Gate 3 budget…

July 2023 results

Month Backlog Added this month Beaten
July 2023 263 33 3
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV

The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV

8/10
99 hours playtime

A game that crushes you with fan service (but you don’t mind). A pretty decent ending to a frankly weak arc in terms of plot. The characters from Cold Steel I-II are still background furniture, the characters from Cold Steel III are still good and develop further, the antagonists for the most part still have a minimum of character, or they just exist because you already know them from past games, so why bother. Definitely the best game of the entire Cold Steel arc, albeit mostly because of the fan service. But it was good fan service.

Black Mesa

Black Mesa

7/10
21 hours playtime

In some incredible way, this game combines both the features of the best remakes and the features of the worst. There are chapters here that very carefully transfer the source material with a minimum of changes, which is good. There are chapters here that completely rework the source material, which is great. There are chapters that have been slightly expanded, which is good (for example, the introduction in Black Mesa, where much more interactions with the environment are added for the player). There are chapters that are slightly expanded, which is bad (for example, developers really like to turn some puzzles into finding valves, which further drags out the already stuffy levels). The updated appearance of the levels improves the original in some cases, and spoils it in others (a lot of visual noise that can interfere with finding the solution to the puzzle and navigating the level). The redesigned AI of human opponents in some chapters causes only irritation, while in others it generates exciting combat situations. Certain chapters pissed me off, others I simply adore. The levels in the complex before the exit to the surface suck ass, the chapter on the surface is amazing, Xen is very good, despite the noticeable delay, the half-hour staged boss fight with Gonarch is just mind-blowing in its awesomeness.
I hate this game, I love this game - it was definitely an interesting experience.

Fable Anniversary

Fable Anniversary

6.5/10
24 hours playtime

I didn’t get it. This game tries to be both humorous-parody and dark at the same time, and it doesn’t succeed very well. The gameplay is clumsy, but you can enjoy it. I don’t regret the time spent, but if I had not played it, I would not have lost anything.

First half of 2023 results

I decided to start keeping statistics late, so I’ll have to catch up. Oh well.

Month Backlog Added this month Beaten
June 2023 255 12 4
May 2023 226 34 5
April 2023 215 14 3
March 2023 193 24 2
February 2023 190 6 3
January 2023 181 16 7
The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero

The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero

9/10
70 hours playtime

Trails from Zero and its follow-up Trails to Azure are probably the best in the Trails series. Everything good for which the series is loved and advised is brought to the maximum here. This arc takes place in the city of Crosbell and the borderlands; a much smaller region than in Sky and Cold Steel, which made it possible to work out both the main and secondary characters much better, and in general to make the story more personal for both the protagonists and for you, the player - by the end of Trails from Zero, even patients of a suburban hospital will be like family to you, because everyone is so connected and well written. What's more, it has a great story (which doesn't end with a cliffhanger for the sake of variety) with a well-paced narrative, vastly simplified compared to past games, but still engaging turn-based combat, beautiful visuals, and an awesome soundtrack. Incredible game, love it.

By the way, Trails from Zero can be used as an entry point into the Trails series, but there is a one thing: it ends the arc of the three main characters of the Trails in the Sky trilogy. Otherwise, it's a stand-alone story, and even the appearance of characters from previous games in Trails to Azure doesn't make you feel like you're missing out on any information. So you can start with it if you want to enter the series, but still hesitated. But it's better with Trails in the Sky, it's also great.

Hi-Fi RUSH

Hi-Fi RUSH

8/10
16 hours playtime

A great musical action-platformer that can be both a rhythm slasher and just a slasher. Stylish visuals, great pace, good chemistry between the characters, jokes that fluctuate between "eh" to "ok, that was good." Of the minuses, I can only note fairly simple bosses (except for the final one, which, what a surprise, is hard).

No Straight Roads: Encore Edition

No Straight Roads: Encore Edition

7.5/10
11 hours playtime

Another musical action-platformer that, unfortunately, puts much less emphasis on the "rhythm" part of the combat system than I would like. But even so, it's still an enjoyable game that feels like the Double Fine's projects a lot, both in terms of visuals and voice acting, and in terms of the overall atmosphere.

VA-11 Hall-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action

VA-11 Hall-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action

7.5/10
16 hours playtime

Good music, cozy depressive atmosphere, good lyrics. Not a fan of visual novels, but VA-11 Hall-A hooked me in such a way that I passed it in one sitting.

Shantae and the Pirate's Curse

Shantae and the Pirate's Curse

6.5/10
14 hours playtime

It was not a bad game, not easy, but with a balanced difficulty of both combat and platforming. And then the last level began, in which the game abruptly turned into Super Meat Boy. Just why.

Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion

Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion

6/10
4 hours playtime

I like it when a horrifying fucked-up shit is hiding behind a cute wrapper, but Turnip Boy is too cute and cozy for this to work here. Nice little indie, nothing more.

Sayonara Wild Hearts

Sayonara Wild Hearts

Annapurna/10
2 hours playtime

Nice QTE-game with interesting images and decent music. I don’t know what else to say. This is an Annapurna game. If this is your thing, you'll love it.

Assassin's Creed Valhalla

Assassin's Creed Valhalla


29 hours playtime
no achievements

This is a game that you play in between other games. It’s too big and tedious, but in small portions it’s okay. One or two regions at a time is optimal. I think I will finish it by 2028.

Days Gone

Days Gone


5 hours playtime

I played it for two, maybe three hours. It was such a frustrating experience that for a couple of weeks I lost all desire to play games at all. Days Gone feels as sterile and soulless as possible, and I can't even tell you exactly why, but when you play it, you really feel like everything is being sucked out of you from the inside. Someday I will give it another chance, but it will obviously not be soon.

Like a Dragon: Ishin!

Like a Dragon: Ishin!

7/10
65 hours playtime

Not the best game in the series, but not the worst either. Fine main story, good side stories, solid soundtrack with very lazy new tracks, most of which were just pasted from other games without any changes. If you love the series, then you will like this game. If you played the original on PS4, then you might not like the remake, because it's not so much a remake, but a direct port with bugs from Unreal Engine.

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy

TAKE THAT/10
58 hours playtime

The tragic story of a cog in the state system, who honestly does his job and in return receives only reprimands, a whip in the ass (literally) and a pay cut. Buttload of memes as a nice bonus. Played the first two games of the trilogy so far, and it was worth it.

Wanted: Dead

Wanted: Dead


5 hours playtime

It's a very budget, very puzzle-headed, very junky and very weird game that I still like despite everything. The fights here are reminiscent of dances with constant switching between katana and pistol, with dodges and active control of opponents. Junky, clumsy, but still mesmerizing dancing. I quit the game because I pissed off one of the boss fights and minor bugs. Will be back when the game has a patch. Now, six months after the release, it has not yet been released, but according to the assurances of the developers, it is about to be released, just wait a little. Yeah, right.

Call of Duty®: Black Ops Cold War

Call of Duty®: Black Ops Cold War

7/10
10 hours playtime

I like the Black Ops series because I like the Cold War setting, and mainstream games in this setting are pretty rare. The first Black Ops was good because it collected all the clichés and tropes of fictional works about this period and made them into a spectacular action that did not take itself too seriously. Black Ops Cold War basically does the same thing, but narrows the timeline to the first half of the 1980s and takes on a more serious narrative tone. Otherwise, this is the same spectacular and varied attraction as the first game.

Assassin's Creed Syndicate

Assassin's Creed Syndicate

6/10
31 hours playtime
no achievements

Once every one or two years, an inexplicable desire to play Assassin's Creed hits me, despite the fact that I do not like this series very much. This time when it hit me, I went to Vallhalla. Not getting what I wanted from Vallhalla, I went to Syndicate, and... Yeah, it's definitely mid-2010s Assassin's Creed. Lots of map icons, a three-button combat system, a beautiful city that's fun to navigate around, and not yet completely missing staged cut-scenes and missions. You don’t get much pleasure from the gameplay, but it doesn’t tire you either. Decent AAA-timekiller.

The Legend of Heroes: Trails to Azure

The Legend of Heroes: Trails to Azure

9/10
79 hours playtime

It's an emotional rollercoaster. The story is bigger than in Trails from Zero, but still very personal, with the city of Crosbell at the center of everything - the real protagonist of this dilogy. And it's a great story with a well-crafted narrative, covering not only the story dialogues with cutscenes, but also the gameplay, sincere emotional moments and ambiguous characters. And the soundtrack, Lord, this soundtrack. Amazing.

The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel

The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel

6.5/10
92 hours playtime
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II

The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II

6.5/10
74 hours playtime

Trails of Cold Steel I-II are amazing games that do everything the Sky trilogy and the Zero-Azure dilogy do, but much, MUCH worse.

The game has significantly increased in scale compared to the previous ones, from which the quality has suffered greatly. A bunch of characters are thrown at you, both minor and major. In Trails in the Sky, you had two protagonists, and as the story progressed, you gradually got to know the new main characters. In Trails from Zero, you had four protagonists who developed through active interaction with each other and those around them. In Trails of Cold Steel, NINE protagonists are immediately thrown at you, and lately two more. Naturally, they do not really have time to develop them, and at best they turn out to be a little more developed than standard archetypes.

