Finished my Main+Extras playthrough with about 12ish hours.

Bully was a mediocre experience, with a few laughs, and some great nostalgia moments.

The gameplay is subpar, feels like a collection of quick time events and simple mini games. It hasn't aged well.

The characters, writing and missions were really creative - that was the most enjoyable part.

7/10

— 09/02/2024 9:07 PM
Did errands for the kitchen lady and hide booze for the english teacher. MAde it into town and won the boxing championship. Preps tried t get out of paying me 1000 bucks so they gave me a coselation prize... a lighthouse. Feel I did alot better with that

Game crashed on me and there some wonky controls for the skateboarding. Also finding that the music overlaps with the audio and really like the some subtitles. With these issues still enjoyng the game and getting some laughs out of it
— 09/03/2024 7:47 PM
Not much today just did some jobs around the area
— 09/04/2024 9:47 PM
took pinky on a date, started the bike races and egged tads house
— 09/08/2024 9:27 PM
okay had one more session:

Defeated the preppies and reached the third chapter

So enjoying bully for what it is however there are some annoying outdated design choices which hampering the game for me. The big one is a lack of either an autosave or a universal save (i.e. save anywhere). My game has since crashed a extra two more times (in the last session). Luckily the first I had early on so didn't lose too much but the second I lost the last of the bike races and kart race so will have to repeat. Not sure the cause but it's putting a damper on the games fun.

The good however is I think this showed that it was possible to change the settings of the GTA games and it still worked. It's got the same style of humour as the old GTA games. Bit hit and miss some parts feel outdated but unlike Sunset overdrive I feel the humour can stand on it's own. Missions are short and work itself into the time frame between classes. The time functionality works well and punishes in a non determinant way for truancy (still possible to do things without the people getting in the way). I hope I can get through the game without losing too much progrss cause I am enjoying the game and looks I've made decent progress already in the game

Regarding the constant crashing, I would suggest getting the patch below. It fixed my crashing, also you can change FPS for smoother experience

https://github.com/CookiePLMonster/SilentPatchBully/releases

I'm playing my first session, and the school life nostalgia is hitting hard. I have a good feeling about this game from what I've experienced so far.

I do agree with other comments about missing QOL features. Also the camera seems kind of off - not sure if this is going to become a major annoyance, we shall find out!

FYI for people I link to the first game if there are remasters so things like the scholarship edition will not be displayed in your post but the original Bully will be. I can change this in the future if people would be prefer to invert it (i.e. link to the latest)

I am playing the Scholarship edition on PC so would prefer that.

The first thing I do when starting a game is to turn on subtitles, I'm better at reading than listening.

Definitely keen to check this one out!

Just as soon as I'm done with Wargroove 2.

Finished the game tonight. Played blind, but a few of the sections I looked up (reviving undead chicken - no idea how you're meant to work that one out from the vague ingame hints) and also 2 frustrating boss fights requiring trial and error to figure out mechanics (got sick of refilling faery jar and heart blessing every attempt so I looked them up as well).

Also got the colour outfits and the Koholit sword which was nice.

Pretty mediocre experience, same with every other Zelda game I've played (LTTP through to Twilight Princess HD).

I don't get why the series garners such high praise, the gameplay is formulaic (dungeon>keys>boss>repeat), the music though catchy gets repetitive, and the plot is juvenile.

The experiences weren't bad, just disappointingly average. Maybe the franchise just isn't for me.

7/10

I have mixed feelings about this. Don't you think it tends to trivialize a lot of things and makes the game a little too easy? Not that I'm a menuing addict :)

Nope not all all. I play games for fun and enjoyment, quality of life features go a long way to facilitate that.

It went on sale at roughly 30-35% off ten or so times in the last 3 years.

Ah ok my mistake. I was just surprised that a 5 year old game was still selling at it's original release price, with no permanent price reduction.

I bit the bullet and bought the digital version which still costs full price. Does anyone know why Nintendo first party games never get discounted?

You can look at my favorites list when clicking on my profile, I pretty much reccomend any of the games listed on there. I still update it but there's many games listed.

But I'll link it anyway:

[https://howlongtobeat.com/user/Civilwarfare101/lists/25158/Favorite-Games

Thank you! My instincts were indeed correct - kindred spirit we share a lot of similar favorites hehehe

This is one of my favorite open world games and one of my favorite games of all time. This among many other reasons is why Insomniac is my favorite developer. They just know how to make pick and play games with good gameplay down.

