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Post by Snarboo on Aug 2, 2013 16:37:39 GMT -5
 The podcast is now available! Grab it here.The game of the month this time is Aquaria! Released in 2007, Aquaria is a unique blend of Ecco style free movement and swimming with metroidvania style exploration: Aquaria (PC) Aquaria is an award-winning action-adventure game set in a massive underwater world teeming with life and filled with ancient secrets. Join Naija, a lone underwater adventurer, as she travels from hidden caves shrouded in darkness, to beautiful, sunlit oases in search of her past. She'll uncover hidden treasures, explore uncharted waters, and do battle with massive underwater beasts to learn the truth about her family and reveal the secret of Aquaria. Aquaria's Steam PageAquaria Demo- Given the nature of this challenge, if you do not own this month's game, you will have to buy it. The spoilers contain links to the relevant Steam page for the game, although I will be suggesting free games you can play during the month if you can't afford it. Aquaria has a demo, so be sure to try before you buy!
- Feel free to talk about indie games in general along with this month's game!
- Wondering what those squiggly lines say? Let jorpho help you translate them!
- "I was having some trouble with my mouse, but the song system seems to be relatively forgiving about filtering out any "crap" that you might have dialed in by accident, as long as you have the right symbols in the right order before you release the mouse button." courtesy of weasel
- zerker's got some tips on setting up your controls.
- "When you get to Mithalas, you can go inside many of the buildings. Look for buildings that appear to be missing roofs. One of these will trigger a memory event, and contains some sort of altar which opens up the item dialog when used." courtesy of zerker
- Snarboo has some early game tips.
- Need help navigating the open waters? Let zerker act as your tour guide!
- zerker has numerous tips on clearing the more troublesome parts of the game.
- "The Nature form's charged "attack" creates spiked plant pillars. You can use these as jumping platforms when you are out of water." courtesy of zerker
- "You can use the Roll maneuver to suck items towards you rather than manually swimming after each one of them." courtesy of jorpho
- "Anyone having trouble with the Jelly monster boss should use the Beast form. You can eat the little swarming enemies, then use the beast shot to damage the boss." courtesy of zerker
- Stuck? Jorpho has some solutions for late game puzzles.
- DPB has lowdown on beating that nasty crab boss, as well as switching between forms.
- zerker is a one man wrecking crew of assorted tips!
- A bunch more tips lie in wait on page 3!
Voting ended August 5th at 11:00 AM EST. *NOTE*: When voting, please choose a game that you want to play - and will play - but have not beaten entirely or beaten recently, say, within the last 5 - 10 years. You may not vote for a game that you have played or spoiled within the last year! It's also best to vote for a game that you have not played before. All votes are final, so no going back if you change your mind. Make your vote as clear as possible. If you don't wish to vote, please say so in your post. If you're going to vote, we'd like to have you along for the ride! Previous GC9X Threads: |
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Post by Snarboo on Aug 2, 2013 16:40:49 GMT -5
Before you vote, I feel I should explain the "well known but haven't been talked about" thing. I could have picked any set of indie games for this, but I chose these for a specific reason: when people talk about indie games, they seem to talk about them because they know of them or they think they have "cred", but they haven't actually played them. Even I'm guilty of this! I own all of these games, but of the three I've only played Gish, and I've never managed to beat it. I also chose these games because they seem to fit HG101's MO pretty well: each is quirky or unique in some way, and worth talking about. The cherry on top were the numerous indie bundles these games have been in.  For now I'm going to abstain from voting, but I'm curious to hear your thoughts on this challenge. I know most of these games are probably going to be short, but they can be supplemented in other ways. |
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cardinalfang
Junior Member
i don't know what to say, so here's jeremy clarkson being fired from mcdonalds.
Posts: 87
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Post by cardinalfang on Aug 2, 2013 16:50:35 GMT -5
I'm voting for Aquaria, simply because of it's relative.. eh, obscurity, we'll say. From what little I played, it does seem to have quite a bit of depth for what most people consider a simple Metroidvania.
