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Post by toei on Dec 13, 2019 18:00:38 GMT -5
Yep, one of the reasons l like Sega so much as a arcade game designer is that while some of them can be hard, they almost always feel fair. Shinobi and Shadow Dancer are good examples of this. Very easy to die, but when you do it's your fault.
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Post by 🧀Son of Suzy Creamcheese🧀 on Dec 13, 2019 18:41:26 GMT -5
Back to Saturn Episode 1: Get out of my Stations (PC, 1st time, 14h15m)
An amazing DOOM II mod. Brilliant new textures, great attention to detail, and layouts that more or less look plausible and really make you think of what each area could be for. It's basically all techbase (give or take some segments) and has some episodic things like how you return to a hub area. The next one is more temple-ish, so I wonder how they managed to make the locations look 'real' in that one. The final map is basically just a cutscene/cliffhanger for the next episode. Which I really want to play, but I think I should try to lay off the DOOM for now.
It's a bit on the easy side for a DOOM mod, though definitely not too easy. Episodes 2 and 3 will probably be harder. Most crucially, though, there are barely any poor stages. There really are only 2 I think, and one of those is the secret stage that I just skipped. And there's such a consistent and unique approach to level design that it's hard to believe they aren't all just made by one person.
Rating: 10/10
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Post by dsparil on Dec 14, 2019 7:40:52 GMT -5
Behind the Screen (Switch, First Time)
I had wavered a bit on getting this as reviews weren't amazing, but it finally fell enough in price for me to take a chance. It's actually pretty good overall. The plot concerns a young Taiwanese man named Yu Ming who has been accused of murdering his father. The Screen of the title are the TV news reports that play at certain times. The video quality of those is really low which I think is supposed to stand in for an old broadcast, but it just looks bad. The plot gets at the reality of the events in his life rather than the narrative being told about him as an accused murderer. It's really pretty sad. The main problem is the translation which is quite bad. It takes away from some of the emotion when really obvious errors and typos keep popping up. In terms of gameplay, there's three main time periods each with their own type. The first is a puzzle section and the other two are action based. It's a pretty short game so there isn't a whole lot of depth to them. That can be good or bad depending on your perspective since the plot is the main point.
Rating: 7
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Post by ResidentTsundere on Dec 15, 2019 0:45:08 GMT -5
I beat a few new games recently:
1. Metal Slug 3: First time playthrough via the Metal Slug Anthology on the Wii. It took about an hour. This seems to be considered the apex of the series, but I have a hot take on that below. It's still a good game, but not as crazy as the first or second games/Metal Slug X. 2. Metal Slug 4: First time playthrough via the same anthology on the Wii. It took about an hour. I really liked this game because it has some cool new weapons and a slide maneuver, though I understand that it could have been implemented better. 3. Metal Slug 5: First time playthrough via the same anthology on the Wii. It took about an hour. I feel that this game sits a little lower than the first four. 4. Sonic CD: First time playthrough, Xbox 360 version. It took about an hour and a half. I'm glad that I finally got to play this elusive game, but I was kind of confused by the time travel mechanic, and some of the levels were annoying. Some of the graphics are very good, though.
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Post by mainpatr on Dec 15, 2019 11:45:52 GMT -5
I beat a few new games recently: 1. Metal Slug 3: First time playthrough via the Metal Slug Anthology on the Wii. It took about an hour. This seems to be considered the apex of the series, but I have a hot take on that below. It's still a good game, but not as crazy as the first or second games/ Metal Slug X.
2. Metal Slug 4: First time playthrough via the same anthology on the Wii. It took about an hour. I really liked this game because it has some cool new weapons and a slide maneuver, though I understand that it could have been implemented better.
3. Metal Slug 5: First time playthrough via the same anthology on the Wii. It took about an hour. I feel that this game sits a little lower than the first four.
