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Post by Woody Alien 2 on Mar 7, 2024 16:33:04 GMT -5
Infinite: Beyond the Mind (Steam, first time, game says 1h 10 but it's probably more than that)
Retro-styled pixelated run-n-gun that I bought during last summer's sales, played for a while then got stuck on a boss near the end, then randomly decided to finish it these days. In the beginning it seems similar to Metal Slug though with a more zoomed-out perspective and a bigger emphasis on jumps and avoiding obstacles, but the more goes on the more similar to Gunstar Heroes, Dynamite Headdy and other Treasure games it becomes, what with the cosmic escalation, interesting perspective bosses, mechas, magic/tech stuff and a mostly incomprehensible narrative. Too bad that it looks generic at the beginning with its chibi sprites so not many will care...
I looked around and it seems this is the only work by French self-taught artist and programmer Emilie Coyo, who always wanted to make the game of her dreams, she says her favorite game is Shinobi III and, while IBtM is not similar to it, the influences of other run-n-guns and certain "European manga" stylistic influences are fairly clear, the background graphics and certain mechanic elements are quite good and cool, the game itself is typical of Treasure too with its many short stages (16 in total) as opposed to Metal Slug's few but long ones. I couldn't find anything about her besides this short interview (French only): www.arlyo.com/infinite-beyond-the-mind-parlons-en-avec-la-creatrice/
If you like 16-bit-styled run 'n' guns and similar fast-paced retro titles you'll likely enjoy it, it's pretty cheap and I guess it's going to be discounted again, so why not take a look at it. 7.5/10
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Post by Digitalnametag on Mar 10, 2024 11:39:21 GMT -5
Persona 3 Reload PS5 FTP 76 hours
The original P3 quickly became my favorite game when it was first localized in 2007. Then the FES edition improved the experience a year later in 2008. I had just graduated high school and moved off to college when P3 was localized. It made a huge impression on me and affected me like no game ever had. And here we are 16 years later in 2024. The PS2 is three generations old and I'm nearing a 20 year high school reunion. Does P3 still hit the same as it did before? Yes it does.
The remake cleans up the parts of the game that needed it and adds a lot of conveniences that P4 and P5 have. Actually being able to control party members, choosing inherited skills when fusing, getting rid of the 'weariness' mechanic and some other things that just make the game more fun to play. The baton pass mechanic from P5 is here as 'shifting' and characters get new passive skills and ultimate attacks. Social links are easier to manage and Tartarus is more fun to explore. The game is better in nearly every way. It is a bit easier now but P3 always suffered from some artificial difficulty due to AI controlled party members. At least until Portable anyway.
There are a couple things missing such as the Female MC option from Portable and the Answer scenario from FES. The Answer was just announced as DLC but it looks like FeMC will remain a P3P exclusive. Yeah that sucks but I understand just how much work it would be to implement her into the game. Rewriting so much text and redoing a lot of animations. P3P was pretty minimal due to the console capabilities (stills instead of animations) so it was easier to do that there. On to the next bit of controversy I think replacing most of the voice actors in the English release was the right call. Yukari sounds a bit kinder than before and Fuuka isn't annoying. Most of the other voices sound so similar the differences are negligible. The only one that took some getting used to was Akihiko because the voice is so different. They did sneak a couple of the original VAs in as bonus characters so you can hear the new Akihiko speak to the original VA hilariously enough.
I still love this game. It covers the theme of mortality in a way not many games nor media does. The cast members aren't quite as friendly with each other as they are in later Persona games but the moments that are there are impactful. The battle system is snappy, fun, and looks better than ever. A couple of the social links are duds (Moon/Magician) but most are excellent. The character models are gorgeous and expressive. The music is phenomenal. Hearing any version of the ending theme can still make me tear up. This is the best way to play Persona 3 and is still one of the greatest visual novel/JRPG ever made.
