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Post by dsparil on Jul 4, 2024 9:58:54 GMT -5
Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance (Switch, First Time)
It’s almost what they should have released back in 2021 but didn’t. The main thing is that the game is now in a weird position. It’s not a simple expanded rerelease like Strange Journey Redux on 3DS which added a new dungeon and a new set of endings. It also isn’t a full on new game like IV: Apocalypse since it reuses so much of the original. There’s a new story line and maybe ~35% new content if you consider the new side quests and replaced third area; however, due to storyline changes, there’s also removed quest chains.
That also means that the game is still mostly the same content. I started to feel exhausted by it in the fourth area. The game really should have ended at the third area which comes to a big climax. The fourth area barely had any work put into it aside from merging two of the boss battles so everything just grinds to a halt as you’re down to a level of story that’s somehow actually below the original’s and it never recovers.
So, I think you kinda end up with an odd scenario where the original story, now Canon of Creation in the game, is sort of better because it’s more consistent. It’s gameplay first with a light story that ticks up a bit at the very end. Here, it feels like Atlus set out with the best of intentions to right their perceived mistakes only to make a mess of things by not only not finishing the job but actually making things worse on top of that.
I finished in 55:31.
Rating: 6
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Post by dsparil on Jul 5, 2024 3:18:16 GMT -5
CLeM (Switch, First Time)
A third “Psychotic Adventure” from Mango Protocol, the developer of MechaNika and Agatha Knife. This time around, you’re the homunculus of a mostly unseen witch unsurprisingly named Clem. You get commanded to find an alchemical ingredient in the form of a bug, solve some puzzles along the way inside of a house that changes a bit over the game, and repeat for a total of five.
The difference here compared to the earlier games is how much of a top to bottom improvement this is. One of the big problems with MN and AK is that they are trying way too hard to be edgy and cute which this mostly sidesteps entirely. There’s a lot of restraint that’s missing in those other games. The puzzles also have good variety with a mix of inventory and mechanical puzzles although each section of the game is pretty short so it’s nothing too strenuous. There’s a little wink to the Isoland games in one of the rooms and that is a good general point of reference.
Rating: 8
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Post by dsparil on Jul 7, 2024 5:54:41 GMT -5
Myst (2021) (macOS, Replay)
Before Riven, I figured I should give the original game a replay. I had skipped over the latest remake for obvious hardware issues namely that I could barely run Masterpiece Edition at the time which isn't an issue now. For the positives, this is absolutely the best the game has ever looked and beyond the pre-rendered original. There’s also some puzzle clarifications like making the spinning tower in the library map an actual dial and adding notches to the piano puzzle. I would like to point out that you’ve never had to tone match for that puzzle, but the notches are set up like the white and black keys which make it easier to get to the right position versus only counting the positions. There’s an option for sound effect labeling which helps in a few places. Finally, you can randomize the puzzles which is nice and odd it’s taken so long.
Things aren’t so top to bottom rosy though, and they fall into a few categories. The first is regressions mostly from 2014’s realMyst: Masterpiece Edition. First off, the live action FMVs got replaced with cheap looking pre-rendered videos. They are absolutely awful and much less expressive than the originals. Luckily those did get added in a later patch but Cyan forgot to add subtitles. Rime, which got added in the original realMyst, isn’t present. It’s a small area, but it is sad that it’s not there. One of the patch notes has an acrostic that says "STARTEDRIME" so there was an intention at least. There’s also no day/night cycle, weather or the built-in hint system. Finally, the general look is very desaturated compared to the original. If you want “original Myst but 3D” the Masterpiece Edition is that way to go.
The other category is from the game’s VR origins. The non-VR ports came out six months or so later and feel like an afterthought. The UI is utterly bland and an incredibly disappointing first impression. Manipulating anything is very cumbersome. It was probably expressive in VR, but it’s overly difficult with a mouse where you end up simulating actual motions in 3D space. It mostly doesn’t make things hard to finish, but I think someone that doesn’t know the solution to the rotating dial puzzle in the clocktower might not find it from the clunkiness. It reminds me a lot of trying to play Cooking Mama emulated with everything taking too much movement.
