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Post by dsparil on Jul 15, 2019 12:09:53 GMT -5
Ys Chronicles+: Ancient Ys Vanished — Omen (macOS via WINE, Replay) Ys II Chronicles+: Ancient Ys Vanished — The Final Chapter
After VIII, V and III finally got to I & II now. I first played these when Ys I & II Complete was originally fan translated, but I never finished either until the PCE version was released on Wii VC. I don't think the Chronicles+ version unseats the PCE version as the definitive one but considering that it's hard to get it with the closing of the Wii Shop Channel, it's a good enough substitution. As for the games, what it is there to say that hasn't been said? They're both classics with the first being an appetizer for the longer and better second game.
Rating: 8, 9
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Post by 🧀Son of Suzy Creamcheese🧀 on Jul 16, 2019 3:01:56 GMT -5
Mega Man 8 (NSW, 1st play, 6h)
Poor showing for the blue bomber. Really don't have a lot of good to say about this except that the robot master fights were pretty good, and the voice acting is hilarious.
Other than that, you got gimmicky stages that don't gel with the Mega Man formula, and if the stages are more traditional, they're boring. Pretty much none of the enemy types are used to full effect, and the snowboarding section in Wily Castle is just torture. Again they split the game into two sets of 4 robot masters which is even worse this time because the stages mostly suck. And then after that Wily castle is way too brief. I liked the shmup section in Wily stage 2, and Wily stage 3 was pretty alright, but after that it's already on to the robot master rematches and final boss.
Worst of all, the soundtrack is a complete disaster. Wily stages 2 and 3 are the only good stage themes.
By far the worst numbered Mega Man.
Rating: 5.5/10
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Post by ResidentTsundere on Jul 17, 2019 3:05:14 GMT -5
I beat Resident Evil Outbreak File #2 (PS2), playing through all of the scenarios again. It took 3 hours, 38 minutes. Boy, I sure do suck at this game compared to the first Outbreak.
Trying to see if these games lived up to my nostalgia for them was kind of a punch to the gut. These games were always too ambitious for their time and system. If Kevin and David weren't incredible thirst traps at the time that the games were new (more so David because Kevin's real-time model is sort of bleh), I would not have been as sucked into these games as I was.
But Outbreak is still ambitious and unique as class-based survival horror before the genre turned its back on the survival aspect.
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Post by X-pert74 on Jul 19, 2019 4:10:42 GMT -5
Gunforce (SNES) (first-time completion)
Also I forgot to post this in here earlier, I think, but I also beat:
Princess Maker Refine (Windows 7 64-bit) (first-time completion) - I have 9 hours clocked on Steam, but I was AFK while the game was on for a bit... so my playtime is probably more like 8 hours.
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Post by dsparil on Jul 19, 2019 17:04:35 GMT -5
Archlion Saga (Switch, First Time)
Kemco bills this as a beginner's RPG, but I'd say it's really more of bite-sized game with a plot that could easily sustain something longer. The difficulty is incredibly low at the beginning, but it does ramp up and has a reasonable amount of difficulty by the end. Gameplay is very simplified with enemies and the party acting as a single unit with a single pool of HP and only being able to do one action per turn.
This actually isn't too bad, but it ends right when it starts to really get good due to the short length. Kemco also says that this is the start of a series of small games, and as a port of a fairly recent mobile game, I wonder if there are actually any more yet. I am interested to see how they progress from here. I think something around 5 hours would be a good length versus the 2 this one took me.
Rating: 7
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Post by halftheisland on Jul 20, 2019 4:08:53 GMT -5
Analogue: A Hate Story (PC, 1st time, 5 hours)
A really interesting take on the visual novel format, with an interesting and affecting story to tell. Not going to go in to the details of the story as it would basically all be spoilers, but I really enjoyed the sci-fi background (lost generation ship) and the way the author plays with that. It's not immediately an easy story to keep track of, especially given the Korean names of the characters and the convoluted family trees, and takes a bit of trust on the player's part that things will eventually be revealed.
Mechanically, I thought the interface was fantastic, and the means of progressing by unlocking and then discussing the contents of various log files was very interesting. It also proved an interesting example of how to thoughtfully reuse content, with the same log files taking on progressive layers of meaning and understanding as the story progresses.
Got a good and a bad ending, and went back in to do the bonus ending (with help from a guide). Probably my only annoyance is the way the save system seems to quickly auto-save over previous games, meaning to unlock the rest of the endings and download 100% of the log files* means starting from scratch a couple of times.
* Annoyingly, there is one action which effectively makes this impossible on a first playthrough as you won't know that doing it results in a file being removed.