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Post by spanky on Mar 10, 2024 18:52:28 GMT -5
Vapor Trail (Genesis, First Time)
Man, is there anything quite like an old fashioned Genesis SHMUP? It's a little more forgiving than most, you have 3 hits per life, a rechargeable roll move that makes you invincible and at some point during the level you start respawning where you die (not sure what triggers this). The best part of the game is the stage music that plays in all the levels. It's only one track but it shreds. I instantly have to rethink all my opinions about the 16-bit war when I hear stuff like this. The ending theme is good too.
Overall, nothing spectacular but a great way to kill an hour 7/10
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Post by dsparil on Mar 12, 2024 10:21:43 GMT -5
Dragon Quest (SNES, First Time)
Put all my thoughts in the SNES thread.
I finished in 02:12:52.
Rating: 7
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Post by personman on Mar 13, 2024 3:57:15 GMT -5
Mega Man X5 (PS1, emulated on 3DS, replay, 2 hours) I had to take a break from this one for a couple weeks and even tonight I forced myself to get through this. I'm sure this sounds like hyperbole but to be honest this one really gets me depressed. Like everything around this game from its tone, a lot of its promotional art being really somber to all the damn wasted potential the story had to other personal things. I really don't like this one at all and in some ways I dislike it even more than 6 and 7. It especially stings since it was intended to be the final entry in the series which is like damn, you were content to leave it at this? I believe I've read that production on the first Zero game was going on at the same time and Inafune was mostly wrapped up in that, suppose he was just ready to move on with things but this ended up selling too well. Considering what comes next though I think I may wish it did. Sort of. Biggest thing that sticks in my craw is just how dull and ugly this one looks. Clearly they didn't have the budget 4 did as backgrounds are static and bland, most enemies barely animate and much of it just has the cheapest prerendered look I can think of off the top of my head. It's not just how it looks though, the stage design is even flatter than 4's and there is just nothing going on here that doesn't feel like the most half ass twist on crap we've mostly seen before or is done so badly as to be inconsequential. The Duff Mcwhalen's stage (yes I will use the vague Gun-N-Roses names because come on its one of the few memorable parts of this thing) has to be one of the most infamous stages in the series not just for how slow and tedious it is but of course the fact that it needs to be revisited damn near 3 times if you want to complete everything. Which that's another thing that is a mess: the item hunting is just awful and you'll pretty much be unable to get the lions share of it without getting the armors first which takes a while since now they can't be used till all four pieces are found. Mean while there is a countdown hounding you that isn't real time or anything but will tick down when you enter a stage so stopping to go grab something so you have more stuff to play with will be punished. It fits thematically but ultimately just gets in the way, well it does if you want to get the optional parts to customize with anyways. See they had this bizarre idea in which bosses level up (?) based on how much time is left on the clock and you only get these items if they're at level 9. That only happens when you pretty much only have the exact number of hours left to finish every stage in one go and deal with some dumb mid boss character that looks like a Deviant Art OC. Just, why? I suppose it speaks of how rushed and neglected development must have been on this thing since I can only imagine such a decision was made in a rush. How about those armors by the way? They are absolutely awful which is a shame because they both look pretty cool. Falcon armor lets you fly which sounds neat but the way it works just invalidates the stages which... I guess boring as they are least it makes them better to breeze through so hey good armor actually. Sigh, then the Gaea armor is seriously only good for getting some upgrades that are gated behind its abilities which are never useful in an actual practical manner; I mean ffs the helmet does absolutely nothing. Not like you really need them since the bosses and stages pose little to no threat. They all have very boring patterns and barely do any damage not to mention the whole cast just looks boring. But despite my distaste for most of this title I have to stop and really look at it, the game is perfectly serviceable. Stages bland as they are work and don't have any real bad slip ups, getting parts is stupid but you don't need them and hell if you select X at the start you even get the Fourth armor so really you don't even need to worry about the others, it can even charge special weapons right away which aren't great on their own but have good