The plot structure is very clear and always follows the same pattern in the first game and in the second, because of which you very quickly understand what awaits you in the chapter as soon as you start it. In the story itself, the balance between everyday life and plot moments is very poorly maintained, which is why the latter feel less important and significant than they should, and simply dissolve into the routine. Dialogues just degraded.

The fights here are simplified to the limit, these are literally the only games in the series where blasting bosses with an ult is a working tactic. The maximum that the bosses in this game can offer you as a challenge is to heal yourself every second turn and kill the whole party with one blow, which, however, is easily managed by a certain character and certain consumables.

And the plot itself and its presentation, dear God. The series has had its own clichés and conventions since the first game, which is normal. Cold Steel takes these clichés and takes them to the point of absurdity. In past games, heroes from hopeless situations were often rescued by other characters - in Cold Steel, these other characters will come running to the rescue even through insurmountable barriers. In past games, characters loved to give motivational speeches - in Cold Steel, characters will answer any questions with motivational speeches. In order for the game to turn into a self-parody, it remains only to start breaking the fourth wall.

Cold Steel is positioned as the entry point for the series for newcomers, and technically it is, it has almost no characters from past arcs, and in general, the first two games form a self-contained story. But please don't start the series with Cold Steel. Firstly, they do not hesitate to spoil Trails from Zero and Trails to Azure, and secondly, these are very weak games in themselves, which can discourage all desire to continue further acquaintance with the series. Dissapointing, just dissapointing.

Resident Evil 4

Resident Evil 4

8/10
22 hours playtime

You stab, you shoot, you parry. It's literally the entire combat system of the Resident Evil 4 remake, and it's fucking awesome. A very fun game.

The Last of Us™ Part I

The Last of Us™ Part I

8/10
25 hours playtime
no achievements

The Last of Us is a great game if you like aggressive stealth. Battles with infected opponents are not very interesting, because they usually follow the same pattern, but in the segments with people the game flourishes, especially in the chapter for Ellie, who is faster and meaner than the hulking Joel. Opponents try to get around you, surround you, drive you out of cover, while they themselves prefer not to stick out if they know that they are in your sight, and you usually have limited ammunition, and a direct confrontation here is certain death. What I definitely did not expect from The Last of Us when I started playing it was an interesting action, but here we are.

The Medium

The Medium

6.5/10
8 hours playtime

The Bloober Team are either incompetent or just hate people, especially traumatized people. Someone please tell their writers about this little thing called therapy. I am sure they will discover many new things for themselves.

Gynophobia

Gynophobia

My first game on Unity/10
1 hour playtime
no achievements

It can be finished. This is a success, I think.

The Suicide of Rachel Foster

The Suicide of Rachel Foster

4.5/10
4 hours playtime

Another walking simulator, after which you begin to appreciate Firewatch even more.

The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III

The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III

7.5/10
114 hours playtime

This game is definitely better than Cold Steel I-II. It follows the same structure as the Cold Steel I, but fixes its mistakes and smooths out what it can't fix. The number of characters has decreased, but their development has improved. There are now four protagonists (plus two more coming later), and they are interesting characters with their own arcs, wow. The plot continues the global story that began in the Cold Steel I-II, so it doesn’t really shine, but at least it’s told better. And the combat system was fixed. Not a great game, but I definitely enjoyed it.

DOOM

DOOM

7/10
13 hours playtime

Thanks to DOOM (2016), I finally realized that arena shooters are not my genre. But it was fun, a little.

Grand Theft Auto IV: The Complete Edition

Grand Theft Auto IV: The Complete Edition

6.5/10
60 hours playtime

Go fuck yourself, Brucie.

Alan Wake

Alan Wake

6/10
16 hours playtime

An interesting concept with a curious combat system, which, unfortunately, was let down by the implementation. A very repetitive game that doesn't offer any challenge and almost no interesting combat situations (like the one where you don't have a gun but have a flashlight, and your partner has a gun but no flashlight, and you need to coordinate your actions to fend off enemies). Most of the game is walking through the same forest, solving primitive puzzles and very simple identical skirmishes with enemies and occasionally physical objects. As a result, the game only really blossoms in DLC, which has exactly what the main campaign lacked so much: variety. An interesting but rather tedious experience.

By the way, the licensed music in the game is pretty good, and in many ways influenced my musical taste back then, in 2010. Thanks for this.