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Post by Snake on Apr 10, 2020 10:33:11 GMT -5
Mystic Warriors, Arcade (1st time, approx. 50 minutes)
Plays a lot like Sunset Riders, but with stylized, exotic ninjas. The Sunset Riders cameo in the 1st stage, as you are running through the drive-in theater is a cool touch. And like Sunset Riders, there is a lot of hokey English dialogue. Each character also plays slightly different, with one being a shotgun type, a machine gun type, a 2 way-firing type, etc. The modern setting reminds me a bit of the first Shinobi, but stage design is a lot more colorful and dynamic. Overall, it's a fun game, if you like Metal Slug, Contra, Gunstar Heroes type action and difficulty level.
7/10.
Mega Man:The Power Battle 2, Arcade (1st time, approx. 40 minutes)
Again, playthrough for each character goes by rather quick. This game adds Duo into the mix. It mixes up the robot bosses you have to fight, with 3 different story tracks to play through. What I love is that Rush and Forte get added into the mix if Fliptop shows up randomly during the fight. The game is laughably easy, and feels easier than the first game. More Mega Man fan-service. Rich, colorful sprites. Shadow Man gets some interesing, more ninja-like kuchiyose no jutsu added to his arsenal too. And the ending adds another layer to Mega Man lore. Especially concerning ProtoMan and Bass.... and Zero's origin story. Good fun.
8/10.
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Post by dsparil on Apr 10, 2020 11:56:55 GMT -5
Jenny LeClue — Detectivú (macOS, First Time)
A really good mystery/adventure game with simple gameplay, but with a story that more than makes up for it. The game is framed as the writing of the latest book in a "Nancy Drew"-esque series. Sales have dropped off precipitously in this series, the latest was called something like "Jenny LeClue and the Missing Sandwich", and the author's publisher is threatening cancellation unless he adds real drama to the next book. It goes back to the author every once in a while and he's also the narrator. The story starts out pretty slowly probably as an example of the low grade mysteries the series became. It takes a real turn fairly quickly and becomes a real barn burner after that. It's a very grand story by the end of it without having anything feel inexplicable.
Gameplay is side scrolling with some mechanical and "logic" puzzles. The second half also has slight platforming elements, but not in a way that's annoying. The mechanical puzzles are fairly straightforward for the most part with some larger scale ones towards the end. The logic puzzles are mainly about what course of action Jenny should take and are done by selecting clues that go together. Some reviews compare this to Night in the Woods, but I think that's a fairly spurious comparison. Granted I haven't played it, but it seems like it's much more gameplay light and doesn't have the strongly driving plot that this has. There's also a bunch of choices you can make, the game keeps track of what you choose, but I think the choices only affect a little "personality description" that's in the journal.
This is the first part of an intended trilogy, and it ends on a total cliffhanger but not in a way that's disappointing. I'm really excited to see where this ends up going considering how it ends.
Rating: 10
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Post by halftheisland on Apr 11, 2020 16:04:35 GMT -5
Rogue Legacy (Playstation 4, first time)
Have played this on and off on both PC and PS4 for a while but never really clicked with it until suddenly it REALLY clicked and I just had to see it through to the end. I finished this over basically two marathon sessions yesterday and today and now I'm seriously considering going back and seeing if I can go for the platinum.
The basic mechanics of the gameplay can be boiled down to "roguelite metroidvania". The game revolves around fighting through a semi-randomised castle and its surrounding environments (essentially forest, tower, and dungeon), with the player starting off very weak and expected to die relatively quickly. Each time you die, you pick from one of three randomised descendants to carry on the fight, and get the chance to spend any loot you've earned on permanent upgrades to your manor.
Upgrades not only give you standard things like increased damage, health etc. but unlock additional character classes to give more choices for future runs. These aren't anything too radical - you have the Barbarian variants who are slower but have higher health, the Shinobi classes who are fast and do high damage but can't land critical hits, the Assassin who is weaker but has higher crit chance etc.
Scattered throughout the castle are chests containing blueprints for equipment and runes to be added to your equipment, which you can also spend money on after each run. Equipment largely does what you would expect, adding armor or damage etc., but the runes are what really give the opportunity to customise each run. Runes can give new movement abilities, let you drain health from enemies, change enemy difficulties up or down, and allow you to collect more gold from drops.
This helps to some degree to balance out the randomised elements by allowing you to build towards particular strategies, although you can still draw a dud hand of characters and have to make the best of a poor run. Each of the five equipment slots hold one rune and as runes stack, you can either use them to try and balance out a character or go hyper-focused on a particular strategy. In theory, for example, there would be nothing to stop you sticking a jump rune in three slots and a sprint rune in two, building a hyper-mobile character who hardly ever touches the ground.