Finally, the Mac version is a technical disaster. Performance is awful compared to the Riven remake while also looking worse. This could be Unreal Engine issues since it runs on 4 versus Riven’s 5, but I’d expect a less advanced game to perform better in any case. You can get better performance by using the strange render scaling slider at the expense of things looking smeary. If you make the mistake of trying to use the regular Fullscreen mode for direct resolution control, for reasons I cannot understand this shuts off your monitor as in actually cutting the video signal not blanking the screen. I thought the game was totally hosed at that point, but unplugging and plugging it back in fixes this although I only did it to go back to Fullscreen Windowed. What happens on a laptop is beyond me, maybe it's impossible to fix without trying to find and delete the settings file. It also does not work with Bluetooth headphones at all. I don’t know how this is even possible, but they weirdly do work with the company logos (which don’t actually display under Fullscreen Windowed in another weirdness). I think most of these are still VR port problems.
Porting issues aside, is this the best version of Myst? I’d still go with no. If I had bought this before the new Riven, I would never have bought Riven. That floored me as I already posted, but this got a bit of shrug from the bad first impression. Masterpiece Edition has problems of its own mainly from the slightly awkward controls, but there’s enough enhancements to overcome that. This looks better on a technical level, but it loses too much atmosphere which is mostly the point. Unlike Riven, Myst is an easy game for the genre and it’s much more about the ambience and details versus the actual puzzles which are minimal. Considering that it’s 10 years old, it’ll run well on much more hardware these days, and it has a decent Switch port. As a side note, I wish that version didn’t prioritize speed over graphics so much, it falls somewhere between the Low and Medium Low preset, but also seems to have some graphical touches unique to it.
Rating: 6
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Post by spanky on Jul 9, 2024 19:47:51 GMT -5
Bubble Bobble (NES, Replay)
Played co-op with my six year old but only did the first loop. We had a blast. Ridiculously fun and dynamic even today. There's some cheap parts, but with infinite continues and a password at every level it's hard to complain. I've never played any of the various sequels - how are they? Seems like it would be a hard concept to mess up. 8/10.
Contra III: The Alien Wars (SNES, Replay)
Did a quick run on...NORMAL mode which means I didn't get the real ending. Shameful! This game ups the spectacle from the first few installments and is where the series goes from top notch run n' gun action to a non-stop roller coaster. 9/10.
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Post by personman on Jul 9, 2024 23:52:11 GMT -5
Mega Man ZX Advent (NDS, 12 hours, first time) Finally stepping into new territory here. Right around the time this released my friends pulled me into WoW and after I wasn't impressed with the last game I felt no urge to seek this out. I heard decent things though only a little bit, I don't see people discussing this one much so I was definitely curious of it but I think I was just too burned out when playing through the Switch collection to give it the time of day. Hazard of trying to be a perfectionist with the damn Zero games. Anyways playing this now I don't exactly lament neglecting it for so long but this ended up being a decent time and I'm glad to get this spot covered finally. Right off the bat they clearly heard much of the feedback loud and clear as most of all the major criticisms folks had have been addressed. The map makes sense now, quests aren't horrendously clunky to do anymore, the whole hit bosses weak point to nerf yourself afterward crap has been done away with just great fixes across the board. Hell they even made the choice of protags make a bit a difference now with Grey and Ashe having different variants of their charges, I went with Ashe since she doesn't look as stupid as Grey even with her toothpaste hair plus Vent shows up to be a deus ex machina in her story where Grey gets Aile so since I always just went with Vent in the last game I figured may as well follow the thread. Not that the story is of any concern once again suffering the same issues the last game did. Again the pace is way too fast, I barely knew what group I was affiliated with and what their goal is, the whole conflict still feels like its in this vacuum disconnected from the world and while some intrigue is built up towards the end but the plot twist for the hero isn't really earned. Also docking points for the main villain just coming off like a damn Tales of villain or something, very retread jrpg final boss with 'God' kinda shit. I cannot possibly care less about