Platinum Games 'n such

[Valtele]

If there is a thread for it already, then you can delete this one, sorry in advance.
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Let's talk here about Japanese (mostly) action games. Usually, they have their roots in the arcade sphere so I guess that it's normal to talk about these games here too. Platinum Games is the leader in business I think today, so I used it in the name but we can talk about action games made by other developers as well. Two of the games that I am playing right now are Astral Chain, made by Platinum, and Scarlet Nexus, made by Namco Bandai. I think that both of them are top-notch action titles, Astral Chain being the absolute peak of Platinum, tho it has no deep story of NieR: Automata but gameplay-wise it's amazing, yet the game doesn't fully reflect on the deep cyberpunk theme. I guess that it is not the best Japanese cyberpunk game but most certainly one of the best modern action games. Yet, it's only on Switch, but I think this is the title that is worth buying Switch for if you are into action games. A spiritual successor to old Capcom's game Chaos Legion but with Platinum's twist. Also, it's inspired by 80s anime.

Scarlet Nexus, on the other hand, is a kinda interesting bird. Maybe a little bit too anime at times, yet it has deep combat (from what I experienced with it) and a colorful world and enemy design. Another 'a must' for action players.

And yes, the newest Platinum game Babylon's Fall is awful, I dunno if they will recover from this one...

[Gamer707b]

If you're talking 3D action games, then Bayonetta is at the top of my list. Now if you are talking about the 2D action games, then I'd be year till next year talking about them. Just too many good ones to list.

[Sir Ilpalazzo]

Bayonetta and Vanquish are both at the top of their respective genres, and Wonderful 101 is thoroughly excellent too. I'll always give Platinum the benefit of the doubt based on their past pedigree, even if not all their games end up being great (I thought even Legend of Korra was fun - their only truly weak games that I've played are Madworld and TMNT).

Astral Chain unfortunately didn't really click with me. I played through it for the first time a few months ago and found myself put off by the infrequent enemy hit reactions and unclear enemy telegraphs (the animation work doesn't feel like it's on the level of Bayonetta / Wonderful 101 / even Metal Gear Rising). I may have to give it a replay sometime though; it was an enjoyable game overall.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

There was a Bayonetta thread, but I don't think there's one yet all-encompassing for Platinum in general.

Platinum's a solid developer. I wouldn't say all of their games are 10/10 necessarily aside from perhaps Vanquish, but generally their games are at least pretty good, and in ones with janky elements (Bayonetta's riding minigame chapters) you can work around those with various strategies.

Transformers Devastation might well be one of their best games. It features multiple characters and a robust combat system (Dodge Offset is done by default now, simplifying the mechanics for newbies who didn't grasp how to do it in Bayonetta). I've been putting time and effort into it recently, and it's a really, really great system. There's a bit of an RPG/grind element to it but it's not badly implemented, resembling the weapon collection system in the Musou/Dynasty Warriors type of games.

[TransatlanticFoe]

Astral Chain I really enjoyed up to the final boss, which requires use of a specific ability to survive a particular instakill attack and I just didn't clock it, having survived the same attack in an earlier phase without the ability. I thought I was missing a tell or something. Nope, the ability is never used earlier in the game for the same reason so don't really see how anyone was supposed to think of it naturally.

Aside from that while it does give you a lot of tools, it's rare you "need" to use them and the game does a good job of letting you discover your own playstyle. There are plenty of simulations back at the police station where you can practice anything you missed/forgot.

I liked the often lighthearted side quests in the slower portions of the game (gotta find the toilet paper... or something which can be used as such!!), all those stacking boxes paid off when I had to transport a gigantic ice cream! Even the stealth sections were done well. It's honestly one of my favourite games of the past few years, but for that stupid final boss' instakill attack.

