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Post by zerker on Jan 25, 2020 18:33:28 GMT -5
Whenever that is, if you want to play something different than the default Blood maps: the fan campaign "Death Wish" is very good.
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Post by Digitalnametag on Jan 26, 2020 20:09:54 GMT -5
Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot PS4 FTP 37 hours
This is a game I would have loved 15 years ago. The me of today thought the game was pretty meh. The open world mechanic is boring and the sub-quests unexciting. You would think they would put some of the movie villains or filler arc stuff in but instead you fight armies of Saibamen, Red Ribbon robots, and Freeza's troops. And boy are there a lot of them.
The cut-scenes do look great with some panel for panel 3D remakes of the manga. I ended up skipping a lot near the end though. One can only see Dragon Ball Z play out so many times. Battles play like an updated Tenkaichi. There isn't a whole lot of strategy and bosses just spam moves when close to death. Throwing Kamehameha's is fun at first but by the time you've fought your hundredth Saibaman/droid/trooper you are ready for the game to end. The games RPG mechanics are light and you gain enough exp through story missions and sub-quests that grinding is never needed. Wouldn't be efficient anyway as the random encounters give paltry exp.
Biggest problem I had with the game was loading times. For reference I am playing on a standard PS4 with a disc copy of the game. Every time you change maps (which happens a lot when hunting dragon balls or doing sub quests) you are subject to a 15-20 second loading screen. Collecting the dragon balls takes around 10 minutes or so. About half of that is loading screens. I can't remember the last game I played with this much loading. Maybe on a PS4 Pro this would be better? Certainly on a PC.
All in all Kakarot is your typical anime game. Outside of Dragon Ball fans it would be hard to recommend. Even fans must be pretty burnt out by now right? I know I am and I haven't played a Dragon Ball game in years!
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Post by zerker on Jan 26, 2020 20:11:10 GMT -5
I finished a game! Micro Mages (NES on RetroUSB AVS; First Time). A quality modern NES game; enjoyed my time with it, though it seems it would be even better in multiplayer. 7/10.
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Post by dsparil on Jan 27, 2020 8:01:17 GMT -5
The Caged Garden Cock Robin (Switch, First Time)
A pretty good VN with a slightly odd title that actually comes from the nurse rhyme "Who Killed the Cock Robin". The main character is a maid on her first day working in the castle of Lord Waldenstein with the story covering about 6 months. The plot mainly deals with the mysteries of the castle and unfolds over 13 short episodes that are further subdivided into smaller sections usually containing a single choice and occasionally none at all. My only problem is that the translation is a bit rough although not the worst I have seen and certainly not on the level of some of the disasters other VNs are on Switch.
The developer, SEEC, seems to focus on VNs for mobile platforms although they're all very highly rated. The game's chopped up structure is very likely a relic of its mobile roots but ends up feeling weird rather than annoying without the stamina bar that would have existed on mobile. There's 5 failure endings and 3 normal endings although the normal endings are only based on the status of the "True/Mad" bar on the top of the screen. The status of the bar actually persists if you jump around the "flowchart" so you can loop through a few episodes to adjust the bar to the proper value for the ending you want and then jump straight to the end. You do miss out on some alternative dialogue that way, but it is faster than skipping your way through the game 3 times.
For a cheap VN, this isn't as good or interesting as Soulslayer Ep. 1 which is about the same length and cheaper but still worth it overall if you get it for a discount.
I finished in about 3.5h.
Rating: 7
MechaNika (Switch, First Time)
A short-ish adventure game about a disaffected 7 year old alcoholic(!) quasi-supervillian* trying to building a giant mech to essentially destroy the world. The goal is to collect all the pieces of the mech although there are very few puzzles and most of items you need aren't hard to get and are sometimes just items in the environment. I'd say the main problem is that it's trying way too hard to be edgy but also kinda cute at the same time which doesn't quite work. It gets labeled as "A Pyschotic Adventure" in the credits which says about everything.
This was originally released in 2015 as the first game of tiny Spanish studio Mango Protocol. The semi-prequel to this, Agatha Knife, was released in 2017 but came out before this on Switch. I'm a little curious to see how AK turned out, but it's more expensive and never seems to be on sale unlike this.
Rating: 6
* Nika is never explicitly presented as a supervillian, but that's basically what's going on.