this garbage but I'll at least give them some credit that much as I dislike it this is the final stop before the series gets to the Legends timeline I'm pretty sure and much of the locations, especially the last level do have whiffs of that series in them so I can at least respect they are doing this stuff with purpose. Course no one cares about that. More importantly the game feels much better to play with a decent step up in the level design calling for the use of different forms to clear obstacles such as smashing through overhead blocks with the fire deer guy or using the trilobite thing's time slow to get under a shudder in time. Only issue is the need for these powers after the early segments become more and more scarce and I'm pretty sure theres a couple bosses whose abilities are only needed twice in the whole game thus feeling like a bit of a waste since none of them are really practical to fight with. On the other hand all of the previous models make a return to give you combat options and for the most part they serve well even if they aren't nearly as strong as they were previously. That is an issue actually: the main model you get is too good and personally outside of one or two cases it felt like the bosses and stages were still mostly designed around it so while you can certainly get by with the others it just seemed best to stick with Model A; especially playing as Ashe since her charge shot ricochets like 4 times so you'll wind up hitting things even if you miss. Also the multi lock thing is just way too good. Still though while none of the stages are too impressive they're a decent deal less bland that ZX just wish they could have played with the forms more to make them worth using outside of like one or two puzzle rooms which really just highlights that this whole ambition of having Megaman tip its toes into Metroid waters isn't working out since it just doesn't commit enough to it. Also the bosses are a step back too. Most of them are merely just fine and rarely do anything impressive. While I wouldn't call them push overs I ended up beating most of them my first try with the only one that gave me significant trouble being the jackass with Model L since they thought it'd be cool to make you fight him on three tiny platforms. Also if you were a fan of all the technical play the last game had from what I can see most of that is gone now which doesn't effect me much but I can understand why that would disappoint some and once again you have all these options and Model A feels like the best answer to nearly all of them. You even get Model ZX back eventually but I just really didn't see the point of bothering with it. Course I usually prefer to play ranged characters and Model F does that too but I never liked how shooting rooted you in place. On the flip side of that the side content is much better to deal with now with npcs actually letting you know they have something for you and more consistent worthwhile rewards are available. The actual quests themselves are usually just more fetch quest stuff though and with how much more effort it takes to get around I just wasn't up to finishing all of them much as I respected their inclusion but all the health and weapon energy upgrades don't involve them so I just grabbed the things that extend iframes and let melee weapons erase bullets and I was good. I was happier with this one. Didn't love it but if I had to replay this or go back to sweep up the stuff I missed it wouldn't bother me much, still though its definitely not my favorite cause again I just feel like they really needed to go farther with the Metroid angle to really make that aspect worth it but then if you do that you have to wonder if there will be any room for this to actually feel like a Megaman game. Frankly I'm suspecting the two halfs are just diametrically opposed and while I do recognize they were starting to figure this out I'm kind of okay with the series ending here. Who knows, maybe they could have nailed it, off the top of my head Hollow Knight managed to be a great Metroid like while having an emphasis on action. With how damn many games of this nature there are out there these days maybe somebody did crack the code I just don't care to go find out for now lol. It doesn't help I just find the setting, music and art for this so goddamn charmless, hell I almost forgot to mention the bad voice acting present in the game cause even though you can chuckle at the horrendous camp it still just reeks of that generic anime fare that I can't stand. But all that aside this was a good improvement and I'm glad I saw it through even if its nothing I'd tell people to go look for. Wouldn't tell them not to either. Rating-7 Well that didn't last long did it? If I'm not mistaken the ZX series is technically the shortest in the whole franchise since Legends got that one Tron Bonne spin off (may have to give that a spin soon). I really didn't care for this series before