I ended up focusing on a fairly high risk/reward strategy, putting money mostly into increasing damage and focusing on the Assassin branch, then balancing that with siphon runes so each kill regained a few HP. This worked particularly well for runs at each of the four bosses, allowing me to quickly blast a route through to a given boss entrance and then drop back to an easier area of the castle to rack up some easy kills and get back to full HP before tackling a boss.
Downsides - good as it is, the soundtrack can get a little repetitive after a while, and there's a kind of initial difficulty spike to get over before some of the perma-upgrades start to kick in. I also thought the first boss was probably the hardest of the lot to beat, although that's actually maybe more down to the lack of power at that stage. As with any game with random elements, there are times when it feels like everything is stacked against you and a run is doomed to failure.
It looks like it's £10 standard price pretty much everywhere and I'd happily recommend it at that price.
I finished in 15:30 and rating it a solid 9/10.
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Post by Null0x00 on Apr 12, 2020 4:08:37 GMT -5
Cleared Doom 64 for Windows (the new Steam port) on the Watch Me Die! (hardest) difficulty in 9.5 hours. This includes the default campaign and the lost levels missions. First time playthrough. 9/10. The uniformly excellent level design and the new level scripting really puts this above Doom 1 and in contention with Doom 2 as the best classic Doom game. The Unmaker also desperately needs to return to the series as that dethrones the mighty BFG as the most overpowered weapon in the game (once powered-up). Highly recommended.
Guess I have no excuses not to play Doom Eternal now.
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Post by dsparil on Apr 14, 2020 6:52:19 GMT -5
Worldend Syndrome (Switch, First Time) (For some reason this is listed as World End Syndrome is a bunch of places, but that's wrong.)
A decent dating-sim VN with horror/supernatural elements, but with less than I was hoping for. You play as a transfer student moving to the small Mihate Town. The town has a local legend about the dead coming back to life every 100 years and going on a rampage. This of course was the premise for a best selling book by a local teacher that is being turned into a movie filmed on location and starring Japan's top idol. You end up in a just starting up club run by that teacher with the other female members being the girls that you pursue.
The fairly lengthy prologue, also the demo, runs from June to the start of summer vacation in August. You're forced into the worst ending initially right after the prologue which is fairly gruesome and reinforces the horror elements that also pop up in a few different spots during the prologue. Make sure to save at the end of July! Once you complete a real path you can skip it, but I think you can't until then. However, once you get into the game proper, only three of the five paths are available. They're all fairly standard for a dating-sim without any horror elements for the most part. It isn't until you finish those three that you automatically go into the fourth then the canonical fifth path plus the real ending. Those do finally get back to the setup from the prologue. Those three extra paths really should have been cut down to one as they aren't terribly interesting, and one would have been enough for contrast.
Gameplay is in a standard event-based model. It runs the course of most of the August vacation. You get three actions per day with Monday and Thursday mornings being reserved for a club meeting plus a few other days are reserved for full day events. There's no simulation elements as it is summer vacation, so you just pick a place to go. You might get an event that may or may not be path specific or run into a character. Some events might yield a Mission to complete, but they're mainly unnecessary. The only ones that are useful yield special brochures that let you reread tips (who decided to call extra info that). For some reason you can read them the first time they pop up if you don't have the brochure. There's also "collectibles" you can get, but they are literally pointless. The game basically has a single save per user with your saves really being more like bookmarks. You only need to collect something once for it to become permanent.
If you run into a character it may increase your Aura towards them. This isn't an "affection" level or anything like that and has little gameplay purpose. You also can't float between paths, and if you fall off it due to missing an event, you run out the month and get the worst ending again. It's actually pretty annoying, and I ended up using a walkthrough after getting the worst ending twice.
Overall, there is good story once you finally get into it. This format was just not the best for it. A more traditional branching structure would have been a better fit. Pretty much all the "gameplay" added on top is unnecessary and doesn't add anything to it.
Edit: I finished in about 17.5h from the play log.
Rating: 7
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Post by Null0x00 on Apr 14, 2020 7:43:16 GMT -5
Cleared the main story of Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX for Nintendo Switch in 14 hours. First time playthrough. Main Pokemon used was Eevee, and partner Pokemon was Bulbasaur. 8/10. What would otherwise be a fun but occasionally grindy dungeon crawler is greatly enhanced by the gorgeous story-book visuals and the sweet wholesomeness this series is known for. It definitely has the love and care that was mostly missing from Sword and Shield, that's for sure. Will mostly likely continue playing to unlock the extra dungeons and the legendary Pokemon.