Sinless (Switch, First Time)
This is a cyberpunk-esque adventure game but way too short and bland with an uninteresting plot and poor/buggy UI. This was originally released on PC/iOS in late 2015 as the first part of a trilogy that never happened so it ends on a cliffhanger just as it maybe gets interesting. This release seems like an attempt to rustle up some cash to actually finish the thing, but it should have just been released as a single complete game in the first place. There's literally nothing recommendable and not even worth it as a curiosity.
Rating: 1
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Post by Snake on Jan 27, 2020 16:34:10 GMT -5
Akumajo Densetsu/Castlevania 3:Dracula's Curse, Famicom (replay, about an hour and 10 minutes)
The original Japanese version is my preferred one to play. Better sound depth (due to a chip not included for the US release?), and Grant's default weapon is the throwing dagger, not the stabbing one. As such, Grant becomes a powerhouse, despite taking a lot more damage. Among the best Castlevania soundtracks, branching paths for replayability, and among the more intricate graphics for NES/Famicom games. Always a favorite. I just wish I had retained the original box and instructions when I got it.
Score - 9.
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Post by Digitalnametag on Jan 28, 2020 4:00:59 GMT -5
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past SNES Replay 8 hours
I played the GBA version a lot growing up so this was a fairly short run through. Still a classic but I actually think I prefer its sequel A Link Between Worlds. There really isn't much in the way of puzzle solving in aLttP. The final dungeons have a couple interesting bits but nothing like a 3D Zelda. And I still hate that Ice Dungeon. Feels like forever in game until you get an upgraded tunic. I missed about half the heart pieces, the magic cape, and the other staff. Not that those items do a whole lot anyway.
A great game but maybe not the pinnacle of gaming I once thought it was. Translation is better in the GBA version. The SNES line 'the sword that makes evil flee' doesn't have quite the same gravitas as 'the sword of evils bane'.
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Post by dsparil on Jan 28, 2020 7:26:17 GMT -5
Sorry, James (Switch, First Time)
This is an okay puzzle game, but it gets dull over the whole length and has a multitude of technical issues on Switch. You play as an employee of a company tasked with decrypting files which take the form of puzzles where you need to link up the correct number of white and black nodes. There are some added quirks that get added, but it gets dull over the 50 puzzles. The files are chat logs where you can only see one side of them. They're overly salacious at times for no reason and just boring at others. They're also not in order although you can "log in" as someone else and see them in order plus both sides for a select number. There's a tiny bit of story, but it's barely a factor. The terrible UI is what really drags the whole experience down. It is so incredibly unresponsive that I question how it was even released in such a state. This was originally a PC game with a slightly different UI and seemingly none of the responsiveness issues. It also has a low-res monochromatic filter for basically no reason as it's supposed to more or less take place in the modern day. This makes it really hard to see some numbers on the nodes with large puzzles as they're extremely blurry. Just perplexing all around.
I finished in about 3.5h.
Rating: 5
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Post by JoeQ on Jan 29, 2020 3:49:04 GMT -5
Vantage Master V2/Online (Windows) - First playthrough, Time: no idea An unique tactical RPG from Falcom based around summoning elementals. It has some balance issues and is pretty barebones outside the battles, but is a lot of fun thanks to it's unique gameplay and ruthless AI putting up a good challenge. I beat the Scenario Mode (Normal difficulty) as well as the hard as hell Expert Mode. It's freeware and (mostly) translated to English. Runs perfectly fine on Win10 too despite being over twenty years old. Check out the game here: www.falcom.co.jp/vantage/index_e.htmlRating: 8/10Alphabet Challenge: -----F---------------V----
Number Challenge: -2--------
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Post by Digitalnametag on Jan 29, 2020 3:52:08 GMT -5
That’s neat. The card mini game in Cold Steel 3 is called Vantage Masters. Didn’t realize it was based off an actual game they had put out.
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Post by JoeQ on Jan 29, 2020 3:59:05 GMT -5
That’s neat. The card mini game in Cold Steel 3 is called Vantage Masters. Didn’t realize it was based off an actual game they had put out.