and I still am not wild about it but these days my view on it has certainly softened, helped by the efforts of Advent. I still stand by my stance though that what this series was trying to do just isn't the course the series should really take or would need so much work to adapt itself it would wind up not really being a Megaman game kinda like Legends or Battle Network which really if they don't want to make a pure traditional Megaman then that is precisely what they should have tried to do. Instead we got a Mega that just feels very unspectacular with a dash of Metroid that just ended up watering things down more than anything. The transformation things was a neat idea but it was already starting to show signs of bloat and probably needed to just be cut back and focused more than anything. Who knows maybe they would have figured it out, I've read recently that a third game was planned and was a decent ways through pre production but poor sales of both titles got it canned, plus I believe this was about the time Inafune got up to his shenanigans so I bet that was a factor too. Would have been interesting to see what they would try going forward but honestly I'm not heart broken about it being cut short. Well, I guess I did it. I believe that is the lion share of most of the traditional Megaman games on a whole. Guess I could take a look at the Gameboy games again but I did that in '21 and eh, I doubt I'd have much to say about them. Supose if I wanted to really get dedicated I'd seek out the weird fringe stuff like the DOS game or maybe the weird Wonderswan games which I can't say I'm chomping at the bit to try. There was the Wily Wars and that one random Gamegear game but both of those are just worse versions of better games so eh... for now I think I'm ready to call this project done. I have been eyeing the Battle Network collection on my Switch so I might continue with those so the blue bomber may still be with me in this year just not as the usual platformer. So yeah! I declare this dumb marathon over with. Mission complete, thanks for tolerating me rambling about one franchise all this year lol. Woo.
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Post by Woody Alien 2 on Jul 10, 2024 5:36:40 GMT -5
Argol - Kronoss' Castle (Steam, first time, timer says 6 hours)
I bought a game during sales but I refunded it after 5 minutes because achievements didn't work and it was, quite frankly, shit - so with the money I bought another cheap title on sale. "Argol" is the first work from a group of French people: a throwback to 80s and early 90s action platformers inspired by Rastan and Rygar, with a bit of old school anime sprinkled on it too (mostly Saint Seiya). For a team of first timers it is reasonably well-made and credibly old school, but still with Quality of life improvements: it auto-saves after every stage and you have infinite continues instead of forcing you to do everything in a single setting. There's a bit of replayability since there are prisoners hidden in almost every stage and, weirdly, also lyres that represent the BGM that you have to unlock if you want to listen to them in the options menu! As for the gameplay, it's a typical platformer where you jump on floating platforms and kill monsters with your sword: these are very persistent since if you don't kill them they'll follow you for the whole level, but most of them only need 2-3 hits to be defeated. Bosses are quite easy too and, if you manage to find all the additional health points hidden around, you can just tank them if you don't want to study their patterns. The only reason I took it so long to complete it is that some levels are really big and convoluted so you risk to run in circles (as I did), our hero's double jump is kind of awkward so it's easy to fall into chasms (another old-school style is that you cannot see what's below or above you), and, most of all, near the end there's a very annoying and frustrating shmup sequence on top of Pegasus that made me waste a lot of time to get it right, since you also need to find 3 keys while everything is shooting at you in all directions.
There's also another problem that made me lower my score and I have no idea if it's a bug or what: in the options menu the key remapping page simply did not work and I was forced to complete the whole game with the cumbersome layout provided by the game, and it almost gave me a cramp As for the rest, I liked the general 16bit-looking graphic style, the weird but cool prog rock-style soundtrack and the general old school vibe, shame for those problems that made it annoying at times. Also I ended it with a bad end, since you had the options at the end to kill or spare the bad guy, but the second option was greyed out, but I had no idea what to do - maybe because I didn't rescue all prisoners? Unlikely, maybe it's because of the puzzle right before the final boss that however has absolutely no hints on what you should do...