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Post by JoeQ on Apr 15, 2020 2:30:38 GMT -5
The Talos Principle - Deluxe Edition (PS4) - First playthrough, Time: 22:08:54 (main game), 11:36:44 (DLC) An excellent first person puzzle game, with simultaneously relaxing and vexing puzzles and a mysterious and philosophical thought provoking story. Also completed the DLC Road To Gehenna, which was of similar high quality and with even harder/better puzzles. Got all the sigils, stars and endings and unlocked the Platinum trophy. Rating: 5/5Alphabet Challenge: A-CD-F-H---LM------TUV---Z Number Challenge: --2-------
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Post by 🧀Son of Suzy Creamcheese🧀 on Apr 15, 2020 7:40:08 GMT -5
What would count as beating the original F-Zero for the purpose of this thread?
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Post by dsparil on Apr 15, 2020 8:46:00 GMT -5
All the leagues at any class.
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Post by 🧀Son of Suzy Creamcheese🧀 on Apr 15, 2020 17:14:36 GMT -5
Well, fuck it, then.
F-Zero (SNES (on SNES mini), replay, 45 mins)
I beat it on Beginner and Standard. I wanted to beat it on Expert (since that's when you get the credits after each cup), but I just can't beat Fire Field on Expert. A single mistake pretty much will cost you the race in that one, especially if you have to go through the energy route at the end. Since the computer rubber-bands so much you always get passed by at least two guys if you take that route. So you pretty much can't take that route if you want to win, and the other racers just get in my way too much in that track for me to manage losing almost no energy. Well, it's better than playing on Master. I couldn't even beat Mute City I on Master.
Anyway, I do love the game. And I like the other tracks on Expert, though there are some where the computer's cheating really shows. The music is great and the game just controls perfectly. It's very simple, but very fun. I had kind of forgotten that there are no standings or end results or anything like that. It's really just about "beating" each track and placement really just affects your points (which'll net you 1ups).
Rating: 9/10
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Post by toei on Apr 17, 2020 9:44:15 GMT -5
Beat Super Robot Wars EX (SNES), first time.
The first SRW gaiden, it relates closely to Masou Kishin storywise, but uses the mainline series' gameplay and aesthetics. It's a good game, too, with a pretty solid system. I just wish it moved a little faster.
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Post by alexmate on Apr 17, 2020 15:42:12 GMT -5
Fantasy Zone II: The Tears of Opa-Opa (Master System) (1st playthrough time taken: 1hr 30)
A really tough game, but fairer difficulty than the first game in the series. Makes good use of the hardware. Time taken includes practise which was about 1 hour, the actual final run was 30 minutes.
Rating: 7
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Post by Digitalnametag on Apr 20, 2020 11:22:19 GMT -5
Final Fantasy VII Remake PS4 FTP 35 hours
First off the presentation in this game is phenomenal. The top notch VA, excellent soundtrack, and beautiful graphics all contribute greatly to the experience. The remake really expands on the lore of Midgar and gives you a reason to care about characters that are little more than footnotes in the original. The main cast are all likable and come across as relatable. The dialogue between characters can be hilarious. Barret steals the scene anytime he is present. I really liked Tifa's arc of struggling over Avalanche's activities. And the music! Such a blast of nostalgia when you hear that powerful battle theme kick in! Seeing classic scenes animated with modern graphics is a real treat. The cast threatening Don Corneo had me laughing out loud as I remembered laughing about the same scene with my brother back on the PS1. And I totally forgot about the stairs in the Shinra building until I took them. I'm mostly okay with the changes made to the story that others are complaining about. Not sure that someone who hasn't played the original could follow along easily and sometimes the elements can be annoying or feel unnecessary.
Playing the game is odd though. It doesn't feel like a Japanese RPG. The game is extremely linear with chapters dividing each section into a giant set piece. Kinda like an Uncharted or modern Resident Evil game. Post game even involves selecting a chapter to re-play so you can grab collectibles and beat higher difficulties like in those games.
Travel points are highlighted on the screen and outside of a few chapters with sub-quests for the most part you just follow the marker. There are some odd platforming and puzzle sections but these are mostly forgettable and feel like padding. The combat requires more careful consideration than button mashers like Kingdom Hearts 3. On normal difficulty even normal encounters can end in game over quickly if you are not careful. Dodging and blocking are important. At times the difficulty was frustrating. I have no desire to play through Hard Mode with its no items rule. I wish you had an AI menu for party members as they don't contribute much if you are not giving them commands. The game wants you to switch between party members frequently which does not feel intuitive in an action game.
