|
Post by Apollo Chungus on Nov 13, 2022 18:58:02 GMT -5
Ōkamiden (Nintendo DS; First Time; Gave up around the "Moon Files" section)
Ōkami is one of my favourite PS2 games, and I'd been wanting to play its DS sequel Ōkamiden for years. However, I never found a physical copy of it in the wild, so it took until last year when I modded my 3DS that I was able to download it and give it a whirl (though I only properly bothered playing it a few months ago). It's a pretty good game, acting as a smaller-scale sequel that features much of the same locales and characters while either adding to their stories or focusing on new characters who you team up with solve puzzles in the game's various dungeons. There's more of a puzzle focus than the original, but being able to use the stylus makes drawing the brush techniques way easier, and it also allows for new techniques such as linking up with your partners or utilizing their specific abilities.
Honestly, it feels like a safe sequel that doesn't do too much different from the original except now with kids taking the centre stage, but I kinda got a kick out of revisiting these old places for the first time since my last Ōkami playthrough in 2013 (cripes). However, something that always bothered me throughout my playthrough and eventually lead to me giving up was the lack of a convenient save system. There are only save points, and those are almost always a good 20-30 minutes apart if you're not revisiting earlier areas. For a handheld game, that's pretty ridiculous to expect the player will have that much time, with not even a suspend save to rely on if they're caught for time.
And as someone who prefers to play games with the option to save frequently if not anywhere these days (whether officially or through save states in emulators), it made me anxious as heck to start playing in case I'd have to end up going on for 30+ minutes just so I could save. The game became a pressuresome grind where I'd keep fretting about where the next save point would be, and I'd rather not play a game like that. Evidently, I haven't played a game like that since I don't think I've touched this since September. Until someone figures out how to hack into this game and add a suspend save or something, I reckon this'll be the last of my experience with Ōkamiden. Damn.
|
|
|
Post by spanky on Nov 14, 2022 9:17:26 GMT -5
Batman Returns (SNES, emulated on 3DS; first time; gave up at third level) So I actually downloaded this by mistake. A long ways back my brother had a few friends over and they brought Batman Forever I think. It was the one with awful prerendered sprites and a second stage in a bank that they couldn't figure out how to progress through. Morbid curiosity had me wanting to try it out mostly because I remember it at least having a curious atmosphere to it that struck a chord with me as a kid. Anyways, I wound up with a good game instead lol. Problem is I just can't meet what its asks. I'm terrible at beat em ups and after turning the base stock up to 7 and dropping things to easy I still can't beat Catwoman on the third stage. Like, it just feels like if you get knocked down once you're screwed. I don't know if there is something I'm missing or what but if I ever fell to the ground I'd just get stun locked it feels like there needs to be a move to knock people away as I get up or something. Combine this with Catwoman having an instant kill she just throws out without warning and you can just forget it. Game has limited continues too so after about four attempts of getting roadblocked I just decided this wasn't for me. Seems like a good game. Sounds and looks nice, hits very good and you've got a very small but effective pool of moves. I liked being able to throw a batarang to stun people and open them to grabs and such. They have these segments that switch to strictly 2d and they're fine I guess, a part where you have to use a grapple hook to move through a burning building is a neat idea but really clunky. I looked up a playthrough just to see if I was missing much and well, it looks competent and all but I don't think it'll be something I need to experience first hand. Also what is with all the clowns? I thought the Penguin was just a mobster kind of man. Then again the Burton movies were rather weird weren't they? I've only seen the original one and the modern Nolan films. I always had a fascination with Batman Forever as well. I never owned it but I did rent it several times despite being a pretty crappy game. Seriously, the SNES version has loading times. Still, something about the fully digitized sprites and sets for backgrounds came off as kind of mysterious and weird to me. The game had all kinds or secrets and arcane button combos to activate your weapons. It's a very weird game. What I like about Batman Returns is that you feel POWERFUL which I think is an important quality in a beat-em-up. Batman is huge, has an over the top manly strut and smashes clowns headfirst into the concrete. It's not Turtles in Time quality but I always thought it was pretty good.