6.5/10
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Post by dsparil on Jul 12, 2024 14:51:21 GMT -5
Riven (2024) (macOS, Replay)
I think Riven is the first game I was really hyped to see released. I liked Myst, but a friend of mine was obsessed with it. His excitement for it spilled over to me, and I don’t think either of us were disappointed. We spent a lot of time together combing through the game’s five islands and comparing notes. One key difference between us though is that I was much more inclined to get the strategy guide if there was one. I eventually started to lean on that towards the end, but it took him something like a year to finish.
That’s not to say that Riven is some super hard game for the most part. The puzzles are more integrated into the surroundings, and you do need to pay attention to the environment on a greater level than Myst. However, there is one place where Cyan went a little overboard. What’s usually called the marble puzzle is spelled out for you elsewhere, but I think it was overly fiddly due to using a 25x25 grid. That’s what tripped up my friend because you needed so much precision.
But, that was Riven (1997) and this is Riven (2024). Unlike Myst (2021), the changes made are much more substantial. First though, a lot of the surface level issues with Myst aren’t here. Performance is pretty good, the UI isn’t some pseudo-scifi minimalist nightmare, and there was some thought put into removing the “VR-ness” from the mechanical manipulation although some of that stuck around. You also have the proper and real hand cursor which is a nice touch. I didn’t mention the hand option for Myst, it's not the default, because it was such a monstrosity I tried my hardest to forget it. The Notebook/screenshot option is also a bit more useful since you can add a caption, but for some reason they appear in no particular order which is weird.
For those gameplay changes, it’s substantial enough that they’re almost but not quite two different games. The two largest puzzles, the aforementioned marble puzzle and a large one spread over the game’s main Jungle Island, got changed so much that they are wholly new. The geographic core of the marble puzzle got stripped out which had a whole pile of downstream changes to rebuild it including adding or replacing other puzzles and even adding new areas. The stuff on Jungle Island is more of a simple swap although it also includes a new gameplay element. I think the new marble puzzle is better overall, but the new Jungle Island stuff is a bit worse. The original puzzle didn't need replacement and it feels like change of the sake of change.
One objective degradation though are the new 3D characters. Riven had some actual live action characters and the replacements are not good. They have a weird “PS3 but with more polygons” quality to them if that makes any sense. It’s very jarring compared to the technical detail of the environment. The 3D Atrus in Myst was okay-ish and is so here too, but the others are worse and feel off. Except for one that only appears shoulder up in a 3D hologram i.e. it's realtime. Why this one model is miles above the rest especially compared to the screen time is perplexing to me.
That aside, the remake is still mostly good. I can imagine some people not liking the puzzle changes, but someone coming in fresh couldn’t have any knowledge of all that anyway.
