Topic: Pure Xbox Game Club Double Bill - Banjo-Kazooie / Solar Ash (Apr)

@ralphdibny tag away buddy. I actually started Ryse many moons ago so hopefully jump straight back in. Isolation with a toddler is writing me off at the moment 😂

@cracked_seal nice one, added 👍. I don't blame you, it can be hard to make time for games when there are other more important things to worry about/enjoy!

Hi all! This month (February) we are playing Ori and the Blind Forest. This game is on game pass and I believe is also available on PC and Switch so hopefully more people can join in even if they don't have an Xbox.

I look forward to hearing all your thoughts on it!

As always, there is no obligation to join in, real life sometimes needs to take precedence over the adventures stored inside our games consoles.

I just want to say thanks to those who joined in with Ryse Son of Rome, it was really interesting to keep up with and read all your thoughts on it!

Here is the tag list. Again as always, please let me know if you want to be removed from it so you get less spam notifications and I will be happy to oblige.

@Tothington91 @MAC26 @XBontendo @Justifier @LtSarge @Tjuz @nessisonett @crippyd @Krzzystuff @sib @Ryu_Niiyama @John117 @Kefka2589 @Kaori-chan @LeanerFasterStronger @cracked_seal @Mr-Fuggles777 @Mundaney

And please let me know if you want to be added to it!

For next month (March), a few ideas for our game of the month have been floated:

Conker's Bad Fur Day (on Rare Replay)
Perfect Dark (on Rare Replay)
Alan Wake
Titanfall 2 (I think this is another 6 hour game)
Crysis

Let me know which game you want to play in March, or if you have another suggestion! So far Titanfall 2 and Alan Wake have been mentioned by a couple of people. I'm quite happy with playing any of these games. They are all ones that I've wanted to play but haven't got around to yet.

I'm looking forward to Ori and for March I'm ok with any game, I do have Titanfall 2 downloaded already so I'll lean towards that one. Between Ori and Jedi Fallen Order i likely won't get around to it in Feb.

Had a bit of spare time today, so got a bit of a head start on Ori. Only managed around an hour or so (before Forza Horizon 4 sucked me back in!), but liked what I've seen so far. Love the art style and the controls are pretty tight; nothing worse than a platformer with horrible controls.

Alan Wake has been one I've wanted to do for a while. Perfect Dark too!

Looking forward to Ori, with all the good stuff I hear about it. Be a nice change of pace from the medium too hopefully.

Sorry for the long absence, I've been down with the Covid. I won't be playing Ori as I've completed both already. They are great platformers although you will need the patience of a saint at a couple of points in both games. On the second one I almost lost a controller, TV and wife!
Can I sling a vote for Titanfall 2 as I've got that and not played it at all.

Hi, new to the forums as I've just picked up an XsS.

I've just started Ori and I'm really looking forward to getting lost in this game. I love a good Metroidvania, the art and scenery in this one is stunning and the controls feel tight and responsive so far.

I started to platinum Titanfall 2 on PS4 but got stuck on a boss towards the end on the harder difficulty. I'd be down to try it again on Xbox this time.

I haven't managed to start Ori yet, wanted to finish Yakuza 0 and I've got a few other games lined up. Currently playing the Walking Dead Final Season and deBlob (as it's leaving game pass soon). Still got to play god of war Ascension too. Hopefully I'll get started on Ori next week anyway!

@Krzzystuff @cracked_seal @Kaori-chan cheers for your votes!

@crippyd holy crap are you alright now?

Luckily my gf finds it funny when I'm effing and blinding at frustrating platformers 😂. I do love stuff like crash bandicoot though despite its difficulty! I really need to show her AVGN, I'm sure she will get a kick out of it

@Mr-Fuggles777 @Mundaney Hiya and welcome to the game club! I'll add you both to the tag list so you get updated when we change games. Just let me know if you want to be removed from it

@ralphdibny yeah, I'm fine now thanks. All back to normal and back to work after a month off.

Got an hour in whilst baby was napping, quite enjoyed what I played. Not sure if it's one I'll play with a view of getting and seeing everything. But no regrets getting started.

@crippyd good stuff glad you are feeling better

Completed the story and overall enjoyed my time with it even if I was slightly disappointed with the length, 3 short challenge dungeons and no bosses .
The artstyle was gorgeous and I enjoyed exploring the world - it was more fun towards the end hunting down collectibles once I had all of the abilities unlocked.
Ive got a few more collectibles to grab to max out my last ability tree and I think I will be done with the game. There is no way I'm going to attempt the one life achievement, some of the platform areas were frustrating enough without the added stress of insta death (and I didn't enjoy it enough to mess around with clone saves).
Overall I had fun experience with it and will try the sequel, but I much preferred Hollow Knight which I feel did everything slightly better than Ori.

@Mr-Fuggles777 oh well done! How long do you think you spent with it roughly?

Is the game similar to hollow knight then? I've played neither game but I've heard hollow knight is comparable to a 2D dark souls - maybe I'm misremembering what I've been told! Generally Metroidvanias aren't really my thing but I only considered playing Ori because I've been told it's more platforming than combat and I love a challenging platformer.

Oh yeah, stick a slash in the second spoiler tag just before the word spoiler if you want to do the spoiler formatting. So the second tag should read [/spoiler]

@ralphdibny it took me about 8 hours to beat and then I reloaded a save and spent another 2 so backtracking for collectibles.
This definitely has more emphasis on platforming than combat, whereas Hollow Knight is more combat heavy and does have the same mechanic as dark souls where if you die you need to go back and reclaim your loot or you loose it if your die again.
I'm a big fan of the metroidvania style gameplay loop and exploration.

Edit: 14 hours to 97% with all collectibles and abilities. I need to go through the last dungeon one last time to get the last few bits but im kinda burnt out on it for now.
I've enjoyed this, can't wait to see what next month's game is.

@Mr-Fuggles777 nice one, thanks for sharing your thoughts on the game! Sounds really good so I'm looking forward to playing it. I mainly got the Xbox One to play the exclusives I'd never given much time due to mainly being a PlayStation/Nintendo person so Ori definitely falls under that criteria. I mean I know it's been ported to Switch but I'm sure there's something to be said for playing games on the platform they're designed for. Plus it's on game pass so it won't cost me any additional money in the short term.

I've just finished Walking Dead the Final Season and Yakuza 0. I'm making steady progress through de Blob too so I feel like I'm in a better place to start Ori next week.

Ok so I'm a few hours into Ori and enjoying it so far. I really like the fact that this plays great on xcloud on my phone so that's a plus. The art style is pretty slick, I'll definitely be giving the second one a go after this as I hear it's supposed to be amazing visually and musically

Quick update... this game is hard lol. I'm still really enjoying myself and I like the challenge but I find I do die rather often. I am really enjoying the music and visuals though.

@Krzzystuff it does get a bit easier once you get more abilities unlocked (triple jump takes a bit of the sting out of the tougher platforming sections).
I had a quick go on the second one last night and it looks even better than the first, looks like there's going to be more emphasis on combat from what I played.