All though it sucks that it seems that all they will be doing is making Marvel games now, that seems no different of a fate than Raven Software and High Moon Studios being a CoD support studio. Sucks but shit like this is why I don't ever want to be a AAA game dev.

Still, I love Sunset Overdrive, it came out the same year as Infamous Second Son and ended up being way better than SS in terms of gameplay. The game also pre dated Doom 2016 as far as being an "anti" cover based shooter. My only gripe with the game is that there seems to be no hard mode or higher difficutly options, Spider-Man 2 benefitted greatly from having higher difficulty options and it's weird how Sunset Overdrive omits it. Still, wish there was a sequel or another game doing what this did but Insomniac is just going to Marvel games now.

Hey we seem to have similar tastes!

Got any favorite game recommendations for me?

What browser are you on? It still defaults to today's date for me.

I am on Chrome, the change happened for me maybe around 2 years ago?

Did some testing:
Chrome on PC: Default blank date
Edge on PC: Default blank date
Chrome on Mobile: Default blank date

That's so strange it still fills in the date for you. I've attached an image to show what it looks like when I add a game:



EDIT:
Upon further testing, I have found that if you go from "Playing" to "Completed", then it will indeed fill in today's date by default. However I don't use the "Playing" feature and instead just add games directly to my "Completed" list once I finish them. In the past this would have still auto filled today's date, however it no longer does this.

Hello,

Is there a way to by default fill in today's date under 'Completion Date'? I know years ago it would default to today's date, but now it defaults to nothing.

Much appreciated!

Just 100%ed Sunset Overdrive on Steam!

Enjoyed every bit of this masterpiece. So sad they canned plans for a sequel, at least we got 2 DLCs though.
It felt like a superhero fantasy - grinding, jumping, flying through the city. Even the last bit of grinding I did to get the final few achievements was a labor of love.
Writing was hilarious, even the jokes that fell flat were good at creating happy upbeat vibes.

Sad the adventure has to end. But looking forward to playing more games from Insomniac!

I played the DLC, and tbh I kinda wish I hadn't spent $20 on it. Both were kinda boring overall, the Robot Factory DLC gives you a bunch of new weapons which are pretty fun and the boss was pretty clever. The oil rig DLC was kinda pointless. It's main gimmick is giving you water traversal mechanics which are kinda whatever honestly. I felt pretty bored with both of them though.

If you had to pick one DLC, go for the robot factory one. The oil rig DLC only really gives you one new weapon and it's pretty bad working only at close range.

I give the robot DLC a 5/10, the oil rig DLC a 4/10.

I find most DLC not worth if you buy them at full price. You pay a third of the price of the full game for maybe 10% more content?

With that being said, at it's current discounted price (which includes all DLC) it's a steal.

3 hours in, I am loving Sunset Overdrive so far. I love the upbeat vibes, the sanguine mood, the 'doesn't take itself too serious' attitude. So much so I am considering 100% this game.

First session only played about 30 minutes as I spent a lot of time troubleshooting to get the game running.

Really enjoyable initial impressions. Game doesn't take itself too seriously, some humorous moments, and straight into the action.

Looking forward to completing this!

Edit: Have solved the corrupted save issues via following fix:
1. Disable Cloud Save
2. Open cloudsave vdf file, delete all contents, save, and then set to 'read only'

Hmm Steam version seems to be having issues.

I'm running a 3080 and it says my GPU doesn't meet the minimum requirements, I ignore the warning and the game loads fine.

However every time I touch the save/load feature the game crashes to desktop. Also I keep getting a corrupted save file warning in game.

I'll have a tinker for a solution, will update this post.

Yes! Sunset Overdrive has been sitting in my library for years. A shame Katamari didn't win, would have loved to revisit that game, but oh well.

No one knows better than me

Thanks for the acknowledgement.

Think he was referring to me.

Just completed the Final Remix, along with the DLC A New Day and Another Day.
Really wanted to love this game, but some major flaws held it back.

Things I loved:
Art and style is beautiful, especially the HD version.
Gameplay can get really addictive, collecting items, leveling up pins, trying new play styles (each partner has a somewhat different play style).