Rating: 9
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Post by spanky on Jul 12, 2024 20:23:22 GMT -5
personman Congrats on finishing your marathon! I've tried to play all the MM games before but I peter out at some of those later X games...those are rough. Speaking of Mega Man! Mega Man IV (Gameboy via NSO, first time)
My wife and kids are out of town for a few days and it's been raining all week so I'm putting in some Work here. This is the first of the GB Mega Man games that really feels like it's attempting to compete on the same level as it's console counterparts. OK, maybe the scrunched playing area is slightly annoying but the game adds some new features to spice things up. There's a shop and uh well, the buster has a recoil. The presentation is top notch too with loads of unique and some very cool cutscenes. A lot of the annoying platforming from the last game has been excised but the game remains challenging. Probably the best game of the 5 and I like it better than the NES Mega Man IV. 9/10. Mega Man V (Gameboy via NSO, replay)
The final game in the GB series takes things a step further and introduces an entirely unique set of robot masters called Stardroids who are all planet themed. They even went through the trouble of making an entire new set of robo-mooks. It introduces the Mega Arm which replaces your buster. When charged it sends a Rocket Punch instead of your typical blast. It takes a bit of getting used to but you can also get upgrades to make it grab enemies or pick up items (very handy). Also you get a new animal buddy - a cat named Tango who can roll up into a buzzsaw and follow you around. He's not particularly useful. Free from the restrictions of the NES games, you see even more new ideas here, like an item that steals health from enemies are a weapon that allows Mega Man to do a powerful dash. There's a lot to like here, almost everything is original, the new robots are cool, and it has a fairly involved plot. Fighting the Mega Man Killers again is a nice endcap to the series. Also, Wily isn't even the final boss! This is excellent, though I wish the music was a bit better. 9/10. Run Saber (SNES, Replay)
A Strider clone and one of my personal favorite SNES games despite not being as good or as memorable as it's inspiration. I beat this on hard mode which is pretty easy as the foes can be very generous with health and smart bomb drops. Cool music, some gratuitous Mode 7 and and incomprehensible plot - the ending is your characters watching a little girl running back to her parents. 8/10. Fading Afternoon (Switch, First Time)
The third game made by Yeo, who also made The Friends of Ringo Ishikawa and Arrest of a Stone Buddha. His games have a theme of characters going through an existential crisis - this one has you playing as a Yakuza released after a long stint in jail (sound familiar?). There is a general story driven by taking over territory and forging friendships with other Yakuza. Here's the kicker though - you're dying of lung cancer and your time is limited. This is represented in game by having your max health go down slightly each week and each day goes by pretty quickly. So you can play through the story (which has tons of variations), or do things like try to reconnect with your ex-wife, go fishing or just engage in drunken debauchery. Like a Yeo's other games, many of the mechanics are sort of vague and it can be very easy to miss scripted events. The general gameplay has you visiting different areas of the city and getting into fights with other gangs. The combat is actually a lot of fun but fighting through 20 guys during each gang war gets a little old after a while (I am not ashamed to admit I turned on Easy mode which lowers that to 10 after a few playthroughs). There are tons of different endings and I feel like I got enough to consider the game completed. Sometimes you might become the boss, sometimes you might get executed by an ally you slighted, sometimes you might just die like a dog on a park bench. The game runs on autosave (though you can savescum a bit if you're quick) so if you want to experiment, you're going to have to deal with the fact that you might be starting over. There is a (once again slightly unclear) way to carry your money to the next playthrough though. This is a great game, but you really need to just vibe with it. 8/10.
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Post by personman on Jul 14, 2024 14:38:59 GMT -5
Aye, once I got to X5 it became a fight to stick with. But now you covered the GB games so I don't have to! Lol. Those were good ports for what they were and I remember liking them better than the NES originals though I'm not sure I'd feel that way now.
I think I liked 3 the best just because I recall 4 and 5 having final stages that went on a little too long.