4. Sonic CD: First time playthrough, Xbox 360 version. It took about an hour and a half. I'm glad that I finally got to play this elusive game, but I was kind of confused by the time travel mechanic, and some of the levels were annoying. Some of the graphics are very good, though. Yeah,I always thought that Collision Chaos act 2 is horribly designed. And the boss,ugh!
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Post by Woody Alien on Dec 15, 2019 17:43:28 GMT -5
Finished during the weekend other two games bought in the Steam sales:
Even The Ocean (PC/Steam, first time, 9.5 hours) - by the creators of Anodyne and its sequel. A puzzle-platformer which is story-heavy; in fact, it is so focused on telling a story and on speedrunning that most puzzles are trivially easy and, as someone on Steam put it, feels like an extremely long tutorial for harder puzzles that never come. Every area has new mechanics (on top of the general mechanic of light and dark energy powering the main character's action and the whole world) but not much is done with them, and the story itself becomes wordy and preachy near the end. However I still enjoyed it, since the surreal and beautiful environments and dreamy, otherworldly soundtrack are what Anodyne's authors do best. There's also some post-game content as I heard, but it's mostly stuff related to the game's development and thus nothing exciting.
Otaku's Adventure (PC/Steam, first time, 5.5 hours) - a wacky comical point-and-click adventure with several minigames by Chinese devs that parodies visual novels, RPGs and geeky/anime culture in general among other stuff. Years ago I bought on another sale for a few cents a horror pixelated adventure game named Kio's Adventure and now I discovered that it was made by the same guys: I recognized the same bizarre sense of humor, nonsensical events the main character gets involved in, bad but funny Engrish translation, meta-referential situations... Only this time everything is played for comedy instead of trying to shock and disturb the player and, as such, everything is much more effective and I genuinely laughed several times. And of course "Kio" gets referenced (and mocked) several times since the devs themselves are mentioned to exist in this world. Currently I reached one of the 3 good endings and I'm going for the others to see whatever crazy things these guys put in! I mean, has there ever been a game where everyone speaks with the usual beeping noises, while one of the love interests is fully voiced, and the player character even comments on it?
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Post by dsparil on Dec 18, 2019 7:42:51 GMT -5
Spirit Hunter: NG (Switch, First Time)
The second Spirit Hunter game is generally an improvement, but it still feels a little flimsy to me. There's 6 total chapters although the first is set up for the main plot with the other 5 dealing with quelling spirits. The ones for chapters 4 to 6 are connected which just makes those for 2 and 3 feel superfluous. There's a smaller cast of characters this time around, but they also don't have any character development. What is all around better is the adventure sections. There are more puzzles, and the "boss" portions are more like single screen puzzles this time. I can't say I'm super optimistic about the possible third game, but there's at least some upward trajectory.
I finished in 15:58.
Rating: 7
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Post by dsparil on Dec 20, 2019 9:21:16 GMT -5
Ys: Memories of Celceta (Linux via WINE, First Time)
MoC is a bit of a mixed bag. It's definitely an improvement in gameplay over Seven, but the story isn't as good as either of the other Ys IVs. It feels blander, and I'm a little surprised that Falcom didn't simply go with what was their original version. Considering how closely OiF sticks to the original even in gameplay, it's a little weird how this version actually cuts ties to the other games and replaces it with nothing particularly interesting. The extended background into Ys was one of the best aspects of MotS, and it's a shame that it wasn't expanded upon instead of cut. The story is longer, but it isn't better.
While the gameplay is generally better than Seven, some elements are very undeveloped. Exploring the forest is just a gimmick that nets you largely unnecessary gold and the Urn of Aeolus at 50%. I finished with 98.3% map completion without looking for "secrets" as there really aren't any aside from one area that I clearly missed which probably has the single memory I didn't get. Speaking of the collectable memories, they don't add much either and are largely a wasted opportunity.
I am a little harsh on MoC mainly because I expected more. OiF was such a great update, but this is more middling. I keep praising VIII, but playing this gives a lot more context to how Falcom really knocked it out of the park with that one. MoC is fun, but a little meh at the same time.
I finished in 17:34:15.