charges, Grizzly Slash's and Izzy Glow's being particularly handy. The soundtrack has a much more low key tone to it which fits with the somber disaster theme of the whole thing. I didn't like it back in the day since it felt so different but now a days I like it quite a bit even if much of it really feels odd for the series. Like hell I feel like this song fits the style of the Sonic Adventure series way more than Mega Man. Perhaps its just me: And while I know we aren't supposed to care about Mega Man's story but the set up here had a ton of potential to be something cool, but with this cheap no effort presentation is just falls completely flat which really ticks me off. Like 4's plot didn't deserve the budget it had, this one should have gotten it. Hell, the pay off for the showdown between X and Zero that they had been hinting towards finally happens but they botched that too. It should have been the final boss but nah they had to drag out Sigma once again. Ugh guys this could have been awesome! But no... and Sigma's fight has to be one of the most pathetic in the entire series just god what a fucking waste. Ugh. I just really don't like this one and personally I think I dislike it even more than what would follow. Yes X6 is terrible and X7 is dreadful but like those are at least interesting in how bad they are or have some flare. This is just so hollow and it bothers me the most out of the whole series, especially with how good it could have been. Its tragic, just like its story wants to be lol. But shoving that all aside the game itself is fine. Very weak but passable and I know it has its fans. You could do worse for certain but at the same time you could do so much better, Alas I'm just glad I'm done with this; perhaps for the final time? Eh who knows. Rating-5
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Post by dsparil on Mar 14, 2024 18:00:24 GMT -5
Baldur’s Gate II: Throne of Bhaal (Switch, First Time) And now I remember the reason I never finished this. Throne of Bhaal is just awful pretty much from top to bottom. Here, I think it’s better to go with the how it came to be versus the specific problems. This extremely long retrospective on BG II has a fifteen-ish minute overview(cued) of ToB’s development which is strangely hard to come by. The short version is that it comes down to three things: BG II got larger than planned, the engine was creaky, and BioWare had issues with Interplay itself. The very original plan was that the complete trilogy would roughly cover the 20 level D&D level cap in thirds. However, II ended up getting way bigger than intended and subsumed the level range intended for the third game and then some for a few classes. They had also wrung everything out of the engine that they thought they could do, and were bereft of ideas. Plus, BioWare had clashed with Interplay for various business/financial reasons (they later sued them) and didn’t want to have to deal with them any longer than necessary by the end. All these things together left BioWare in relatively uncharted waters with little idea of what to do and no desire to really work things out. And then as a cherry on top, there was still cut content and a hastily rebalanced difficulty. What we got is just a very unbalanced, unfinished feeling “ending”. ToB is sometimes described as just a series of boss fights which isn’t entirely true, but there is definitely a feeling that BioWare’s solution to not knowing what to do was to just throw the occasional overpowered enemy at you in between bits of filler. They didn’t even dial back the difficult very well as it's still generally way too high but also very erratic. It doesn't help that the story is barely there with characters that have little to no development. Just a very disappointing way for the series to go out really. In general, I think people would be better off just giving this a pass. BG to SoD to BG II has a continuous storyline that makes sense with a more sensible overall difficulty. ToB doesn't add anything except leaving things on a sour note. I finished in about 15h. Rating: 3 (really a 5 but minuses for bugs these all have)
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Post by spanky on Mar 15, 2024 7:16:00 GMT -5
Final Fantasy III Pixel Remaster (Switch, First Time)
Final Fantasy III stands as the only of the retro FF games I have never made an effort to even attempt outside of me firing up the ROM out of curiosity in the early 2000s and quitting almost immediately. I've generally heard good things about the game but also that it's brutally difficult towards the end and that the job system isn't as refined as it is in V. So a remaster that shaves off some of the rough edges of the NES game sounds like a perfect opportunity to give this one a proper go. III eschews the characters and once again gives you a party of mostly blank slates of the original. I guess the DS remake tries to give them names and personalities. The story pivots away from II's plucky rebels vs. the evil empire plot to a story a little more in line with the first