Post Game Depression

It's over.....I can't believe it, finally after all these hours spent, it's done. I finished the game! *Sobs*

Oh hello there, metallic nation you seem to have caught me sobbing uncontrollably at the fact that i have just completed another great game. I am now suffering what people call PGD which means Post Game Depression. The feeling of sadness, emptiness, the loss of direction altogether and the unbearable boredom you feel, all these come from finishing a video game that you put a lot of time in and enjoyed. You don't feel like doing anything else and you feel like these feelings will never leave you.

So as I sit here typing away how I feel and about this PGD I have, do please at anytime leave me a comment or message me if you have had any feelings like this after something or about your own experiences with Post Game Depression.

Game's that made me feel PGD in the past 15 years include, DBZ Budokai 3, GTA 5, Telltales Guardians Of The Galaxy, Telltales Walking Dead Season 1, Yakuza Kiwami, Watch Dogs 2, Dragonball Xenoverse 1&2, Firewatch, Digimon Cyber Sleuth, Uncharted collection 1 - 4, Assassin's Creed Syndicate, The Bureau: Xcom Declassified, Heavy Rain, Spec Ops: The Line, Mass Effect 2, Pokemon X, Sims 3, Gears Of War 1 - 3, Batman Arkham Asylum, Halo 3, Far Cry 3, Saints Row 1-4 and finally LA Noire this is to name but dozen there's been many more but only these have sprung to my mind as of right now.

The first stage of PGD is the feeling of disbelief because the experience you have had over the many hours and days spent playing a game has now finished, the feelings of sadness, empty feeling, boredom all creep in to make their nest in your soul. Stage two is the loss of direction i would say like you are unsure what to do next and you are just craving for something to fill the void but you fear nothing will and stage 3 is just the last stage being starting a game and missing the fun of the previous game. PGD is all caused by the end of a great game you enjoyed which transported you away from reality to a virtual world where your real life troubles did not matter because you are not you, you are someone else with many lives who is not afraid to lose a life because you'll come back in a few seconds or minutes or you can restart and go again. 

You can also get post depression from finishing a series you have been binging like breaking bad, i spent days in bed watching the show i was gripped, enthralled just immersed in this story and when i finished it, i had no idea what to do, i was sad and i felt empty too. People tend to get distressed when a character or game they love comes to an end which this feeling funny enough was dubbed the Seinfeld effect after the cancellation of the tv show of the same name back in the 90s. 

Us gamers in the video game worlds do become quite parasocial and develop parasocial relationships with fictional characters basically we feel a connection with fictional characters because we gamers frequently interact with many of these people models in games and these parasocial relationships are quite positive as we can test out social and emotional realities without the risks of real relationships, our parasocial relationships are one sided with fictional characters in terms of interaction which means we are protected from physical danger and social rejection so you know with this in mind its why we could form a relationship with a psychopath like Trevor in GTA 5 as we are not in danger of him being a real person and cutting our throats. 

It's been a week since i completed Mafia 3 and i still feel this empty void and i feel like nothing can fill this gap in right now like i'm still in the second stage which is basically the loss of direction and just unsure of what to play next. I think this depression is taking a bit longer not just because of how great Mafia 3 is and how much i enjoyed it but more so from the lack of gym time i have had lately, honestly the less exercise and work outs i get i think the more these depressing thoughts and feelings creep in. 

So basically the reality check is what causes the post game depression aswell as finishing a game we spent many hours of which we were thoroughly immersed in. 

Thanks for reading and visiting my blog as ever, take care, have a nice day :)

South Park: The Fractured But Whole REVIEW PS4

It is done my Butt hole has been repaired. It took me 24 hours and 30 mins to complete all collectables and story and side quests in South Park: The Fractured But  Whole.

The game it's self was great fun as you'd expect from the minds of Matt & Trey however, I didn't laugh as much as i did in Stick Of Truth.

The deluxe edition was rubbish add on's meant nothing and that pisses me off i paid an extra 10 quid expecting good perks and a new buddy to play in game with  but it was just waste of money.

When you get Towlie dlc to work he pops up now and then to annoy you with shit you know and with shit that's just dumb and ok sometimes when he appeared i laughed at what he had to say but other times i was yelling "go away towel".