Rating: 8 (Maybe even a 7, but that would make it the lowest rated game which is a bit harsh)
I thought about my ranking of them a little more and think that the Ys IV games should be above Seven and MoC equal to it.
VIII I+II OiF
VI IV: MotS IV: DoY Seven / MoC Origins V III (but still fun)
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Post by JoeQ on Dec 21, 2019 17:16:50 GMT -5
Bomberman Generation (GameCube) - First playthrough, Time: no idea
Game beaten, all Lightning Cards, Charaboms and Heart Containers collected. It was okay. That's pretty much all I can I say about the game.
Rating: 3/5
Alphabet Challenge: ABCDE--H-JK-MNOP-RST-----Z
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Post by Null0x00 on Dec 22, 2019 6:46:04 GMT -5
Cleared Sonic Forces for Windows in 3 hours. Repeat playthrough. 5/10. It's decent enough and looks gorgeous at 4K, but even with 30 stages it's just too damn short. That, and the modern Sonic levels basically play themselves with you just needing to boost or homing attack at the right time to A/S rank them. It just feels completely automated in a way the old Sonic games never were. Sonic Mania Plus really shines how shallow and simplistic the "Boost" game mechanics in modern 3D Sonic games really are, but despite itself its still fairly enjoyable in a shallow way (just make sure to skip the cutscenes).
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Post by zerker on Dec 22, 2019 18:55:31 GMT -5
I finished Northgard (Linux; First time) which is a fairly enjoyable RTS/Building sim hybrid game. There was a separate conquest mode added not too long ago, but I think I'll move on to other things now instead. 8/10. Steam playtime is 11 hours
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Post by dsparil on Dec 23, 2019 7:49:14 GMT -5
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney — Trials and Tribulations (Switch, Replay)
This final entry in the original AA trilogy doesn't really do it for me. It does play around with the structure a little bit by dedicating more of the game to an ongoing plot, but I just don't find it all that interesting. There's a reason I burned out on this game partway through the final case back in May. It isn't awful, and I do like cases 2 and 3, but something about it has always been a little off putting to me.
Rating: 8
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Post by 🧀Son of Suzy Creamcheese🧀 on Dec 23, 2019 8:19:37 GMT -5
Bomberman Generation (GameCube) - First playthrough, Time: no idea Game beaten, all Lightning Cards, Charaboms and Heart Containers collected. It was okay. That's pretty much all I can I say about the game. Rating: 3/5Alphabet Challenge: ABCDE--H-JK-MNOP-RST-----Z I never beat the single player back in the day, but it's still my favorite multiplayer Bomberman.
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Post by 🧀Son of Suzy Creamcheese🧀 on Dec 24, 2019 9:05:45 GMT -5
Banjo-Kazooie (N64, 1st time, 21h30m)
A deserved classic. It takes the Mario 64 formula and improves on it in every way. It's a little unfair to compare it to Mario 64, perhaps, since that game was a launch title and the first of its kind, but it pretty much outshines it on all fronts. It's too bad there was never a Mario 64 2; it would've been interesting to see how Nintendo themselves could've improved on the formula.
Anyway, the game holds up pretty damn well. The camera isn't always perfect (to be fair, you'll learn to take it into account soon enough), and the final world and the final boss are a little rough. When you're flying around and you have to divebomb into stuff the game probably shows its age the most. Apart from that, it's still perfectly playable today. Levels feel big enough to be fun to explore, but not too big as to feel empty. There's more moves than in SM64, meaning enemies can be peppered throughout the stages more without leading to annoyance. And of course the music will stick in your head for ages.
Feels good to cross another one of those must-play games off the list.
Rating: 10/10
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Post by zerker on Dec 25, 2019 7:38:29 GMT -5
Last night, I finished Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap (Linux). Technically a replay, since I finished the Master System version a couple years ago (albeit with savestates). Still a great game, though I absolutely need to pick up the arranged soundtrack for myself now. 8/10; in-game clock was at 4:15.
Also, Merry Christmas!
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