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Post by Apollo Chungus on Jul 15, 2024 5:08:09 GMT -5
Wow, I've finally got something to post on here again. I've been either slow playing through games or giving stuff up (as shown by the trio of posts I did over in the Game Fail thread). Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood (Xbox 360; First Time; 4 hours 50 minutes)I quite enjoyed the original Call of Juarez when I played it back in March, enough that I thought I might check out the rest of the series proper if the chance came up. Lo and behold, I stumbled across the first sequel in a charity shop some weeks ago and snapped it up, eager to see what the folks at Techland would be getting up to this time. I'm generally aware that Bound in Blood is considered to be better than the first, prolly cuz of the lack of stealth and platforming sequences which were generally considered a bit clunky, but I sadly can't agree with that. Removing those sequences also removes a lot of the gameplay pacing and variety that made the original so distinct, and now pretty much the whole thing is gunfight after gunfight after gunfight. Decent enough gunfights for sure, with a variety of settings that keep things visually interesting such as flat towns, mountainous forests, and mine shafts, and there's some nice banter between the McCall brothers you play as. But the gunfights lose their edge when there's nothing to contrast them apart from those settings and even that starts to feel like background noise after a while (which is a real shame since there's a lot of lovely looking locales that have a nice bit of atmosphere to them). There's a couple levels that break things up, letting you do a bunch of side quests in a big open area if you fancy it. Those were the most interesting parts of the adventure to me, since you get to look around, exist in the world for a while, and do whatever you want for a little while. I wish there were more sections like this, or simply more variation in the gameplay. I also wish I cared more about the story, given how much of a focus it gets. Noah Gervais did a solid enough discussion as to why it didn't work for him, and while I agree with that on some level, I can't really articulate why I couldn't get invested in it. There's a lot of cutscenes, but none of it evoked any specific emotion from me except the sense that there were loads of gaps that had to be filled in by chunks of narration in between stages. It came off as a very "tell us what the characters are like but don't show us so we can see for ourselves" kind of story, which I normally don't have an opinion on as a storytelling concept. Here it deffo made things feel a bit more flat than I think was the intent. It reached the point where by the final levels I was just skipping cutscenes whenever possible, I was so out of fecks to give about the story these folks were trying to tell or the game itself. I've not felt so apathetic towards a game in a very long time, and it's a shame considering I liked the original a good bit. I was originally planning to go back and replay the levels as Thomas, since you can choose between him and Ray (who I stuck with largely to get a "play through all levels as Ray" achievement), but I really can't be bothered. [EDIT: I beat another game this afternoon. I see what they mean by the phrase "it never rains but it pours" lmao)Ys: The Oath in Felghana (PlayStation Portable; First Time; 6 hours 44 minutes)About a week or two ago, I grabbed a bunch of action-RPGs on the PSP, since I figured their portable design would result in some quick blasts of "pick up and play" gaming. Among these were the post- Chronicles games in the Ys series; VI, SEVEN and this, which is a remake/reimagining of Ys III done in the style of VI. Funnily enough, the localized version of the Switch port was leaked and announced the day after I started playing it. This is more of a traditional action-RPG compared to I and II, eschewing their bump combat and asking you press an attack button to deal damage against enemies. In general, Felghana is a more dexterous game, with the ability to jump (and later double jump), dungeons where you'll need to look around and find secret areas to uncover items or materials, magic spells that let you further explore as much as fight back, and timed bonuses which reward chaining attacks and enemy kills. While that means things are more mechanically demanding and less accessible than I and II, I can't deny that this is very much my kind of action-RPG, for how it creates a more believable world and a greater sense of adventure. Each major dungeon feels distinct in enemies, geography and navigation (from the lava-ridden underground beneath the Illburns Ruins to the slippery mountains of Elderm), and therefore it's addictive to explore and discover. It's not a long game by any means as you can see by the runtime, but it feels fully formed and dense within that concise package. I also dig extra details like the changing dialogue of the citizens in Redmont, the option to choose between the brand new soundtrack and the PC-98/Sharp X68000 versions of the original Ys III, and the ability to explore most of Elderm before you're supposed to. There's even multiple difficulties and optional New Game Plus bonuses to sink your teeth into, which is very much appreciated even though I don't plan on revisiting this one for a while. A solid time I'd deffo recommend to fans of short but sweet action-RPGs.
