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Post by Deleted on Feb 15, 2021 7:41:51 GMT -5
The Firemen was definitely one of the better and more interesting games on the platform. Shame there's not many games about firefighting because it seems like a profession that should go hand in hand with video games. I heard the sequel wasn't up to much even.
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Post by Apollo Chungus on Feb 15, 2021 9:45:48 GMT -5
I have heard that as well, though my only sources for reference are the HG101 review and a mention in a Destructoid article by Allistair Pinsof (neither of which I've read as of writing this). Part of me does want to look into this in further detail, but I also want to try it myself at some point and see how it fares. I had a couple of ideas as to how you could improve upon the original's framework; adding multiple characters with different playstyles, offering a degree of non-linearity to the stages that affects progression and what levels you play OutRun-style; and I'm super curious to see if the sequel implements something along those lines or any number of other interesting ideas.
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Post by Digitalnametag on Feb 15, 2021 22:16:37 GMT -5
Ys: The Oath in Felghana Replay PSP 10 hours
Second time through this one I think? Pretty much the perfect Ys game. Short, tells a decent story, has the best soundtrack, and is a decent challenge. It's funny how much better this game is at telling a story than Ys IX is. All the characters have portraits, VAs, and little stories. There are fewer of them here than in IX but that only works to the games benefit. By the end of Oath you are attached to the main heroine. The game is smaller but it feels more personal. IX on the other hand is big but generic with tons of unnamed NPCs and even some important Quest ones that don't have portraits or VAs.
Musings aside Oath in Felghana is still great. Even with all its warts I do like VIII better but this one is fun and quick to replay. And next time I'll try not to wait 10 years for the next go!
Played this on Vita by the way. I hate using the PSP (so noisy and the stick is uncomfortable) so despite owning the UMD I bought a digital copy. Hmmmm.... Ys VII next?
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Post by dsparil on Feb 16, 2021 7:18:35 GMT -5
Super Mario 3D World (Switch, Replay) Bowser's Fury (First Time) BF is wholly separate from 3D World and accessible from the main menu right off the bat.
Is it weird that I've always been a little disappointed in 3D World? Cat Mario and the Double Cherries are great, but everything else in it has always felt a little ho hum to me. Outside of those two elements, it's just 3D Land Vol. 2 which isn't a bad thing per se, but it's always felt like the lesser of the two. There's some good stuff in the extra worlds, but I always think it's a mistake to backload that much particularly if it's unlocked after the credits. It's still a solid Mario game, and it did serve as a test bed for Treasure Tracker which is so good.
Bowser's Fury on the other hand is excellent all around and seems like a sneak peak at what an "Odyssey 2" might look like. It's much larger than I was expecting and feels like the real meat of the package. It's closer to a slightly shrunken 64 on a single map but with a similar number of Cat Shines to collect versus Stars. The Fury Bowser attacks are actually an interesting gameplay mechanic as they also make some Cat Shines easier to get on top of adding in attacks that need to be avoided. Each level area also has a Shine that can only be retrieved during one of these attacks. Nice to see Plessie get some real use too compared to the main game.
Rating: 8, 9
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Post by 🧀Son of Suzy Creamcheese🧀 on Feb 17, 2021 8:34:04 GMT -5
dsparil I'm in the midst of a 3D World replay right now and while I'm still enjoying it, it's definitely a game that I like better in multiplayer. I've already played through it two or three times on WiiU, so it's not a very surprising game anymore, so I'm really missing the multiplayer right now. I don't know if you've ever played it in mulitplayer, but I find that's where the game really shines. Maybe I should get some people to buy the game so I can play online co-op. Wimot's Warehouse (NSW, 1st play, 5h45m)Large image ahead: Very fun warehouse-simulator type game. If you're not familiar with this, each round (which is an in-game month) you get 3 minutes to sort all the products that get delivered, and then 1.5 minutes to deliver products to your colleages in the northern part of the map. You start with a handful of products, but when the game ends, you'll have 200 products (chosen at random from a pool of 500). If you want to deliver everything in 1.5 minutes, it's best if you sort things in a way where you remember what lies where, but it's up to you to decided which products go together. However, sometimes you might get more products that would potentially fit together, and every 3 rounds you'll get a big bulk of a couple products, so you'll always have to adapt your layout. There's also a little helper robot you can unlock who is helpful taking some load off, but also tends to stack things strangely at times, so you'd have to fix some of its mistakes. Every three rounds you get unlimited time to rearrange things (at least, on normal). What makes it so fun is that a lot of the products are either very ambiguous, or can potentially fit in different categories. Every regular delivery round has 4 new products, and it gets crowded in the warehouse pretty fast. Sometimes you just gotta go with your gut feeling and ascribe some meaning to an object. As long as you can remember where it's stored. The screenshot is a bit blurry, but you can probably still make out some vague categories I came up with. It's also a particularly messy warehouse if I compare it to other people's final layouts. Ah well. I do have some small gripes with the game. Mainly, there doesn't really seem to be any sort of fail-state on normal. I don't know what happens if you miss a delivery, because I didn't miss a single one, but I think at worst you just miss out on stars you use to unlock upgrades. There's an expert mode that has some modifiers you can turn on/off that might make it more challenging, but they don't seem perfect for what I want out of the game. I'm still gonna try them out, though. I was also a little dissapointed the game ends before you actually get the chance to sort the final batch that includes the final 4 product types. Anyway, even without much of a challenge and with unlimited time to rearrange on normal, I still found it super fun. I found that my own goals and motivations were more than enough to keep me going. Highly recommended. Rating:9/10
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Post by Deleted on Feb 17, 2021 8:55:51 GMT -5
'Surprise' is a good choice of words for what Nintendo seeks to achieve in their Mario games I think. I hear them use that word a lot. Unfortunately, the element of surprise will drop away on repeat playthroughs. That said, I'm having a blast with 3D World again. I haven't started with Bowser's Fury yet, I'm saving it for after.