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Post by Woody Alien on Jul 20, 2019 10:19:22 GMT -5
Catmaze (PC/Steam, first time, 13 hours)
An interesting metroidvania made by a single person, "Redblack Spade", a Russian psychologist who also made a puzzle game and is making another metroidvania called "Fearmonium" in the meantime. Always with his peculiar half-anime, half-Western graphic style.
It reminds a bit of Momodora, but I actually preferred this one to Momodora IV: as much as that one was shallow with generic plot and characters, this one is based on Slavic folklore and fables, but you don't need to know about them. It offers nice lessons about human kindness, the necessity to stay strong and move forward, and that no one (not even Chernobog!) is generically "good" or "evil". There's action, puzzles, nice dialogues and the map is well thought-out. The music, by another artist, is quite nice too. Recommended if you like the genre!
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Post by dsparil on Jul 20, 2019 12:02:19 GMT -5
Rain City (Switch, First Time)
This is a pretty good adventure game with a nice watercolor style from Isoland developer Cotton Game and some other company called Big Pineapple. You play as an unnamed cat trying to find his sister Leah. You have direct control over your character which is nice and there's a good mix of inventory and mechanical puzzles. The overall length isn't all that long, but it's pretty cheap. Oddly, this seems like a Switch exclusive in the US, a PS4 exclusive in Europe and available for both only in Japan. The original mobile version seems to only be available in China.
Rating: 8
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Post by X-pert74 on Jul 20, 2019 13:45:53 GMT -5
I'm curious about Gunforce; I just beat the arcade version last night, and I was wondering if I could claim it in addition to the SNES version? A lot of things are similar between the arcade and SNES versions, though the arcade version does have a unique stage which didn't carry over to the SNES version, and is a little tougher overall because of the lack of overwhelming slowdown/higher numbers of enemies onscreen. Is that enough to count it as a separate completion, or does it not qualify?
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Post by dsparil on Jul 20, 2019 14:50:50 GMT -5
That's fine since there is a difference in stages and difficulty.
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Post by Null0x00 on Jul 20, 2019 20:33:20 GMT -5
Beat Bubsy: Paws on Fire! for Windows in 5.7 hours. First time playing it, and cleared every stage with each character.
4/10. It's better than the last game, but it's just so bland and mediocre I can't recommended it, and the auto-running format actually hinders it rather than helps. Bubsy plays like you expect with his glide and an extra dash punch, Virgil is basically a harder Bubsy with a double jump, Woolie is a simplistic and easy horizontal STG, and Arnold is the Sonic 2 special stage half-pipe with somehow worse controls than a game from 1992.
It's totally playable, but if it didn't have the Bubsy name, nobody would ever bother playing this.
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Post by mainpatr on Jul 21, 2019 3:17:14 GMT -5
Have you played Bit Trip Runner 2 and 3?
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Post by halftheisland on Jul 21, 2019 5:09:57 GMT -5
SteamWorld Dig (PC, 1st time, HLTB says 5 hours which seems about right)
Having really enjoyed SteamWorld Heist, I realised I got this for free a while back through Twitch. Not much to say about this, other than it was good fun and lasted about the right length of time.
It feels a little like a slightly beefed up version of some Flash games I used to play, with a pretty simple and satisfying core gameplay loop.
Not sure I'll go out of my way to get the sequel at full price but would definitely pick it up at somewhere around the £5 mark.
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Post by zerker on Jul 21, 2019 7:09:09 GMT -5
That's fine since there is a difference in stages and difficulty. Are you sure you aren't being a bit too lenient? Gunforce on SNES is an otherwise fairly authentic port with one bonus level. The only reason for the difference in difficulty is the technical limitations of the SNES; the same could be said for the SNES version of Magic Sword. Mobygames doesn't even give it a separate game page. It's not like we would count the PS1 and Saturn versions of Symphony of the Night separately for the extra area added to the latter (or would we?) From my part, I finished Overload (Linux) last night (first time) on Hot-shot. For those unfamiliar, this is a spiritual successor to Descent by the team that *didn't* get the license (but nevertheless contains some original devs). I... think it's my favourite game in the series. It fixes so many niggles from the original series, including no hitscan enemies (or fast enemy homing missiles), more common shield restore items, bosses that are actually fair, and more than one weapon that uses ammo. The weapon upgrade system is pretty cool, even if there is no chance to upgrade the weapons obtained in the last couple levels.
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Post by halftheisland on Jul 21, 2019 12:20:12 GMT -5
Khimera: Destroy All Monster Girls (PC, 1st time, 5 hours)
A pleasant surprise for me as this is well outside my usual comfort zone. Ended up really enjoying it and think I'll probably go back and clear up a few more bits and bobs. The only real fault I had was the final boss, which I thought was a massive difficulty spike compared to the rest of the game.
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