Gameplay and combat overall was decent enough, i did get bored around 12 hours in for a bit and the soundtrack was pretty bleak but had tension unlike the fun frolicking soundtrack of stick of truth, but again there's some songs from south park in the game and they made me smile and laugh and love because they had Kyle's mom and blame Canada in the game but in like 8 bit instrumentally pieced songs and that was amazing I never heard those in that way before and I wish we had a bit more of that maybe for a future game a mp3 player on your phone "Fartify" all the south park songs you can stick on and play and stroll around town would be epic fun. Summons were cool but I wish we could have had more. The ultimate moves for some were rubbish I won't lie. Animation and graphics were top notch show quality.

Story was great and i don't have anything to complain about there as i did enjoy it. Hunting the Yaoi's (the cringe) towards the end of the game got annoying and so did trying to master all the toilet breaks. For the third game I really want the ninja's to return because lets fighting love!

Overall for South Park Fractured But Whole i'd give it 8/10 it's a great game. I'd highly recommend. South Park fans will love it! I can't wait to play all the DLC!

Written: 21/10/2017

(only published so late due to forgetfulness) 

Update: I started playing on hardest difficulty and on hardest combat difficulty too so yeah its tougher.

Mass Effect Andromeda - A Galactic Dissapointment (Review)

Hello there, Shepherd Commander, it has been too long so shall we see what i thought of your so called spiritual successor. 

I was sceptical of this game after Mass Effect 3 and the reveal of Andromeda. It's definitely not a 0/10 game like a lot of people are giving it in their tantrums of it failing to live up to their expectations.

UPDATE THIS REVIEW WAS ALSO POSTED INSIDE GAMESMASTER MAGAZINE LATEST ISSUE SEPTEMBER 2017!

WARNING THERE WILL BE SPOILS!

Drack getting uncomfortably close to me.

What's it about?

Long story short, the plot is finding a new home for humanity but there is a hostile new alien race that play as the villains. That's pretty much it, no plot twists, just forgettable moments till the credits roll. Your in a WHOLE new galaxy (not planet) but there are only 2 (TWO!!) new races for some reason. I guess they didn't bother to create more models.

Problems?

As I explored, I encountered the same building/structure as I previous did somewhere else in the map. The filler, fetch quests make a return, romance is just like the rest of the games from Bioware, squad mates can be romanced and to my knowledge all 'romance' scenes feature the iconic lazy fade-to-black transition. The game just feels forced in all areas. If we bypass the horrid animations, which is kind of hard to do in an RPG, it still feels like they only thought of the number of hours people would have to spend on getting through this game as a quality assurance. I would've been fine with a much more compact game if it was full of meaningful characters, events and the like. The whole twin thing was a huge waste and a lie to what they promoted.

It's a huge shame that a AAA studio with a large budget and 5-8 years of development time could not address this obvious flaw. It does have bad writing, there's not a lot of memorable moments there, It's more of a shooter than RPG, Skills are a joke i stuck with same 3 all game the system just does not feel as immersive or important, Narrative choices in the wheel often only fall to two choices. The logical choice doesn't always sound logical its as though someone with little understanding of the rules of logic designed this.

The emotional options give little to emotion. There was nothing inspiring when there was need for inspiration. Soundtrack was unnoticeable for me and that's a mark down because a good game is nothing without a soundtrack and this did not have a good memorable soundtrack. Quest Design this game made side quests feel boring. You go to each planet in which you have to change the atmosphere by going to each Tower solve a puzzle which lights a beam then go to the next site, rinse, wash, repeat until it points you to the final location then your done. No creativity just the same old trudge. Character designs were piss poor, it feels like every character had some type of skin and bone defect. Hell it feels like the reasons they left the milky way was because they were too ugly to look at so they were banished to the far corners of Andromeda. Ryder, whether you play as female or male is completely unlikable.

The story is uninspiring but not terrible, i mean it's not great either, nothing complicated but some parts have you questioning the plot. Voice acting is all over the place, i don't know what the hell was going on but sometimes this game felt like it was built by multiple studios instead of just one. The game is basically a lot of "meh" and a lot of "wtf is this", unless you really love running around different worlds and third person action "RPG" games a lot, like A LOT then don't bother with this one.