+1 for Transformers Devastation too. A tight as fuck action game but also a must for anyone who grew up with the Generation 1 era. It could have done with a bit more variety in cannon fodder enemies aesthetically I guess. Shame it's essentially done now the licence has expired, so just doesn't get a mention anymore - and I think it got unfairly lumped in with the Turtles game Platinum shat out for a quick buck.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Shame [Transformers Devastation is] essentially done now the licence has expired, so just doesn't get a mention anymore

Yeah, the fact that it's basically been delisted everywhere is unfortunate given it's one of the best games ever made using the license. The same thing also happened to Outrun 2006. Very annoying. I was fortunate to own physical copies of both before it happened, but I never had a chance to buy Transformers Devastation on PC by the time I had a computer that could run it. fortunately I've still found a copy to play ;3 ;3 ;3

Lots of great games will be missed by players because restrictive licenses prevent the original manufacturer from being able to release ports on newer platforms. Often it's done as a "only one developer's allowed the license at a time" sort of thing. Same thing happened to Capcom's AvP arcade game I think.

Astral Chain I really enjoyed up to the final boss, which requires use of a specific ability to survive a particular instakill attack and I just didn't clock it

Is it like Bayonetta 1 at all or is it much harder than that to avoid? There's one specific instakill gimmick attack in the game that can't be evaded by dodging or parrying that's used by the final boss, but once you know the trick it's also the easiest attack in the game to evade, and is telegraphed a mile away.

Spoiler

Just panther run away from the black hole as it tries to suck you in.

There's also those stupid swirly galaxies that turn you into a young version of yourself which can be evaded with well timed jumps (or just fly with Crow Within until they disappear) but those deal only a small amount of damage.

[TransatlanticFoe]

That's just it - it's easy to evade once you now how, but I'd never needed to

Spoiler

use the beast legion like that before so I just didn't think to try using it. He uses a similar attack in an earlier phase which you can evade by running on foot when you see the tell. I started by trying to get more distance but it's a damn instakill attack so at some point you have to stop experimenting and see if you can finish the fight before he finishes you

. It just left me cold after the battle, real sour taste because my strategy had to devolve into spamming items just to keep my revives up and hope I could bring him down before I ran out - I was enjoying the challenge of the fight up 'til then. There's no real need for the boss to a) have that attack b) for it to be an instakill. I'd never have come up with the way to avoid it without looking it up, and if I Game Over'd I'd have needed to spend time farming items before I attempted it again - I think that thought is the worst bit really, on top of a game that was just so good and so well balanced to that point.

I mean it's not No More Heroes 2 where the final boss randomly instakills you when you're near a window... in a room that's 2/3rds long with window

[evil_ash_xero]

They had a good stretch, and then hit a really rough patch with those Activision games (and SFZ). I thought they were back on track with Nier and Astral Chain, but their
recent output has me worried.

[Ed Oscuro]

Transformers Devastation is still widely available on multiplatform consoles. I'll have to check it out sometime. It's their Legend of Korra game that really is endangered, and I don't think it got any physical format release before its delisting.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Transformers Devastation is absolutely well worth the look. It might actually be their best game in terms of its combat system, which is why it's such a damn shame it's been delisted.

[evil_ash_xero]

Transformers Devastation is absolutely well worth the look. It might actually be their best game in terms of its combat system, which is why it's such a damn shame it's been delisted.

I know people like this game, but I was really let down by it. You can tell the team worked hard with what they had (time and money), but it wasn't enough. The game has like 3 environments,
and tons of repetition. You can tell they just didn't have enough of what they needed to make a more diverse game. I blame that on Activision, entirely.
It's core gameplay is a lot of fun, though.

[Frederik]

When I first played Bayonetta I didn´t really understand the depth of its combat system, as I was completely new to "character action games" in general. I sorta assumed it was just all about dodging at the right moment, going into witch time, and then hammering buttons.

Once I learned about dodge offset and made a conscious effort to practice it, I realized how incredibly fluid and aggressive the combat really is. Flowing between strings of combos, dodging, parrying, flying towards the enemy with umbran spear, setting off some quick heel stomps... it´s so incredibly satisfying! And man, strapping rocket launchers to your feet and chun li-kicking Grace and Glory, it´s instant dopamine.

I especially love the Alfheim missions, with the immediate restarts, the arcade style "three hits and it´s Game Over" system, and the focus on pure combat.

