August 2021 Playthrough - Phantom Dust

[Mr_Stubbes]

I’ve made it to chapter 4 and this game is definitely starting to drag a little bit. Besides the boss fights at the end of each chapter the missions are becoming way too repetitive. I’ve beaten 43 missions in total out of the 106 needed to beat the game, and I may have a hard time finishing it before the end of the month. I do want to nitpick this game a little bit because there are definitely a few things that kinda annoy me. Granted these aren’t game breaking issues, just quality of life aspects that I wish were different. For starters it’s kinda annoying that you have to use a terminal to edit/review power ups and arsenal. When instead they could have just created a menu that is accessible through one of the many unused buttons while in the underground. I also don’t like that some text boxes are dependent on a character finishing an animation before being able to close it and walk away, especially when you’re trying to find out who to talk to for you next mission. Which brings me to my next issue. I hate having to wander around to find the next mission to progress the story, I get that they want you to talk to NPC’s for story building, but when they have limited dialogue and just repeat themselves over and over (for the most part) it doesn’t really add a whole lot, and also some of their missions I feel should have just been side quests that are optional. I don’t see how a lasagna recipe is paramount to the story at hand. I really wish they would have just had a hub that would update with new missions as you progress.

[GrayGhost81]

Man, do I feel this comment. Been texting with Rich and this is one of those games that's just so "meh" it's hard to find the inspiration to actually play it. In a way, you'd rather play a game that was just bad because there is less sentiment of missed potential. 

[Mr_Stubbes]

Many frustrating missions and one thrown controller later, I’ve made it to chapter 6. I don’t want to be too negative but there were a couple missions in chapter 5 that were just ridiculous. It seems that the difficulty of the later missions is all over the place. Some take no effort and others you’ll have to repeat 8-10 times. I feel like I’m stuck in this loop of wanting to quit and wanting to keep playing, I feel like I’ve come to far to quit now but I’m a couple bad missions away from just dropping it.

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[GrayGhost81]

LMAO

Are you playing the XBOX One version and if so does the option to skip missions persist through the whole game?

[Mr_Stubbes]

LMAO

Are you playing the XBOX One version and if so does the option to skip missions persist through the whole game?

I’m playing the OG Xbox version which apparently doesn’t have the option to skip missions? (Or its never given me the option)

Edit: I just finished chapter 6 which wasn’t that bad. I was able to clear most missions on my first try. The introduction of environmental skills really makes things easier especially with the Fatigue skill which basically makes it so aura doesn’t regenerate if you are moving. Considering enemy AI is constantly moving they essentially handicap themselves. Granted it effects your partner too, but in all honesty they don’t contribute that much anyways

2nd Edit: I got through chapter 7 fairly quickly as well, with only a few minor hick ups. I've made it to the final boss fight which has two sections. I've made it to the 2nd section of the final boss fight but keep dying. Luckily, you can restart from the beginning of 2nd section (However, you can't leave and come back, so I'm basically keeping my xbox running until I give it another shot. I need to see if there is a walkthrough out there somewhere for this battle.

[Disposed Hero]

I don't think I've touched this game since my last comment. I enjoyed what I played well enough, but I can definitely see the issues you guys mentioned becoming a problem down the line. I'm going to try to get back to this one and finish it though, although I can pretty much guarantee it won't be before the end of the month.

[Mr_Stubbes]

Put in a couple more attempts and I was able to defeat the boss and finish the game. With how frustrated this game made me at times it felt great to hit the final blow and watch the credits roll. Overall I think this was an OK game, the combat system was interesting and I liked how they added new elements to it late in the game just to add some more freshness to it. I also kinda like how it is very much luck based. You never know what’ll spawn which is why it’s important you set yourself up with a decent Arsenal to where no matter what shows up you should be able to come out victorious. Honestly I feel like this game could have been better had the focused on the quality of life issues I mentioned before. The game is plenty long and while the missions are short there are quite a few that just don’t seem important at all to the story and would have made sense to just make them optional side missions that you could do for more credits and skills. While I won’t go to deep into to not spoil the kinda surprise ending, I like the overall story especially how this game basically starts you with nothing but as you progress it slowly shows you what happened to earth and how everything ended up the way it did. With all of that being said Phantom Dust is an okay game with a fun combat system and an interesting story that could have been a lot better had they tried to focus on more quality missions instead of just pumping it full of repetitive missions against repetitive enemies and boring mission details that offer very little to the overall story at hand.

[img width=700 height=525]https://i.imgur.com/H5EwDni.jpg[/img]
[img width=700 height=525]https://i.imgur.com/v1gVADt.jpg[/img]

[GrayGhost81]

Stubbes, my hat is off to you for finishing this game!

The more I play it, the more I hate it. Even when you get a good cluster of missions in a row (and don't have to find the right npc), you have to face the problem of actually playing the game. I already said this and so did Stubbes, player accuracy is probably less than 25% where enemy accuracy is pretty much perfect. Any power with "piece of" in the name might as well just be called "piece of shit" because it's guaranteed to be ineffective. Friendly and enemy AI are both garbage (even when I'm just trying to die and skip the level it is a pain to get the enemy to attack me quickly).

I took an impromptu day off from work today and as I attempt to play this game I'm thinking I'd rather be at work. 

[GrayGhost81]

Just watched all the cutscenes on youtube. I'll be dabbling in the game up until the next podcast recording but I don't care if I finish it now. Really cool story.

[GrayGhost81]

QUESTION OF THE MONTH

@thesinglebanana
 and I want to know:

What was a game that wasn’t what you expected that you HATED?

Get your answers in this week to get read on the show!