game but with more interesting story progression. You do have temporary party members that join you but they're only there to move the story forward and don't participate in combat at all, which seems like a missed opportunity. The original NES game actually gives these tempoary party members unique battlefield sprites that you can see on the menu screen...which don't seem to be here in the remaster at all. Poor form! I do like how the game keeps giving you bigger and better vehicles as the game progresses, that's a nice touch. Of course the main draw is the job system and the original game received a bit of criticism for some jobs just being straight upgrades of existing ones (that's still the case here) and for a good number of jobs being worthless. Fortunately they seem to be rebalanced a bit here. There are some interesting and situational jobs like the Scholar and Dragoon that you HAVE to use in certain situations but you have a lot of freedom otherwise. The Bard, considered a joke in the original game can actually be quite useful here for example. The NES game more or less shoehorns you into using the final two jobs (Sage and Ninja) for the endgame, and I did use them (Final party was Ninja, Black Belt, Sage and Devout). I never got TOO experimental with my job choices but I've read even the final boss is perfectly beatable with some creative job selections. The encounter rate has been toned down significantly, making dungeons much more pleasant to trapise through. I never had to turn off encounters. Not that it's easy though, this game is pretty tough and the lesser encounters meant I wasn't overleveled like I had been in the previous games. I had several boss encounters come right down to the wire, and it was always satisfying to pull through. The game also likes doing really cruel stuff like forcing your characters to cast Mini on themselves in certain dungeons. It does add variety though and forces you to rethink your party makeup. The final dungeon in particular is a marathon with tons of tough enemies and bosses. The music is phenomenal and I honestly think even in 8-bit form it's one of the best soundtracks of the entire series and the first OST in the series that's truly great. I think the overworld themes in this game in particular do a great job of conveying a sense of wonder and melancholy. A recent Chrontendo video posits that Final Fantasy III is the peak of 8-bit Nintendo, that most major releases and sequels would start going to 16-bit not too long after this and that in terms of scope, aesthetics and gameplay, nothing really tops this. I know I'm playing a remaster here but I definitely see where he's coming from. I feel like I might have enjoyed this even more had I grinded out the Famicom version. Regardless, I really enjoyed this. 9/10.
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Post by Woody Alien 2 on Mar 15, 2024 18:50:31 GMT -5
Guacamelee! Super Turbo Championship Edition (Steam, replay, about 8 hours)
Technically the version I played long ago was the Gold Edition, but I just found recently that the devs gave away for free this new and improved version last summer and I figured it out because there were no achievements or save states remaining in the version I had in my library. There's not much I can say about it, everybody should know this by now (and I couldn't believe that a decade has already passed since the game came out - but only the meme references give it away), I gladly played it again because it's one of my favorite metroidvanias and one of my favorite action/fighting games in general. The additions are a new area with a few new enemies and new secrets plus the "Intenso" mode that makes you even more deadly in short bursts, also you no longer have to buy the special moves but already have all of them. Always really enjoyable and the pace is just right, were it any longer it would have overstayed its welcome. The style is also something I wish to see more even outside games made by Drinkbox. Now I will have to replay the sequel too, since for whatever reason I stopped two thirds in and never touched it again despite finding it very enjoyable. 9/10
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Post by spanky on Mar 16, 2024 19:32:20 GMT -5
Fatal Fury (Genesis, First time for this version)
A jank port of an already jank game. Don't get me wrong, I've always had a soft spot for early fighting games, especially Fatal Fury. I always like how they seem more geared towards single player experiences in terms of their gameplay. FF has some nice character designs and I kind of like the small scale of it all. It's not worldwide or cross dimensions, it's just a tournament in one city. Anyway, Fatal Fury feels like a bit of the halfway point between Street Fighter 1 and 2. This port is sort of ugly, plays OK, has pretty bad music and it cuts two fighters! To make up for this, you fight the other playable characters in the tournament mode. No bonus rounds either. I would score this lower but there are some really bad fighting games on the Genesis. 5/10.