|
|
|
Post by windfisch on Nov 16, 2022 11:44:29 GMT -5
Batman Returns (SNES, emulated on 3DS; first time; gave up at third level) So I actually downloaded this by mistake. A long ways back my brother had a few friends over and they brought Batman Forever I think. It was the one with awful prerendered sprites and a second stage in a bank that they couldn't figure out how to progress through. Morbid curiosity had me wanting to try it out mostly because I remember it at least having a curious atmosphere to it that struck a chord with me as a kid. Anyways, I wound up with a good game instead lol. Problem is I just can't meet what its asks. I'm terrible at beat em ups and after turning the base stock up to 7 and dropping things to easy I still can't beat Catwoman on the third stage. Like, it just feels like if you get knocked down once you're screwed. I don't know if there is something I'm missing or what but if I ever fell to the ground I'd just get stun locked it feels like there needs to be a move to knock people away as I get up or something. Combine this with Catwoman having an instant kill she just throws out without warning and you can just forget it. Game has limited continues too so after about four attempts of getting roadblocked I just decided this wasn't for me. Seems like a good game. Sounds and looks nice, hits very good and you've got a very small but effective pool of moves. I liked being able to throw a batarang to stun people and open them to grabs and such. They have these segments that switch to strictly 2d and they're fine I guess, a part where you have to use a grapple hook to move through a burning building is a neat idea but really clunky. I looked up a playthrough just to see if I was missing much and well, it looks competent and all but I don't think it'll be something I need to experience first hand. Also what is with all the clowns? I thought the Penguin was just a mobster kind of man. Then again the Burton movies were rather weird weren't they? I've only seen the original one and the modern Nolan films. I always had a fascination with Batman Forever as well. I never owned it but I did rent it several times despite being a pretty crappy game. Seriously, the SNES version has loading times. Still, something about the fully digitized sprites and sets for backgrounds came off as kind of mysterious and weird to me. The game had all kinds or secrets and arcane button combos to activate your weapons. It's a very weird game. What I like about Batman Returns is that you feel POWERFUL which I think is an important quality in a beat-em-up. Batman is huge, has an over the top manly strut and smashes clowns headfirst into the concrete. It's not Turtles in Time quality but I always thought it was pretty good. Batman Forever certainly is an odd one. Like most of Probe's movie-based titles it shows some genuine effort presentation-wise (I mean someone had to video capture all those characters). But it feels much more unpolished and rushed than most of their stuff. I guess making all those Mortal Kombat ports had their brains wired a certain way. At some point someone had to have realized that MK controls were actually not suited for platforming. But by then it probably was too late. The game had to come out while the movie was still hot, I guess. Forever's biggest sin is arguably how tedious the fighting feels, at least that's something they could've tightened up a bit. Funny how after this someone still greenlit Subzero Mythologies. Though in all fairness, that one was not quite as dull and the PS1 cutscenes are cheese-flavoured gold!
Yeah, Batman Returns is tough. Not a fan of the boss difficulty either. Regarding the Penguin: He is still a mobster of sorts in the movie, only his underlings are members of a former circus group. Arguably it was not the best choice going with *another* clown motif after the Joker and his henchmen in the first one. And yes, that movie is weird alright, but Returns is even weirder - in a good way. (If you're into raw fish and latex s/m, that is )
|
|
|
Post by excelsior on Nov 16, 2022 12:13:46 GMT -5
personman - Part of the strategy of Batman Returns is knowing when to use your test tubes (basically bombs). You'll have an easier time with Catwoman if you have a few available. Hold block and press X to use them and they'll do heavy damage and knock her down giving you the advantage back. A good secondary is your cape attack - you take damage but it has great range and will give you an advantage. She can also be momentarily stunned with Batarangs. I don't remember if you can block her attacks at all but knowing which attacks can be blocked and which can't is pretty important. I know you can just walk up or down to dodge her dash attacks. She is tough initially but she does have openings and any time she gives you can do good damage. As you learn her more you can slowly move away from using test tubes and save them for later on, but they're a handy crutch when starting out.