No other of their games has really clicked with me the same way. Astral Chain is dragged down with boring investigation missions and less precise combat (though I love how many systems they crammed into this title), Wonderful 101 has a brilliant theme, but the camera and tiny enemies makes it really hard to tell what even is going on, and Transformers has very good combat, but visually is super repetetive and simply lacks the immense style Bayonetta has.

With Bayonetta, it´s such a glorious mixture of elements: Extremely polished and precise combat, very unique and recognizable art direction, it´s very flashy and provocative to pull in newcomers, but also has this almost unmatched depth and style to it that keeps me playing forever.

I also kinda love how there´s this recent revival of Metal Gear Rising. I actually never really played this game much despite owning it on two platforms, but maybe this one will fill my character action itch.

Platinum really remind me ot Treasure, in a way. Very clever people that have this obvious burning passion for game design, that release often quite flawed, incomplete feeling games, but still have this spirit about them that I love.

I´m very nervous about Bayo 3, to be honest. That Babylons Fall is such a disaster doesn´t really worry me, but Bayo 1 is such a unique game where everything just fell into place at just the right moment in time that I don´t know if this kind of magic can be replicated. Bayo 2 is great (despite mechanically not being as interesting), but something about it always felt a bit off to me.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Transformers has very good combat, but visually is super repetetive and simply lacks the immense style Bayonetta has

The single best chapter in Bayonetta and the one I've invested the most time in is Lost Chapter, which is by its nature visually repetitive. I don't think this is a huge issue in Transformers to the extent it's been made out to be, but it's not going to be everyone's cup of tea, that's fair.

Extremely polished and precise combat

As perhaps one of the forum's most obsessed Bayonetta players I agree, but let's be honest, the minigame chapters kinda suck. That's one caveat worth mentioning here. Fortunately once you know what you're doing you can get them over with without too much difficulty...

The bike ride is a mess due to the atrociously low camera angle that makes it difficult to see when you're shooting (it's a lot easier as Little King Zero because he's not as tall!). You also can't dodge in midair... which is a problem given a lot of small bumps and hills immediately put you into midair in the path of a Joy's laser beam. Oof.

The missile segment's a mess for anyone that gets motion sickness. I'm fortunate not to suffer this, but it's a real issue for folks and the inability to turn off the screen spinning sucks. I actually recorded a Pure Platinum (no checkpoint restarts) run and on Isla Del Sol I deliberately did it while trying to avoid using the dodge button to show it can be done with minimal dodging just for the sake of a friend with motion sickness. It's also extremely button mashy due to the very low autofire rate that encourages you to hammer on Shoot + Punch nonstop to actually kill things in a timely fashion

The cannon segment's not as offensive aside from being button mashy.

[Sir Ilpalazzo]

The obvious low budget of Transformers is definitely a downer, but I liken it to DMC4's unfortunate cut corners in that it's more something that leaves a bad taste in the mouth of first time players, not something that significantly damages the core gameplay (though I wouldn't excuse it entirely, Transformers' extreme asset reuse definitely feels pretty bad). The game has totally solid core mechanics, but what really weakens it for me is the loot system, which throws off the whole game's balance and makes the higher difficulties feel like junk unless you've gotten higher-tier equipment.

Still the best of the games they did with Activision. I thought Korra was pretty decent too though (even if it was still weaker than almost all of their pre-Activision output); the only one of those licensed games that I felt was a genuine disappointment was the TMNT one - which is shockingly bad and easily the worst thing they ever made. Can't say how Babylon's Fall turned out though.

Agreed on Bayonetta's cannon segment not being that bad. The bike and missile bits are definitely mediocre (I like the silly fanservice of the missile bit, at least, and I tend to be forgiving of shaky genre-shifting bits anyway - but that one truly needed to be half the length it was) but the cannon bit is so simple and is over so quickly that it's never made sense to me for it to be so commonly and severely criticized.

I'll say Wonderful 101 is truly excellent as well. It's not as open-ended or as dynamic as Bayonetta - enemies and especially bosses tend to be a bit more "puzzle-like" in ways that make them not as satisfying to pick apart on repeat playthroughs - but I think it's the best thing Platinum put out aside from their legendary one-two opener of Bayonetta and Vanquish.