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Post by Woody Alien 2 on Mar 18, 2024 15:55:51 GMT -5
Selective Jump: Once Again with Feeling (Steam, first time, little more than 2 hrs) A bit of explanation: this game was made exactly a decade ago by a team named Nekomura Games, an European (I guess) dev team specialized in making games looking like Japanese productions. They were fairly good at it, and this one in fact seems some obscure abandoned Japanese computer game from the mid-late 1990s. If you think the title is stupid and nonsensical, consider that it was originally called SWR JST DX, apparently short for "Sword Justice Deluxe": props for inventing a title that genuinely sounds like an Engrish one, but nobody could possibly have remembered it! Anyway, Nekomura Games is no longer around but the original author (I think?) revamped the game from the ground up, keeping the art and music assets but using a new engine, renaming it with a new logo, adding autosave and several other QoL features, and in fact I forgot about having it in my library until news of the reboot (cheekily renamed "Version 2.024") popped on my Steam feed. I have just played it and still have no idea what it's about, apparently about the conscience of a gynoid getting stuck inside a computer system and being fused with the electronic brain of her toy cat and trying to log off before dying or whatever... all an excuse to play as this sword-wielding humanoid cat in a series of classic platformer environments, avoiding obstacles, destroying enemies and catching "memory fragments" that are either in plain sight, or hidden and found by hitting certain parts of the scenery or performing certain actions. In fact you have to approach it as something of a puzzle platformer, being slow and methodical, since there's no time limits and projectiles (knives) are in limited supply so it's better to use the sword or just avoid enemies if you can.
All well and good but the difficulty is really uneven, with some of the hardest and most annoying parts right at the beginning when you still have to figure stuff out (there's no guide and no options of any kind either besides the option to delete your save state and start anew if you missed some fragments), while others are bite-sized and extremely easy seemingly with no rhyme or reason, unlike most platformers where the challenge slowly but surely ramps up. It's also extremely generous with extra lives in the middle part and stingy in the beginning and end, though with autosaves (that the original game didn't have) lives aren't really an issue in any case. There's bosses at the end of every major section, but they are almost uniformly super-easy even if the great splash images before and after you fight them seem to suggest otherwise. And even when you complete it you still aren't sure of what you just did or what the purpose of memory fragments is beside unlocking some illustrations (preparatory sketches or cute drawings) in the gallery. I dunno, this game feels too uneven both in difficulty, but also in style since it's too "action-y" for a puzzler and too slow-paced for a pure action title for the most part. However the soundtrack is great and the pixel art, for my tastes, is excellent, I almost really thought it was some obscure JP game including all the cryptic details and words appearing everywhere. The designers even made some physical models for certain bosses and then digitized them for more of that lo-fi pixelated goodness! There's also some variety in the stages you have to face, including some on a boat, underwater or the dreaded mine cart, but it feels somewhat derivative and the more outlandish areas justified by the weird setting (inside a computer system or whatever, with the enemies being supposedly viruses and programs) are few and far between. Interesting but flawed. (though probably better than the 2014 version)
6.5/10 Just a couple examples of the graphics so you can see what I'm talking about:
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Post by Apollo Chungus on Mar 18, 2024 18:59:11 GMT -5