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Post by zerker on Aug 2, 2013 17:17:32 GMT -5
Since I've already finished both World of Goo and Aquaria, and wasn't particularly fond of Gish, I will abstain from voting this round. However, if you need a tiebreaker, consider this a nudge towards Aquaria. I wouldn't mind replaying that with you guys. If you want to buy direct from the developers: www.chroniclogic.com/gish.htmwww.bit-blot.com/aquaria/2dboy.com/games.phpAlso note that both World of Goo and Aquaria are available on iOS and Android. I haven't played much of the Android version of Aquaria, but World of Goo is a very good fit for a touch interface (I replayed it on my phone a while ago). |
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Post by doctorallosaurus on Aug 2, 2013 17:45:46 GMT -5
Aquaria looks the most appealing to me so it gets my vote.
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Post by Weasel on Aug 2, 2013 18:29:38 GMT -5
Yep. Looks like another landslide vote...which I have every intention of taking part in. Aquaria for me, good sirs!
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cardinalfang
Junior Member
i don't know what to say, so here's jeremy clarkson being fired from mcdonalds.
Posts: 87
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Post by cardinalfang on Aug 2, 2013 20:11:24 GMT -5
Oooooh, maybe I'll get to actually play this round? And I really want to meet EksFaktr. How come he doesn't hang around the forums anymore?
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Aug 2, 2013 20:30:53 GMT -5
I've beat World of Goo a long time ago and Gish is a rare game that frustrated me enough into quitting, so I elect for Aquaria, which I've been waiting to play for a REALLY long time now. This would give me fitting incentive to do so!
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Post by kal on Aug 3, 2013 0:15:53 GMT -5
I have a feeling this is gonna be a wash.
Aquaria
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Post by Joseph Joestar on Aug 3, 2013 6:02:42 GMT -5
Gish. Because the tar ball thing has lots of unfortunate implications. Oooooh, maybe I'll get to actually play this round? And I really want to meet EksFaktr. How come he doesn't hang around the forums anymore? I think he actually has a life. Seriously though you should go on IRC, he hangs out there. |
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Post by roushimsx on Aug 3, 2013 8:09:02 GMT -5
Didn't care for Gish, but World of Goo was awesome. I'd love to play Aquaria after I finish up SMT4.
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Post by muteKi on Aug 4, 2013 22:50:06 GMT -5
I'll vote for World of Goo because I tried it for like 5 minutes one time and really enjoyed it.
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Post by Snarboo on Aug 5, 2013 9:44:13 GMT -5
Given the almost unanimous verdict, I've decided to end the vote early. The game of the month is Aquaria! For those that have extra copies of this from a bundle, consider giving it to someone who doesn't have the game.
Feel free to talk about indie games in general along with this month's game! Given this is the first time we've done this, I want to encompass as much of the indie experience as possible in this thread.
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Post by jorpho on Aug 5, 2013 11:19:02 GMT -5
Ahh, what an excellent game. Played through it and thoroughly enjoyed it. Quite possibly in my all-time top 10. A suggestion: Download a mod to make the wall text readable. This is fairly trivial; the font graphics are stored in an ordinary unencrypted image file. I can't quite recall where to find the mod in question at the moment, unfortunately. (EDIT: It's just a simple rename job). I played through the whole game expecting that, at one point, I would find some item that would magically translate all the text on the walls, which would provide some vital, clever clue as to how to proceed. This never happens! If you want to read the text, you're actually supposed to sit down and hammer out the cypher and translate every single gorram message yourself. On some level I actually find this offensive. It's a simple substitution cypher, and it's not even the first game to try something like this (consider the Standard Galactic Alphabet in Commander Keen), but there's just so much text that I think the developers have unreasonable expectations. In any case, the messages are just flavor text and you can easily get through the whole game without ever reading any of it if you are so inclined. In some sense it may add to the atmosphere of wandering around this forgotten, alien civilization with impenetrable mysteries and unknown purposes. Also, some trivially simple gameplay tips. I will spoiler these in case you insist on figuring out absolutely everything yourself, even though I never did: Use the Roll maneuver to suck items towards you rather than manually swimming after each one of them.
You can quickly swap forms using nothing more than the number keys at the top of your keyboard. It's not necessary to use this to get through the game, but there are some tight spots where it's very handy. |
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Post by Joseph Joestar on Aug 5, 2013 14:03:26 GMT -5
Anyone here have an extra copy on Steam? I'm being cheap and I don't really feel like paying the full $10 for it (but I'd be willing to work something out over paypal).
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