|
|
|
Post by Apollo Chungus on Nov 18, 2022 16:41:53 GMT -5
Half-Life (PlayStation 2; First Time; Gave up at Nihilanth)
Half-Life is one of those (many, many) late 90s PC classics I've not gotten round to playing for one reason or another. In this case, it's because there isn't controller support as far as I understand and my one attempt at binding controls via Joy2Key was a disaster due to some issue with the right analog stick. But finally, I decided to go with the PS2 version by Captivation Digital Laboratories and Gearbox since my controller works fine on PCSX2, and I actually managed to get all the way to the final boss - at which point I ran out of ammo and was unable to break the crystals/deal any major damage.
I previously played Half-Life 2 a couple of times over the years, but I was never really into it for reasons I couldn't quite pin down. Maybe it's worth revisiting that down the road, because I really enjoyed playing this for the first time. There's a very solid sense of pace where every chapter has you doing something new, whether that's solving a navigational puzzle, doing some platforming or making your way through a tough gauntlet with only wits and weapons on your side. I feel 2 is more memorable in this sense due to tying its chapter-specific concepts to unique locations that are more distinct than the mix of facility, canyon, and sewers, but it still makes for an adventure where there's always something around the corner.
I particularly dug all the platforming or exploration-themed segments, where you're scrambling up ladders, jumping across gaps, and generally treating the space as a first-person shooter equivalent of a jungle gym rather than a bunch of rooms you walk and shoot through. I know that the platforming in Half-Life isn't well regarded, but I think my general fondness for platformers made those segments more interesting to me than folks who wanted more shooting, puzzles or storytelling.
I even enjoyed levels that aren't all that well-liked or considered strange, such as the track-changing On The Rails, the sewer platforming antics of Residue Processing, and even the Xen levels that make up the game's final chapters. Those latter chapters are considered legendarily bad, the one thing commonly agreed upon by everyone I'd ever heard talk about the game as being a genuine misstep, but I thought they were fine. Again, maybe it's the platformer fan in me that I found most of those sections quite doable in what they were asking out of me. (I think Nihilanth might be the one part I'm not keen on, though that's more likely because I don't like "shoot as boss' weak spots with limited resources while being pummelled by attacks and summoned goons)
Whatever the case, it was great to check out Half-Life and realize why it's so well-regarded. Honestly, I'm tempted to try out the expansions before tackling 2 again (if I can manage to get them working with a controller, and even then I'm gonna miss the lock-on feature provided in the surprisingly awesome and smooth PS2 port). I guess I can always try the port-exclusive Decay campaign and the port of Uplink if it doesn't go well.
|
|
|
Post by personman on Nov 28, 2022 20:18:17 GMT -5
Super Mario Bros. The Lost Levels (beaten by abusing save states)
I got up to the fifth world I think before I said uncle and started making a save state at the start of each level. Then it got even more annoying as I went and I just started saving half way through or spots there were giving me a ton of trouble. This game is like the birth of this mentality I see developers get where they think their sacred duty is to kill the player at the expense of most every else. I guess there seems to be a wealth of people out there who just love overcoming ridiculous challenges and there isn't anything wrong with that. I don't hate a challenge but this? I hate this. It feels like a proof of concept for all those ridiculous rom hacks that speed runners and obnoxious Youtube personalities spend a year trying to get through. It's not as crazy as any of them but the spirit is there and it just got under my skin like, this thing is responsible for that whole scene which I really, really don't like.
Thankfully even without save scumming the All Stars version does mitigate some of the pain since you won't have to worry about starting the entire game over. But being sent back to the start of the world your on was bad enough especially with how annoying the castle stages are with the dumb mazes. It even commits the worst sin and makes the only means to clear a huge gap at the end of a stage an invisible coin block. I'm actually really shock they didn't pull that dirty trick more than once but the fact they did it at all makes me upset lol. You're just being an asshole. Stop.
