Michael Corvin

I didn't see a thred for it, but has anyone else played Kena yet? Finally decided to give it a shot. It's a pretty good game that falls short of great. Kind of Zelda meets Pikmin meets Flower. The character designs are some of the best out there. The world is gorgeous. The score is amazing. The fighting mechanics, while simple, are fun enough. There are plenty of collectables to go for. Kena has a small skill tree to upgrade your skills. So gameplay overall is well thought out and solid.

So where does it go wrong? There is a complete lack of any kind of story. The game literally just throws you in without an intro or anything. You have to get about halfway through the game before they toss you any kind of story. Then there's a big info/story dump after one of the end game boss fights, but by that point I don't give a shit. I'm 13 hours in without a story, so why bother now? There is next to zero character development. Kena (Kay-na), the main character of the game is well designed but I don't give a shit about her as a character, which kinda stems from the zero story problem. Her voice actress doesn't really do it for me either. Lastly, what's mostly an adventure game with platforming/puzzling and light action, the end of the game is far too action heavy. Once you clear the main map, you fight a boss. You then unlock three mini-areas with some light platforming/puzzling, each with another boss fight. Finish those three boss fights, then you unlock/have the final boss fight, oh wait... nope he takes another form for the final-FINAL boss? Who knows. I gave up Boss Fight: The Game for the night. Essentially six boss fights in a row? What a fucking lame way to end an adventure game.

Goldberg74

It was on Questyen’s list for 2021 as number 9. He made no mention of the story in his review.

https://forum.dvdtalk.com/video-game...es-2021-a.html

Its one I would like to play eventually.

Adam Tyner

Music

Nice!

Decker

What it that Tiny Tina thing? Is it new?

RichC2

It's from 2013, spin off from Borderlands.

Decker

Googling it, it seems that it's Borderlands 2 DLC, re-released last November as a stand-alone title with some minor things added in.
I had that DLC but don't think I played it much.

And just to do my designated job here, I guess I should mention that yes, I picked up Planet Coaster Console edition as part of a Buy 2, Get 1 Free deal or something early last year and have never played or even unwrapped it.

mndtrp

To be more clear on the Tiny Tina thing, it's essentially the DLC from Borderlands 2, but is now standalone.

LorenzoL

A bit late but here are my stats for last year:
For me:

179 total hours played
24% on PS5 titles; 76% on PS4
41 days played
4 hours played online
11 New Games played
161 new trophies (3 platinum, 7 gold, 29 silver, 122 bronze)

My top 5 games were:

Lego DC Super-Villains (70 hours)
Ghost of Tsushima (37 hrs)
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart (36 hrs)
Ratchet & Clank 2016 (17 hrs)
Persona 5 (6 hrs)

lwhy?

I'm excited to try out Planet Coaster for free on PlayStation Plus.

slop101

Got another opportunity to get a PS5 through Sony - not sure when, but I'll probably not get one.

DJariya

I have to wonder at what point do the scalpers stop loading on stock and trying to sell it for 2-3 times the cost on Ebay? I mean how much debt do they want to keep racking up buying all the PS5's and there's no guarantee they will be able to sell them either.

I mean if I'm a "scalper" and I buy up all 10 PS5's from Best Buy when they go on sale, what happens if I can't sell them for $1,000 each? Just wondering. I mean do I really want a $5,000 credit card bill for product that I may or may not profit from?

Michael Corvin

I'm sure they return it before their 90 days or whatever is up. If not, they sell it at cost on Craigslist/ebay. They won't get stuck holding the bag.

Maxflier

If it comes down to it, they can still just sell them at cost or for a minimal profit. It's not like they won't be able to find people willing to buy one.

slop101

Yeah, a friend of mine got a new one on Craigslist for just a little more then MSRP+tax.

Obi-Wanma

I saw someone with a trunk full of them on Instagram offering them up for $550 each.

Adam Tyner

"Good, but not great" would be my short answer as well. It's ridiculously gorgeous (though I'm surprised that the 'quality' mode has such a choppy framerate as to be unplayable; and I'm typically not even a performance mode guy!), and I was onboard for most everything about the gameplay: the skill tree, exploration, collectibles, puzzle-solving, and combat.

But it feels like a very different game during the boss battles, and I'm glad I heeded early warnings and played on the lowest difficulty. 'Spirit Mode' (or whatever it's called) is still a weird mix because combat in general is near-trivial outside of the bosses, and yet the bosses feel more like what I'd expect from normal difficulty (or maybe one of those half-step up difficulties some games have between Normal and Hard). The battles are admittedly very generous with health in Spirit Mode during those battles, but still, it doesn't quite gel well for me. But among Kena's other strengths is knowing when to let the curtain fall, so it doesn't overstay its welcome. As a pretty, indie Zelda-like, I enjoyed it, and I'd be onboard for a sequel. But there's definitely room for improvement.

asianxcore

It's been a bummer to have missed the last few weeks of in-store Gamestop re-stocks.

For the past few weeks, (2) stores that are within 10-15 miles from where I live have participated in the In-Store Events.

Problem is that I teach Monday through Friday and not having a class at 10am usually doesn't happen.

Some of my students joked that I should call out sick one of those days but I used a large portion of my Sick Days recovering from a car accident I was in late last year

mndtrp

"I'm not saying that skipping a class and showing up with a PS5 would get you credit for that day/assignment plus reimbursement, but I'm also not not saying it."

Dan

Sorry to hear about your car accident.

But mndtrp is right... you have a classroom full of bots (essentially) to do your bidding for you.

asianxcore

Love the ideas!

asianxcore

A few days ago, I decided to end the (long) chase and buy a PS5 on Ebay for non-retail price.

The seller had 100% Positive Feedback and was local (about 15-miles away).

I received the package about an hour ago and everything is legit. Currently setting it up and upgrading my PS4 copy of Resident Evil Village.

With all the horror stories I've read since 2020, I was still nervous that the box would be filled with bricks, candy, or trash.

So excited right now. Looking forward to gaming a bit more this year!

uteotw

That's awesome, and a great game to get started with too. Was it a highly non-retail price or not too bad? Just curious.

Adam Tyner

Decker

Shit, now the war has escalated. This sucks for gamers on both sides. Hate this move.