Things I disliked:
Controls! My stylus broke because of the frantic swiping, and my fingertips got burned.
Early game is rough, tutorial is horrible, map is next to useless. I didn't realize I could feed/equip my partner until the final week.
Inventory management is clunky, wish there was a better sort/filter.
Story and characters are pretty annoying, I would have probably enjoyed it more in my teens.

TWEWY is a very creative game, that tried to do something new, which I respect, but it unfortunately fell short of my expectations.

All things considered, I give it a mediocre 7/10.

Ok I've since progressed a lot further and glad I didn't give up. Game is drastically more enjoyable once you get past the initial learning curve (It does a terrible job at teaching the player).

I can't really play for extended sessions as my hands cramp up from the frantic swiping, but at least I can get ⭐ ratings now.

Still not fully getting the item system, seems kinda redundant, but maybe that changes later on.

There are two kinds of slash pins I’ve encountered, vertical slash and horizontal slash (other than the “slash Neku” type. With that, sometimes it’s a little picky on how you’re slashing, so maybe you might be slashing at a slight angle in which a different kind of slash is getting interpreted? Or the length of the slash?

There’s also a pin hierarchy that was frustrating me until I realized it existed. You can’t equip two pins of the same type, but different pins can have similar gestures. In order of 1 2 3 4, if they’re similar the pin that’s in an earlier slot will get prioritized. At least that’s how it seems to me, but someone please correct me if I’m wrong!

You can also switch the touch screen sensitivity in local settings if you haven’t done so yet. There’s one for finger touch and one for stylus. Still iffy if you’re doing a “press an empty space” pin and something gets in your way by one pixel.

It was the first slash pin I got, which I think was the horizontal one?

Not sure what I was doing wrong, I even looked up if other people were having issues with it and sure enough people were talking about it on Reddit. Others recommended using the joycons and pushing the a button after the slash. Oh well, I've since played a bit more with my stylus and the game is becoming more enjoyable.

Ok finally started my playthrough and got to the second day.

Playing this on Switch with the touch controls got me so frustrated, the 'Slash' pin infuriated me. Finally had to swallow my pride and change pin.

Also I changed to using an old stylus pen which made the controls a tad better.

Between the control frustrations and the unlikeable protagonist Neku, I'm so far not impressed, but will stick with it.

I put this game off for so long, the remake came out. Looking forward to playing this on Switch!

I tend to be very picky about games I’m willing to spend money on. My general rule of thumb is that I want to get one hour of play time for every dollar spent. So I don’t buy a game unless I’m confident I’ll enjoy it enough to get the time value in or confident I’ll be willing to stick it out long enough to give it a fair shot.

I’ll give a recent example. I purchased Persona 4 Golden for $12 a few weeks ago. I wasn’t totally convinced I’d enjoy it enough to finish it but I knew I’d be willing to spend at least 12 hours giving it a try. 14 hours in I’ve decided I don’t want to play it anymore. Maybe I’ll come back to it but if I don’t I got good time value out of it.

There are exceptions to this rule, of course. Indies are my main exception. I usually love indie games but they don’t tend to be very long. I’m willing to spend $20 on a game I’ll finish in 5 hours because I know I’ll either enjoy my time with it or at the very least support a small game studio.

Other exceptions include a game like Last of Us or Spider-Man. If I buy them at full price I know I won’t put as many hours in as dollars spent. But I know I’ll love them and know they are worth the price.

Following this principle has kept me from wasting a lot of money on games and kept me from developing a hopelessly large backlog. And it’s gotten me to invest time in genres I might not typically enjoy. For instance, I never planned to buy Elden Ring…I don’t typically enjoy that genre. But after hearing countless recommendations I took a chance on it knowing that I would be willing to give it a fair shot making it worthy the investment. I ended up playing it for nearly 50 hours and enjoying it quite a bit.

Back to my P4G example. Because of the price, I took a chance on a game I wouldn’t have normally played. I played long enough to learn that I enjoyed the premise, I just didn’t enjoy the setting. So, I took a chance on Fire Emblem: Three Houses. Similar premise but in a setting I enjoy more (medieval fantasy). And I’m absolutely hooked on the game! I spent $33 on it at a used game shop and know that I’ll put at least twice that many hours into it.

It’s not a foolproof method but it has worked for me for years. I’ve purchased far more games I’ve enjoyed than not.

I also follow the general guideline of spending no more than $1 per estimated hours to finish. This has led to a backlog full of grand strategy games and RPGs.