Many people lament we never got this till later. The reskin of Doki Doki Panic may have been weird but I'll take that over this any day. Bah. Apparently the the second quest actually has remixed to new levels and doesn't go on as long as the main game but I've had enough. I'll be moving on to the second game when I'm in a Mario mood again and never looking back.
|
|
|
Post by Apollo Chungus on Dec 10, 2022 19:15:48 GMT -5
Half-Life: Timeline (Windows; First Time; beat using god mode near the end)After finishing Blue Shift but still hankering for that Half-Life, I've started checking out single-player mods. I kicked things off with this mod from 2000 by Ross Smith, the first in a trilogy of time-travelling adventures. You find that the Nazis have stumbled across a time machine within Black Mesa, and you have to travel through time to stop them from using this newly discovered technology for their own dastardly ends. It's a straightforward enough mod, keeping the enemies and weapons from the base game while embellishing the premise with a bunch of original textures and models to get the vibes across. (This is worth mentioning as some gameplay vids on YouTube are actually using mods that replace the soldiers/weapons with WWII equivalents) I dig how you have the ability at one point to choose between three different periods of time, each playing around with unique ideas such as stumbling through the dark or an exciting mine cart ride, and seeing the progression in your efforts taking you to new places reshaped by the Nazis' actions means this is a very solid effort. There's more focus on combat than platforming for the most part, and the game is mostly balanced to ensure this is never terrible. Mostly, however. Near the end where the difficulty starts to ramp up, there's a couple of rooms full of those awful spy characters that run super fast and shoot like crazy. They're lethal and there's no healing spots/ammo (apart from an easily missed medical unit near a door that makes you a sitting duck). So I was absolutely outgunned, and that section also includes a time limit so you can't even try to dawdle with mines or those explosive bugs. It was too much for me, so I had no choice but to activate the god mode cheat to make it through alive. But it ends quite satisfyingly enough, and I'd recommend it if you're quite good at Half-Life combat scenarios. You'll definitely get your time's worth. Here's a link to the mod along with the other two games, made sure to work on Steam: www.moddb.com/mods/timeline-series(BTW, some advice for any European residing Half-Life players: if you want to activate the console to input cheats, press the ` key on your keyboard. Steam forums and such say to press the ~ key, but that's because that's where the ` key is on American keyboards. It's a bit like pressing the bottom face button to jump in a platformer, doesn't matter if it's A or B or X. Hopefully, this saves you the 1+ hour hassle of not realizing that nobody ever brought up this distinction. Press ~ if you're using an American keyboard, or ` on a European keyboard, to bring up the console.)
|
|
|
Post by Woody Alien on Dec 13, 2022 11:13:56 GMT -5
Axiom Verge
I restarted playing it after literally years I wasn't touching it (like 2016 or so), played a lot during this summer, then lost interest and almost certainly won't touch it before the end of the year. It's a legitimately good game but for some reason I can't get into it and it can't hold my attention for a long time.
Chip's Challenge
Found a free version of the first game on Steam. I don't care if it's a classic, it's far too obtuse, tedious and frustrating with a Windows 3.1-looking style and interface so I don't have any interest in completing it, maybe just fire it up when I want to waste some time but nothing more.
|
|
|
Post by dsparil on Dec 17, 2022 14:34:17 GMT -5
Axiom Verge (Switch, second attempt, bored)
I forgot I even got this on Switch at some point and recently remembered. The sequel is okay, but the first game is so derivative I couldn't get through it on Wii U. The controls are also god awful which doesn't help either.
|
|
|
Post by excelsior on Dec 19, 2022 5:22:24 GMT -5
Blashemous (Switch, Second Attempt, Gave up) The appeal to Blasphemous is really in its religious influences found in its imagery and storytelling. From a writing perspective it's difficult to parse, with it's choice of language permeating every corner of the game, whether necessary or not, meaning a greater interest in the subject matter is pretty much required to see it through. The theme aside it's a pretty basic exploration platformer, which doesn't lean on ability gating like others in the genre, leaving it without much feeling of progression. There are shortcuts to be found, though they don't always make sense as far as their placement goes, which only adds to the feeling that level design is a bit lacking. Outside of the expertly drawn and animated sprites I just didn't find it particularly engaging.