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Post by dsparil on Feb 17, 2021 8:56:03 GMT -5
dsparil I'm in the midst of a 3D World replay right now and while I'm still enjoying it, it's definitely a game that I like better in multiplayer. I've already played through it two or three times on WiiU, so it's not a very surprising game anymore, so I'm really missing the multiplayer right now. I don't know if you've ever played it in mulitplayer, but I find that's where the game really shines. Maybe I should get some people to buy the game so I can play online co-op. That does seem like the big difference compared to 3D Land. Local multiplayer is always great, but I haven't really been able to do that starting with the Wii U.
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Post by dsparil on Feb 19, 2021 11:25:23 GMT -5
Jill of the Jungle (DOS, Replay) Jill Goes Underground Jill Saves the Prince
I played so much Jill of the Jungle with my mom when I was a kid and still replay it occasionally although no where near as often as I used to. In some ways, it's a little hard to play now since the first episode in particular is full of so many self aggrandizing messages. Epic has gone so far beyond their roots but in the worst possible way that it's hard for me to not see them as signs of their future arrogance instead of playfulness.
This time I played through the freeware version on GOG, and there's actually a significant negative change. In the second episode (and only the second episode) the demons in hell (level 9) are reworked to be normal enemies that die in one hit and give 20 points. In the original version, demons take a huge number of hits to kill and don't give any points. What is strange is that the demons in episode three were not changed. It is fairly difficult in the original version, but it was very tense and memorable.
I guess I still like the game overall, but that one change coupled with the third episode generally being not as good as the second makes the second half peter out somewhat.
Rating: 7
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Post by Apollo Chungus on Feb 19, 2021 16:55:29 GMT -5
Ihatovo Monogatari (SNES; First Time; 3 hours 44 minutes) About a year ago, I became obsessed with looking into odd and interesting Japanese-only games from the mid-90s, and stumbled across this adventure game with a pretty cool subject matter. I downloaded it, popped it on my Wii's SNES emulator and totally forgot about it until this week, so I thought I'd finally give it a go.
This is an adventure game based on the poet and writer Kenji Miyazawa, who's works might be best known through their animated adaptations such as Isao Takahata's 1982 Gauche the Cellist and the 1985 cult classic Night on the Galactic Railroad directed by Gisaburo Sugii of Group TAC. You play as a nameless traveler who winds up in the town of Ihatovo, where you are asked by the ever elusive Kenji Miyazawa to collect seven journals scattered across the land. Many of the characters and events you run into come from Miyazawa's various works, and all share a common thread of the relationship between man and nature; whether that be man's treatment of animals, the shared faults and emotions between humans and animals, the spiritual realm, and beyond. The game is structured into a series of chapters, letting each story play around with its specific ideas before moving on to the next, and it feels very much like a collection of stories that you could find in folklore. It's hard to explain, but they have a mood about them that's easy to understand emotionally and difficult to articulate logically.
Sometimes, progression is halted by how conveyance of what you need to do next is more often inferred through knowledge of exploring the game and running into people who you might not need to talk to for ages, rather than told to you outright. This does fit the overall vibe quite well, but can make understanding which specific character you're meant to talk to in order to get things going slightly annoying. Apart from that, Ihatovo is a game I really grew to like. I became quite fond of talking to people each day to see how they're doing, appreciating the small details that change between chapters like what movie's being played at the local cinema, and seeing what each new location would offer.
Personally, the highlight has to be the sublime soundtrack by Tsukasa Tawada. I wish I could articulation why I love the music so much, but all I can say is that it feels very emotionally driven in a way that really clicks with me in a way few SNES soundtracks have ever done. My personal favourite track is the town's theme, which is very relaxing and beautifully melancholic: www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkOq9ZZFSRk) Maybe one day I'll find the words to express how I feel, but I'm content for now saying that it's a wonderful soundtrack and my favourite SNES soundtrack by a long shot.