Thinking about it this is the first mainline(ish) Final Fantasy I have finished since IX. It will be interesting to see what happens next. Will Square-Enix keep the same linear format for the next games? I'm not a fan of big 'set piece' games in general so nostalgia and presentation were a big part of me enjoying Remake. For comparison I would say I enjoyed action RPGs like Xenoblade Chronicles 2 or Ys VIII more than Remake for game play reasons alone. Still Remake is a solid game and if you have any interest in FF VII I would suggest picking it up. The story telling alone makes it worth the cost of entry. I'd give it a 7.5/10.
Random aside: Still weird that Cloud carries that big ass sword around everywhere and no one is bothered by it. Probably even more weirdier now. NPCs are dressed in modern clothing further accentuating the main cast's body armor and such. Hell even if people are used to seeing SOLDIERs with swords on occasion why is no one bothered by Barret's arm cannon? Must be a Shinra thing.
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Post by dsparil on Apr 21, 2020 9:46:40 GMT -5
Final Fantasy VIII Remastered (Switch, First Time)
I have the most pure emotional attachment to FFVIII despite it actually being the one I've previously played the least, but the actual game is such a total mess on basically every level. The story is badly told, and it's not even on the same planet as being cohesive or even comprehensible at times. This is worst on disc 3, but it's a problem everywhere to varying degrees. Things just happen for hazy or no discernible reason as if pages from the only copy of the script flew away. There's some truly good scenes and sections if taken in isolation, but there's also so much gibberish and completely contrived elements. The characters aren't any better and are one note at best. The whole Squall/Rinoa romance angle is just Cloud/Aeris v2 but handled much more clumsily. They get that nice dance scene at the beginning, but it feels so forced overall.
I don't think the gameplay is much better either and seems much better in theory than it is in practice. I think a big chunk of the problem is that everything is scaled to the party average level so it's never particularly challenging especially since it's so easy to thoroughly break the game. Then you get to the end, and you're basically expected to have totally broken it at that point. Scaling does let the game mix up party composition without being stuck in impossible situations, but it's so poorly implemented. Leveling at all might be a problem since there's no level floor for bosses just a ceiling, and stat gains from leveling are so small compared to Junctioning. The whole system is so messed up that this is the game that should have removed levels entirely (and not scale) rather than X.
The port too is very slipshod, and calling it "Remastered" is a farce. The character and enemy models are generally much higher poly as with the FFIX port, but it somehow manages to look much worse overall compared to IX. The CG backgrounds weren't touched up at all and look absolutely awful and clash so much with the 3D models. The world map too is completely unchanged so it's a blurry mess with awful looking location models. The FMV just looks like scaled SD without any enhancement. I don't think the IX port actually enhanced the backgrounds or FMV either, but it seems to have had higher resolution sources in the first place. At least there's still the 3x speed which makes battles so much more tolerable.
I finished in 20:28.
Rating: 5 (Really a 6 but the port stinks)
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Post by lurker on Apr 21, 2020 11:25:46 GMT -5
Final Fantasy VIII Remastered (Switch, First Time) I have the most pure emotional attachment to FFVIII despite it actually being the one I've previously played the least, but the actual game is such a total mess on basically every level. The story is badly told, and it's not even on the same planet as being cohesive or even being comprehensible at times. This is worst on disc 3, but it's a problem everywhere to varying degrees. Things just happen for hazy reason or no discernible reason as if pages from the only copy of the script flew away. There's some truly good scenes and sections if taken in isolation, but there's also so much gibberish and completely contrived elements. The characters aren't any better and are one note at best. The whole Squall/Rinoa romance angle is just Cloud/Aeris v2 but handled much more clumsily. They get that nice dance scene at the beginning, but it feels so forced overall. I don't think the gameplay is much better either and seems much better in theory than it is in practice. I think a big chunk of the problem is that everything is scaled to the party average level so it's never particularly challenging especially since it's so easy to thoroughly break the game. Then you get to the end, and you're basically expected to have totally broken it at that point. That does let the game mix up party composition without being stuck in impossible situations, but it's so poorly implemented. Leveling at all might be a problem since there's no level floor for bosses just a ceiling, and stat gains from leveling are so small compared to Junctioning. The whole system is so messed up that this is the game that should have removed levels entirely (and not scale) rather than X. The port too is very slipshod, and calling it "Remastered" is a farce. The character and enemy models are generally much higher poly as with the FFIX port, but it somehow manages to look much worse overall compared to IX. The CG backgrounds weren't touched up at all and look absolutely awful and clash so much with the 3D models. The world map too is completely unchanged so it's a blurry mess with awful looking location models. The FMV just looks like scaled SD without any enhancement. I don't think the IX port actually enhanced the backgrounds or FMV either, but it seems to have had higher resolution sources in the first place. At least there's still the 3x speed which makes battles so much more tolerable. I finished in 20:28. Rating: 5 (Really a 6 but the port stinks) Hopefully the PC version will get the HD patch treatment like FFIX did.
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