Did I like anything about it?

What i liked was driving the Nomad was not as bad as i expected, the crew you do grow on and it's what made me finish it, i wanted to see what happens next for them not for my unlike-able Ryder. The worlds were pretty neat so was flying about probing planets for resources. I liked the weapons, powers, skills and armour on offer. The Angaran's i liked.

Overtime the crew became likeable and i cared for them. 

Final Bit!

My initial hate for this game stemmed from it's reveal for me it did not look like a mass effect game rather a Star Trek rip off to be honest and i said "this looks rubbish" and i was correct it's bad but it's not good either its just OK. I was bored had no games to play so i borrowed the game off my friend James and 53 hours over a two week period later, i completed the game with 94% completion. My hate for the game also was strong because i compare all the Mass games to my fave and best in the series which is Mass Effect 2. I did realise i got to stop comparing ME:A to ME2 and i did you know start to get into it a bit more like i cared about my crew more so. So are you wondering what Ryder i played as? Female Ryder....and are you wondering who i banged? Ok so i banged Peebee (non relationship) and then i banged the reporter on Nexus (non relationship) , Kissed Suvi (non relationship) and then i got together and fully banged Jaal. He was so sweet in the game you know the most likeable easy.

The customisation is weak. The gun play is not very good nor is the cover system i found it annoying to try and get into cover and other times i'd just be in cover and it would annoy me as when i did not need it boom i had cover when i needed it half the time it did not work, it lagged on planets also which got annoying and lastly load times were too long and the repetitive cut scenes and planet visits you had to do were so tedious i groaned each time i had to go back to one place.

Ok that's all i will divulge from this disappointing game that drags on for too long with not much excitement it's a roller coaster with no turns and no steep bits to go up or down just a straight ride.

Mass Effect Andromeda

5/10

#FreeTheNipples but seriously i love Jaal and this scene and their relationship was a beautiful flower just loved seeing it blossom.

Besides Mass Effect 1-3 easter eggs there are these PLANTS V ZOMBIE easter eggs. 

The Order 1886 - Steampunk,Lycans and cutscenes

So this is going to be a review and a wish list in one so strap up your steampunk gear and get ready to fight lycans and even worse shotgunners!!!

Interesting story I quite liked and the graphics were amazing but damn the gameplay I hated.

The lycans are quite tough when ganged up or against the first lycan elder but then as you progress it's a joke stay in a corner shoot and press x then run and press triangle. Last boss is easy quick time. The shotgun guys are the stuff of nightmares honestly they rush you and one hit you these guys feel like the real bosses. The after credits are interesting too. Marquis is one character i liked but i wanted more explored with him well actually i wanted more explored with all the characters.

I'd like a sequel but I'd like it if they could make it so your a squad in the Knights perhaps and your always in said squad of 4 sometimes 2 in the next game with smoother and fair gameplay and gunplay. Perhaps you take down bosses as a team it would be much better too and would make it a challenge if done right. New game and new characters sounds good to continue on with its interesting lore. The gore effects and stealth features were pretty neat.

For the sequel we should have a new original team in which we can get connected to and find out more on the order and how to get in and more and perhaps we will meet Galahad,Issy and co maybe events panning from this game to the past to a whole lot of it occurring 1887 onward and making it longer would be advantageous. Perhaps set the next further ahead in time. Modern day? Hmm or 100 years later? Not sure as long as everything is smooth and the characters are ones you can get attached too it will be good.

Guns and style are cool, sort of steampunk and like crazy experimental weapons were quite rad. More of these and different varieties be cool in future and more from the blackwater. I didn't even use it in the game it said about use blacksite for some trophies but I missed the part when I was told how the heck I can use it. Either that or I forgot but I am stern to say I was not taught.

The first Lycan Elder boss fight was quite terrifying. 

As for cutscenes. You want to play a game more than to watch things unfold with long cutscenes so make them interactive more so that players are always ready for more button pressing.

The music was quite nice and it really knew how to make the environment a character by delivering dread and tension at times with its score.

It's quite short. 16 chapters will take you 6-8 hours to finish. Depending on difficulty and how much you die. This one i recommend people to try.

I'd rate it 5/10.