Bug Fables (Switch, First Attempt, Gave up) Bug Fables got out ahead of the pack as far as Paper Mario clones go and that's really the games saving grace. Unfortunately there's nothing particularly interesting going on in it's characters, world design or combat to keep me playing. A proper levelling system would have given a missing sense of progression, but as is it seems as though the game has shown its hand very quickly.
Burnout (Gamecube vis Steam Deck, Gave up) This is quite a rudimentary introduction to what would become a pretty gripping racing series. I found it way too tough though and though there's some promise, there just isn't much reason to play this over the sequels. Charging your burnout meter takes way too much effort for way too little reward and track design takes a real step back from this mechanism also. More of a point of interest than particularly enjoyable in it's own right.
Dicey Dungeons (Switch, First Attempt, Gave up) This is a roguelike RPG that utilises dice rolls in order to activate a number of abilities on your turn. It gives you the opportunity to change up your skills as you go meaning there's a fine balance between luck and skill involved. For me where the game slips is it's progression system. There's a six characters, each with around 5 or 6 chapters - each being a full dungeon - to beat. Unfortunately you aren't given any freedom as to how you advance, as it cycles through each character and their next chapter one-by-one. Since not all characters are enjoyable and there's some frustration involved in the randomisation I found this discouraging, because not every play session was going to be fun, and I knew that before I'd plug it in. A shame, because there was some cleverness to the abilities.
Final Fantasy VI (SNES via Steam Deck, Second Attempt, Gave up) Not that I really gave it that much of a chance. I played for a few hours one day, had a perfectly fine time with it, and never had the interest in playing further. A game for another time I think.
Hotline Miami (Switch, First Attempt, Gave up) This was a gift so I don't like to be too negative, though it never appealed and that's really what stuck with me. There's some gameplay issues, such as loose controls, although I suspect that may be on purpose to add challenge. What's more frustrating is that collision detection is imprecise. The simplistic art is a clever way of getting around what perhaps was a weakness for the developers, but it's not always clear what you're looking at which is particularly important for such a fast paced stealth game. The gameplay becomes too often frustrating and I don't find there to be any charm present, with the soundtrack being the only real standout. Still, I might come back to it later since it was a gift. Unfortunately it is part of a collection so I don't think I'd be able to go as far as the sequel, regardless.
Tales of Symphonia (Gamecube, First Attempt, Gave up) Just thoroughly, thoroughly dull. Dated combat, dreadful character writing and an uninteresting plot just don't provide any reason to keep playing - though I did give it far more of a go than I should have.
|
|
|
Post by 🧀Son of Suzy Creamcheese🧀 on Dec 24, 2022 7:12:33 GMT -5
Might as well make an appearance in this thread at the last moment...
Kirby Mass Attack (DS, first time, too many other things to play)
This game is fine, honestly, but at the moment there's too many other games demaning my attention. It's kind of a weird looking Kirby game in some ways (it feels more like a 2005/2006 DS game instead of an 2011 one if that makes any sense). The OST is fine, the gameplay is fine. It just goes on a bit too long, and it's easy to miss collectibles, even though they're quite important to get. So it can be a bit of a drag at times revisiting the long stages, especially since there's sometimes branching paths, each with their own collectibles, so you can't get always get everything in one playthrough of a stage. I will give the game props for executing its concept pretty well, for the amount of minigames you can unlock (some of which are quite meaty), and for making it quite managable despite the fact that you're controlling 10 Kirbies at a time. In fact, it might be a little too managable, since it's too toothless, even for a Kirby game. It's hard to lose Kirbies and really easy to get them back, so the stakes are a little too non-existent to me.
IDK, I might return to it one day to finish this save, but probably not anytime soon.
|
|