Call of Juarez (360; First Time; 6 hours 40 minutes)I've been thinking about revisiting this one for a while. I remember renting it back in 2007, rather interested in trying a western game, but didn't get very far due to how tricky I found either the combat or the duels. Since then, my main knowledge for this and the other games in the series (which I mostly haven't tried apart from Gunslinger a few years ago) was the great retrospective video by Noah Gervais, and I was especially curious to give the original another shot. Finally found a copy in a local second-hand shop for a fistful of euros the other week, and I'm happy to say that I quite enjoyed my time with it. The gunplay's pretty fun, it's got a nice bit of tension to it especially if you're playing on Normal. I quite enjoyed the sections where you play as Billy and have to do a bit of platforming and (admittedly clunky) rope swinging, which acts as a nice contrast to the guntoting insanity you experience as the self-righteous preacher Ray. The thing I liked most was, of all things, how 2006 it looked. The rolling hills with soft textures, the vivid blue skies with nice swirling clouds, the way shadows of leaves are dotted beneath trees to convey the suggestion of sunlight passing through them, how reflections only properly reflect what's above when you're standing at a certain angle. It struck me with wonder on numerous occasions, often because I could see the seams trying to hold everything together. I remember one scene where I jumped out of a bar window to escape from the landlord, and normally a cutscene's supposed to trigger where he shouts for people to chase after you. But that didn't happen and I assumed I had to keep running, so I ended up running out of the town and every now and again I'd reach the edge of whatever terrain had been rendered before more of it would appear in view. This kept happening, and while it got to the point where I realized I had to reload the save for things to work properly, I gained an appreciation for what the whole thing was trying to go for. I also ended up playing the three bonus missions made for the 360 port, which are fairly standalone throwaway levels divorced from the main story. They're a nice way of playing through a couple of typical western scenarios like taking on a whole gang in a ghost town, but I was impressed by how the third one was a series of vignettes where you play as a deputy who slowly unravels a mystery of corruption while trying to protect the town they've been assigned to. Despite how limited their resources were, I liked seeing the folks behind this port try to go beyond what might've been expected, and I half-wished the game had gotten an expansion pack so I could enjoy this specific style, feel, gameplay for a bit longer. Ah well, it's a nice bonus on top of what's generally quite a good time. Ys I Chronicles (PSP; Replay; 3 hours 47 minutes)Considering the Retroid Pocket runs the PPSSPP emulator quite well, I wanna try out various PSP games - including the handful of Ys games released on it over the years. The only games from that series I've played any decent amount of are Ys V on the SNES (which I quite enjoyed and am fairly fond of) and the Chronicles remake of the original Ys. It was actually the first Ys game I ever tried, so I thought it'd be worth revisiting to kick off my attempt to get into things proper. I quite like the bump combat system, how it allows you to basically play the game one handed and how that generally makes things a bit more accessible for players who aren't as dexterous when it comes to active RPGs (to borrow a term from the instruction manual for Hydlide which somehow resonates more strongly to me atm than "action RPG"). It's a nice enough game to while away a bit of time, exploring the dungeons, finding items, talking to people and all that good stuff, though I admit it doesn't quite do it for me. Part of that comes from how convoluted the manner of progression can sometimes be, where you really do have to explore most points of interest to make any decent progress or defeat the later bosses. I believe that this game is somewhat truncated from its original intentions, and that it really needed to get its mileage despite how few areas there are. That's understandable, and I reckon a good part of its charm for plenty of folks, but it isn't for me. And neither was the second game, which I played for a few hours. I got to the point of escorting Tarf back to the village in the lava caves, but I'm too weak to fend off enemies and they just slaughter the kid in seconds. I'm basically stuck without having to do tons of grinding, and I simply can't be bothered to go through that when I'm just not that passionate about the thing. I might jump ahead to Oath in Felghana, which is a fancy reimagining of Ys III, and see if I enjoy my time with that more. We'll see.