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Post by 🧀Son of Suzy Creamcheese🧀 on Jan 31, 2020 5:54:52 GMT -5
Pokémon Shield (NSW, Replay, 19h30m) Team: Rillaboom, Cherrim, Hitmonlee, Centiskorch, Barbaracle, Dracovish Had my saves wiped so I had to play through this again. I deliberately didn't get into any wild battles (except to catch a couple of Pokémon to play through the game with) and missed a good deal of trainer battles, and it was still very easy. Got into trouble a couple of times early on because I had pretty bad type coverage (started with Grookey and the first mon I caught was Cherubi, so...), but it was still a breeze throughout most of the experience. Now I can finally get into the online battling. Though I'd have to get some TRs and BP again first. Playing through the game with Rillaboom as my starter hasn't changed my opinion that it's the worst starter design ever. MechaNika (Switch, First Time) A short-ish adventure game about a disaffected 7 year old alcoholic(!) quasi-supervillian* trying to building a giant mech to essentially destroy the world. The goal is to collect all the pieces of the mech although there are very few puzzles and most of items you need aren't hard to get and are sometimes just items in the environment. I'd say the main problem is that it's trying way too hard to be edgy but also kinda cute at the same time which doesn't quite work. It gets labeled as "A Pyschotic Adventure" in the credits which says about everything. That 100% sounds like a game that would've come out in the 00's, not the 10's.
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Post by dsparil on Jan 31, 2020 7:57:10 GMT -5
I kinda get the feeling that Tom Fulp was an inspiration at least indirectly. The games and animations he did in the late 90s/early 2000s were in really bad taste but were early enough to have real shock value. MN doesn't seem like something that would have been out of place on Newgrounds at least in the early days as it moved beyond being Fulp's personal site. 20 years later, it just feels trite.
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Post by dsparil on Jan 31, 2020 8:29:50 GMT -5
A day early, but here are the current rankings:
Total Game Completions:
dsparil - 15 Digitalnametag - 5 Snake - 4 alexmate - 3 Woody Alien - 3 JoeQ - 2 Null0x00 - 2 paperchema - 2 ZenithianHero - 2 Son of Suzy Creamcheese - 1 X-pert74 - 1 zerker - 1
First Time Game Completions:
dsparil - 12 alexmate - 3 Digitalnametag - 3 Woody Alien - 3 JoeQ - 2 paperchema - 2 ZenithianHero - 2 Null0x00 - 1 Snake - 1 X-pert74 - 1 zerker - 1 Son of Suzy Creamcheese - 0
Total Time Spent (Reference Only):
dsparil - 103h 17m Digitalnametag - 78h 30m JoeQ - 30h 51m Son of Suzy Creamcheese - 25h Woody Alien - 16h Snake - 15h 45m paperchema - 15h 30m alexmate - 13h 58m Null0x00 - 10h 30m ZenithianHero - 4h X-pert74 - 3h 30m zerker - 1h
First Play Time (Reference Only):
dsparil - 83h 17m Digitalnametag - 59h 30m JoeQ - 30h 51m Woody Alien - 16h paperchema - 15h 30m alexmate - 13h 58m Null0x00 - 8h ZenithianHero - 4h X-pert74 - 3h 30m Snake - 2h zerker - 1h Son of Suzy Creamcheese - 0s
Total Time Spent (Timer + Estimated + Reference):
dsparil - 94h 53m 26s (75h 40m 26s/7h/12h 13m) Digitalnametag - 88h (0s/88h/0s) JoeQ - 34h 41m 55s (8h 20m 55s/0s/26h 21m) Woody Alien - 22h (0s/22h/0s) Son of Suzy Creamcheese - 19h 30m (19h 30m/0s/0s) paperchema - 18h (0s/18h/0s) Snake - 17h 30m (20m/17h 10m/0s) alexmate - 12h 11m (4h 11m/8h/0s) Null0x00 - 11h 30m (0s/11h 30m/0s) ZenithianHero - 4h (0s/4h/0s) X-pert74 - 3h 42m (3h 42m/0s/0s) zerker - 1h (0s/0s/1h)
First Play Time (Timer + Estimated + Reference):
Digitalnametag - 78h (0s/78h/0s) dsparil - 77h 5m 44s (61h 52m 44s/7h/8h 13m) JoeQ - 34h 41m 55s (8h 20m 55s/0s/26h 21m) Woody Alien - 22h (0s/22h/0s) paperchema - 18h (0s/18h/0s) alexmate - 12h 11m (4h 11m/8h/0s) Null0x00 - 8h (0s/8h/0s) Snake - 4h (0s/4h/0s) ZenithianHero - 4h (0s/4h/0s) X-pert74 - 3h 42m (3h 42m/0s/0s) zerker - 1h (0s/0s/1h) Son of Suzy Creamcheese - 0s (0s/0s/0s)