Writing about it, I've realized that this might be that SNES game I cherish. I feel like everyone tends to have one, where it means an indescribable amount to them, but I'd never really had that. I've played a few of the ones that kept cropping up - particularly first party Nintendo games - but none of them ever did anything much for me. Ihatovo Monogatari might finally be that game, however. The game that I think of when people are gushing about EarthBound, Final Fantasy VI, Super Metroid and goodness knows what else; not on a literal level, but emotionally. And I'm so glad to finally have that.
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Post by Digitalnametag on Feb 19, 2021 23:36:07 GMT -5
Super Mario 3D World Switch FTP 15 hours estimated
I'm not a big fan of modern Mario games, but the exception was 3D Land on the 3DS. I loved that one and played it to completion. Years and a Switch port later I finally decided to give its successor a try. The only thing I did not finish in 3D World was to use all the characters to clear every stage.
So. I enjoyed most of my time with the game. Stages felt unique, short, and fun to play. I did have trouble percieving the depth of stuff a couple times which I don't rememeber being that much of an issue in 3D Land. But it has been awhile. And I was having fun. Until I started the gauntlet of a stage Crown-Crown. It took me hours to beat it. Torturous hours of repitition and swearing. If there is a hell, Nintendo has done a fine job of replicating it in the last section of that stage. Freaking dash squares. To be honest the experience greatly soured my enjoyment of the game as a whole. I don't remember having nearly that much trouble with 3D Land's final stage. Why put content in a family friendly game that most people will not be able to beat?
Eh. I probably let that piss me off too much. But it was the last stage! The three stars I needed to complete them all! My pride wouldn't let it go! I would have been happier ending the game a World or two sooner. But hey it is still a very good game. I do wish there were more mini-games on the overworld. The slots are boring and Toad Houses should be more permanent. Maybe make'em unlockable and then they could premenantly offer a specific power-up. Replaying a level just to get a specific one is monotonous. Why not just give'em away?
Anyone else find the cat suits and meowing extremely disturbing? Even on Peach/Extra character they are creepy. Nintendo sure found a good way to ruin cat ears on girls.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 20, 2021 14:28:34 GMT -5
Super Mario 3D World Switch FTP 15 hours estimated Why put content in a family friendly game that most people will not be able to beat? The challenging content in Super Mario games have been included in direct response to complaints about games being too easy. The harder levels are purposefully included after the credits so that the majority of players can expect to beat the game (putting it down after defeating Bowser), but there are additional challenges for those of higher skill. They are trying to please a wide audience of players of different levels of experience and honestly I can't think of a better way to handle it. For me for example, the final levels are by far the high point of the game.
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Post by Digitalnametag on Feb 20, 2021 15:30:09 GMT -5
Sure but the rest of the levels are reasonable. Nothing else in 3D World comes close to the difficulty of Champions Run. I don’t mind some difficulty but changing the difficulty dial from 6 to 11 in one go is jarring. Almost every other level in the game I could complete (all collectibles) in 15 minutes or so. To spend hours trying to beat one level is frustrating and not fun. I’ve read several threads on different forums describing the same grueling process so I know others went through the same thing.
I probably should have called it quits but I was too stubborn. And ultimately that hampered my enjoyment of the game. I still think 3D World is a good game but I won’t ever attempt that last level again.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 20, 2021 15:43:36 GMT -5
Sure but the rest of the levels are reasonable. Nothing else in 3D World comes close to the difficulty of Champions Run. I don’t mind some difficulty but changing the difficulty dial from 6 to 11 in one go is jarring. Almost every other level in the game I could complete (all collectibles) in 15 minutes or so. To spend hours trying to beat one level is frustrating and not fun. I’ve read several threads on different forums describing the same grueling process so I know others went through the same thing. I probably should have called it quits but I was too stubborn. And ultimately that hampered my enjoyment of the game. I still think 3D World is a good game but I won’t ever attempt that last level again. Well, yeah, if you're not enjoying it put it down. That's really how the game is designed with that idea in mind that this is a challenge only for select fans. I'm sure many others had a similar experience to you, but equally many enjoyed the level too. I also took many tries to beat it, but contrary to your experience I wasn't frustrated, but was having a great time, and beating it was such an adrenaline rush. It was definitely harder than the similar end levels in Galaxy 2, Odyssey etc, but I found it to be much better designed than those.
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Post by Digitalnametag on Feb 20, 2021 16:03:02 GMT -5
Hah. Must be a difference in personalities. I say suffering and you say fun! At least someone was having fun.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 20, 2021 16:08:20 GMT -5
Hah. Must be a difference in personalities. I say suffering and you say fun! At least someone was having fun. If everyone was masochistic there wouldn't be a word for it.
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