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Post by personman on Mar 20, 2024 2:15:46 GMT -5
Mega Man X6 (PS1, emulated on 3DS, replay, 3 hours) Oi vey. So this thing was a real gut punch after how much I didn't like 5 and on top of that the concept was real cool , X is carrying on Zero's legacy brandishing the Z-saber! Is he a melee character now too or can he switch, are the special weapons gonna have modes for the sword and his usual deal? I was very, very hyped for this when I saw it on the shelves; and then when I got it, whew. This is one of the instances that taught me not to get so hyped for releases anymore lol. Giving X the saber gives him some slight versatility but it's pretty much an after thought which was my biggest disappointment then I quickly realized after that things would only get worse. WAY worse. This easily has to have the WORST level design in the series, yes even worse than X7. There are so many instances where things are just slapped together in the most haphazard way like one of those really amateurish rom hacks or hell, like an AI did it. Some stages aren't so bad like the Laser institute or the Amazon Area but so damn many of them are just horrendous with the worst offenders being the Recycle Plant and Magma Area; the latter being particularly famous for consisting of nearly nothing but fights with these red metal donut things that have far too much health and get more and more annoying as the stage goes. It tedious, annoying and just plain boring. Absolute bottom tier trash. Then when you slog through these things you get treated to some of the worst bosses the series has on offer yet. Most of them are just a joke and barely do anything or in Infinite Mijion's case or the boss of first Gate stage they are very difficult for all the wrong reasons. I think the only okay boss in the whole thing is Shield Sheldon and he's still not very impressive. Then to top that off? Most of the weapons are about worthless and hell one even doesn't work outright! Wonderful, the only one I got any good mileage out of is Commander Yamark's which is pretty much like a shield weapon from classic but can repeatedly shoot as well, it's actually pretty over powered. The parts system is back and is better at least. Though its still messed up since getting yourself fully equipped takes a massive amount of grinding to fully use all four slot for one character. It's all dependent on a drop you get from this tentacle robot dudes that only drop their token once and to have four slot you seriously need to max out the count at 9999 which after I diligently hunted them down and I only ended up with 3200 or so. I believe to get more you have to go to the stages with different nightmare variations which will reset their spawns and after that you have to farm an optional boss which screw that. Yeah that's a new dumb thing they did: randomly the stages will have a new hazard introduced and some of these are so inconsequential you may not notice them and some are so horrible you're best off just resetting the stage with the worst being one that seriously just obscures your vision so you can only see a couple steps ahead of you. Genius. Getting the actual parts can be a bitch too. They decided to extend that 'save the civilians' things that was so half assed in 5 and now they are all named and some have the parts you're looking for. You have no idea which ones have anything to give you and worse if one of the tentacle bots get to them they're possessed and you'll have to kill them. Even if you leave them be they'll go missing and don't respawn. Honestly not a horrible idea save for the fact the asshole in charge of stage design totally left these guys surrounded by the buggers and in many, many cases if you don't know its coming you're likely not getting to them in time. There is one case even where one of the things spawns right on top of a dude and you have a second to save them as soon as they spawn. Pretty sure they have one of the best parts in the game too so whoever did that fuck you partner. Also not to mention those enemies are the worst fucking kind like very much the type that'll just run up and hug you then constantly avoid all your attacks while they keep hitting you. I HATE that bullshit with every fiber of my being and guess how common these guys are? That's riiiight they make up like 50 percent of the enemies in nearly all stages. Woo! In the least the armors this time around are pretty cool. Mostly, like how you started out with the last games armor in 5 you get the Falcon armor here only its in a weakened state and I think it's only advantage of vanilla X is being able to charge weapons. The Blade armor is kinda like the fourth armor with its charge having a persisting damage thing and can charge the saber but it's real claim to fame is the mach dash where you can dash in any direction mid air and gain some iframes to boot. You can do some nifty stuff with this and I enjoyed toying with the bosses with it. The Shadow armor is really interesting where it has a super strong saber for its charge and a high jump that'll let you cling to ceiling and dash along them or fire down onto things below you. Sad thing is so many ceiling won't let you do this ever so half of its claim to fame goes to waste, crying shame but thankfully its so damn strong its worth using still even if you lose access to special weapons like the Gaea armor but those are so terrible its really no loss. However you also don't have your air dash in this thing anymore so there is a part in the second to final level that is borderline impossible to pass with this thing. Just... fucking peak level design (it is possible