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Post by dsparil on Jan 31, 2020 8:30:24 GMT -5
And the list of all games sorted by submitter: alexmate - Limbo (Windows, First Time, 3h 40m timer/3h 30m ref, 8.0/10) alexmate - one night, hot springs (Windows, First Time, 31m timer/28m ref, 7.0/10) alexmate - Painkiller: Black Edition (Windows, First Time, 8h est/10h ref, 7.0/10) Digitalnametag - Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & the Secret Hideout (PlayStation 4, First Time, 36h est/25h ref) Digitalnametag - Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot (PlayStation 4, First Time, 37h est/30h 30m ref) Digitalnametag - Legend of Zelda, The: A Link to the Past (SNES, Replay, 8h est/15h 30m ref) Digitalnametag - Mega Man X (SNES, Replay, 2h est/3h 30m ref) Digitalnametag - Super Castlevania IV (SNES, First Time, 5h est/4h ref) dsparil - AI: The Somnium Files (Switch, First Time, 21h 6m 36s timer/24h ref, 7.0/10) dsparil - Another Code: R — A Journey into Lost Memories (Wii, First Time, 11h 37m 6s timer/16h 30m ref, 8.0/10) dsparil - Assassin's Creed III Remastered (Switch, First Time, 20h 15m timer/16h ref, 7.0/10) dsparil - Caged Garden Cock Robin, The (Switch, First Time, 3h 30m est/5h ref, 7.0/10) dsparil - Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia (DS, Replay, 10h 22m 36s timer/11h ref, 9.0/10) dsparil - Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin (DS, First Time, 8h 14m 2s timer/10h ref, 9.0/10) dsparil - Demon's Crest (SNES/Switch, Replay, 4h ref, 6.0/10) dsparil - MechaNika (Switch, First Time, 2h 30m ref, 6.0/10) dsparil - Rygar (NES, First Time, 2h ref, 7.0/10) dsparil - Sinless (Switch, First Time, 2h ref, 1.0/10) dsparil - Sorry, James (Switch, First Time, 3h 30m est/3h ref, 5.0/10) dsparil - Squidlit (Switch, First Time, 40m timer/34m ref, 7.0/10) dsparil - Star Fox 2 (SNES/Switch, First Time, 43m ref, 8.0/10) dsparil - Tower of Beatrice, The (Switch, First Time, 1h ref, 8.0/10) dsparil - Trace Memory (DS, Replay, 3h 25m 6s timer/5h ref, 8.0/10) JoeQ - Flat Kingdom Paper's Cut Edition (Windows, First Time, 8h 20m 55s timer/4h 30m ref, 7.0/10) JoeQ - Vantage Master Online (Windows, First Time, 26h 21m ref, 8.0/10) Null0x00 - NiGHTS Into Dreams... (Saturn, Replay, 3h 30m est/2h 30m ref, 8.0/10) Null0x00 - Rise of the Triad: Dark War (DOS, First Time, 8h est/8h ref, 8.0/10) paperchema - Darkness, The (Xbox One, First Time, 10h est/9h 30m ref, 7.5/10) paperchema - Titanfall 2 (Xbox One, First Time, 8h est/6h ref, 9.5/10) Snake - 1942 (NES, First Time, 4h est/2h ref, 3.0/10) Snake - Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse (NES, Replay, 1h 10m est/4h ref, 9.0/10) Snake - Dragon Ball 3: Goku-den (NES, Replay, 12h est/7h 15m ref, 7.0/10) Snake - Ninja Gaiden (NES, Replay, 20m timer/2h 30m ref) Son of Suzy Creamcheese - Pokémon Shield (Switch, Replay, 19h 30m timer/25h ref) Woody Alien - Cthulhu Saves Christmas (Windows, First Time, 11h est/6h ref, 6.5/10) Woody Alien - DogolraX (Windows, First Time, 2h est/1h 30m ref, 5.5/10) Woody Alien - Super Panda Adventures (Windows, First Time, 9h est/8h 30m ref, 8.5/10) X-pert74 - GRIS (Windows, First Time, 3h 42m timer/3h 30m ref) ZenithianHero - Bulb Boy (Switch, First Time, 2h est/2h ref, 7.0/10) ZenithianHero - Pan-Pan (Switch, First Time, 2h est/2h ref, 8.0/10) zerker - Micro Mages (NES, First Time, 1h ref, 7.0/10)
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Post by zerker on Feb 1, 2020 6:06:16 GMT -5
And... I finished the game that was taking up most of my January: Astroneer (Windows via SteamPlay/Proton on Linux; First Time). A wonderful space building/sandbox/light survival game with an eventual goal you can go towards... whenever you've had enough fun building and racing buggies. I took my time building up bases on each planet and finished in 66 hours. 9/10 or so.
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