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Post by Digitalnametag on Jul 15, 2024 18:50:19 GMT -5
Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance PS5 FTP 45 hours Finished the Canon of Vengeance route. The quality of life stuff here motivated me to give this another try after I dropped the original when it was released on the Switch. The story and characters are mostly forgettable and the first two zones are kind of dull designs but the demon raising and combat are still top notch. Some of the new demons are downright terrifying and seeing them represented well in 3D is nice. I'll probably always prefer Persona to mainline SMT as I am a filthy casual, but even among other SMT games Vengeance would probably only rank near the middle for me. The open world stuff is kind of boring. You spend a lot of time running around in big empty zones. Traversal works better in say Strange Journey or Soul Hacker II as there is a tension element as you are trying to survive to the next save point while navigating a dungeon. SMTV:V really doesn't have traditional dungeons and saving anywhere eliminates most of that tension. Don't get me wrong the game can still be plenty difficult but that mostly comes from the boss battles. As for the soundtrack I was mixed on it. The battle themes tended to be awesome but I didn't care for the early over world pieces. There are some odd choices and irregular noise inserted into some pieces that grated on me. So solid game. Not my favorite SMT but still really enjoyable. I skipped most of the extra high difficulty bonus bosses and probably won't be playing for other endings anytime soon. Side note: I was surprised by how easy the final boss was after fighting the two before it. Feels like the game should have ended on the other fights. Like I get the story based final fight trope but this one felt like it was built up to be more. I really didn't want another 45 minute fight anyway so I was kind of relieved. Meant I didn't need to grind for new skill set-ups or demons. Update: Too much free time. Mega Man ZX PS4 Replay 7 hours Me too! The theming on this one puts it over the top for me. I love the designs, transformations, and over the top story. Snake motif for the villain? Thank you Inti Creates for saying 'no' to ambiguity in antagonists. Or subtlety. The anime scenes were really neat on the DS back in the day too. Remember when Capcom used to try with Mega Man? The game plays just as smooth as the Zero games and the new bosses fun. All the stuff personman mentions in his review is true though. Bad map, terrible subquests, and the game doesn't explain mechanics. And don't get me started on the last two subtanks. Worst items to collect in the series. I purchased the guide with the DS game back in the day and used it for this play too so that alleviated a lot of wandering around pointlessly. I still really like this one as a continuation to the Zero series warts and all. Collected all the trophies so my slow but steady Platinum of the Zero collection continues. Just need ZX A and a couple Z-Chaser stages now.
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Post by personman on Jul 16, 2024 14:42:57 GMT -5
Oh yeah, that tank in area K was ridiculous. Someone just REALLY did not want you to get that thing lol.
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Post by Digitalnametag on Jul 16, 2024 15:38:55 GMT -5
Yup. I gave up after missing the button to open the gate after the breakable blocks. Probably spent 30 minutes looping through the stage. Glad the PSN subtank trophy is for ZXA and not ZX.
Really the PSN trophies are pretty light compared to what they could be. I wouldn’t even try if it was collect all data files, cyber-elves, or S rank everything.
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Post by spanky on Jul 17, 2024 14:33:45 GMT -5
Metroid Zero Mission (GBA via NSO, Replay)
Remember when remakes weren't the norm?. Zero Mission has a similar layout and structure to the original game but it plays more like Super Metroid and has many of the items (though not all) found in that game. The game uses a similar (though not identical) world layout and adds a handful of new mini bosses as well as some nice looking (and mostly dialogue free) cutscenes. I do wish they kept Kraid's original design for old times sake. There's something almost...restrained about this remake. The world isn't big and you can explore it very quickly. The game is nice enough to give you hints where to go next and the bosses go down pretty quickly. However, there are some big changes in the endgame - in particular, entirely new epilogue. After taking down Mother Brain (who has no crazy second form or anything) and escaping from Mother Brain's lair, your ship get shot down, you lose your armor and the rest of the game is a sort of strange stealth game where you infiltrate a Space Pirate ship and Chozo ruins. The stealth section continues until you find a new set of armor which allows you to just go on a rampage, which is extremely satisfying though the final boss is underwhelming.
This is pretty much a pitch perfect remake. Modernizing the game but still trying to maintain the feel the original game was going for. This might be my favorite Metroid next to Super 9/10.
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Post by lurker on Jul 18, 2024 16:28:46 GMT -5
So what's the rule again when it comes to tag team fighters, like the MvC series?
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