and using this video I pulled it off the first time this run, yay), hell it even seems like the Shadow armor is required to even get past the first end game stage! But so long as you have the Jumper part it is possible but extremely hard... or just have Zero. Yeah all this hooplah about Zero being gone and nope he's back again and plays mostly the same. Lame, I actually went out of my way to not unlock him this time around. This was supposed to be X's time to take up the mantle let him freaking breathe damn it. There's more I can nitpick but you get the point. I really don't like this game at all but you know what? I'll take it over 5. Least this there are things I can talk about where as X5 was just a giant bag of nothing. For instance while I like 5's soundtrack nowadays 6 has some of my favorite tunes in the whole series. You've got a nice range of moods that are all real strong that I've had downloaded and in my palylists for years. Hell, I like this enough I'm gonna list them for fun: Hammers home the post apocalypse setting and just has that somber ominous feel that is perfect for the start of an adventure. Personally I've always thought a track like this would be perfect for the opening area of a MMX Metroid like... which that kinda happened later and wasn't what I wanted lol though I have come around on ZX these days. Just a real chill theme I've often liked to have playing during studies and what not. Hell I like the look of this stage too but if you look too closely it'll turn surreal as hell real quick which makes it better in my eyes lol Has a real majestic sound, perfect for scaling a mighty summit with some awesome guitar wails to remind you this is still a X game lol. Again I think this is atmospheric enough to serve real well for an explorative game. Just pure relentless butt rock. Go figure its fury completely contrasts how slow and tedious it's damn stage is. Again an impeccable mood, the stage itself has you being shot at by a giant robot in the background and its like the stage theme is heralding its glorious entrance. One of the weaker stages but hell if it's not memorable. Not my favorite boss them but the funky as hell and you swear X is suddenly making a cameo in an 80s cop flick or something. It's dumb and I love it. Just a real kick ass remix of one of the worst tracks from X2 lol. It's frantic tempo goes along nicely with how much of a clusterfuck the final stages are. Just pure adrenaline rock again, always gets me pumped for one big final confrontation... just for the last boss to be a complete joke. Honestly one of my favorite OSTs in general let alone the series. On top of that the art team actually got their asses in gear this time around and many of the stages look pretty cool (if a little fucked) and it sports some of the coolest character designs for the bosses too. Hell these armor designs are easily some of the best on top of it. Just look at these two! Ones a ninja and as an American I have to love it lol. The story also... barely makes any sense thanks to a mangled localization and really I doubt it's much better in its native tongue either. But hey that makes it far more memorable, you have to smile at "I hid myself while I repaired myself". I'm still not sure if this one is considered canon or not even with Zero's ending pointing towards his own series that was gonna show up soon. Really the game is a borderline disaster. They threw it together in less than a year if I'm remembering right and I'm sure had like no budget. It really feels like everyone besides the art and sound team wanted to be making this and really with how troubled the development was on 5 and Inafune probably not wanting to touch this I don't really blame them. While this is all not acceptable the jank has produced some funny goofy exploits and last I saw this game has a big speed run community so like bad as it is people have found some value in it which honestly? Not for me but I respect that. You can seriously do some dumb fun shit. And hell like I said I can talk a lot about this one it's very striking in how bad it is, how shockingly good the music is and the goofy engrishy script. I say 5 is an okay game but I actually like this one far more even if its outright bad. Honestly? I'd recommend it to newcomers to the series after they've played all the proper hits just to see how twisted and mess up the series got. Otherwise though I'm freaking glad thats over with. Rating-3 Call me crazy but I think X7 is going to be a breath of fresh air.
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Post by dsparil on Mar 21, 2024 9:26:13 GMT -5
Golden Axe (TurboGrafx-CD, Replay [not for this version])
I'd really like to know what happened here because it is just awful.
I finished in 00:50:04 for all three characters.
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Post by dsparil on Mar 22, 2024 6:57:32 GMT -5
The Genji and the Heike Clans (TurboGrafx-16, First Time) (Genpei Tōma Den)
A sort of iffy port of an interesting but flawed arcade game from Namco.
I finished in 02:41:03.
Rating: 6
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Post by Digitalnametag on Mar 22, 2024 12:28:30 GMT -5
Final Fantasy VII Remake: Episode INTERmission PS5 FTP 6.5 hours
A fun bit of DLC. Been nearly four years since Remake so I had to learn how to play again. After overcoming that initial hurdle I had a lot of fun. Yuffie is interesting to play as. I still have mixed feelings on the cinematic set piece nature of the game but it is really pretty to look at and sounds great. With this completed I'm moving on to the recently released Rebirth.
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