Lurker > Simoun

KCF0107 posted...

Macbat 64 (PC)

Short, sweet platformer without fail states that obviously is meant to emulate some of the N64 platformers in appearance.

OMG someone other than me played this. Yay

Oh yeah one more thing, I really really hate that this game has crappy Mouse KB Controls. Non-existent essentially. If I could play this game with a mouse for aiming, I probably wouldn't complain so much about the sensitive controller aiming.

Oddworld: Soulstorm (PC)

The oldest game on my PC. I got it on release back in 2021 and just forgot about it after a quarter in. 2021 was a bad year for me as I focused on work and clawing my life back. One of the main reasons I didn't get back to this sooner was just the entire idea of me playing what is essentially an escort mission to get 100% So I put it off for a LONG time.

Anyways, I enjoyed it. I enjoyed that I managed to live long enough to see Oddworld Inhabitants was finally able to tell the story it always wanted to tell. Abe's Exoddus being one of my all time favorite games, I enjoyed this retelling in the true spirit of things. And I also enjoy this whole idea of an uncompromising publisher who went dark, came back, and proceeded to revitalize itself via its properties. Will we see its promised lineup of games claimed all the way back in the early 2000s? I don't really know, but for me this is enough at least and it can only get better from here.

That said, I know I entered this game without expectations but I felt like it wasn't without some issues. Pacing was a problem; some easy levels nestled between some fiendishly hard ones. Locations that appeared early on in Exoddus appeared much later in Soulstorm sure storywise it made sense but the difficulty too? It made me think that the levels were intended much earlier but just shuffled around later to tell the proper story. Also those early levels showcased alot more mechanics and sights to see than the simplicity of those later ones.

I also don't know if this is my controller being mediocre but I didn't particularly like the aiming and there is so so much aiming in this game. You wouldn't think a game like this required such precision but often times I found myself lopping molotovs just slightly over a Slig's head before being gunned down because my right stick wasn't sensitive enough. I only found out late that you can lob shit whilst hanging from a ledge which trivialized certain things but the game doesn't tell you this and previous Abe games didn't let you do this either.

But by far my biggest gripe was the extra emphasis on combat in this game. Well, I primarliy saw this game as a puzzler with the occasional schadenfraude of possessing a slig and going to town with it. That's fine. What I didn't expect was entire escort missions where you had to stop a bunch of sligs from open firing at hundreds of your fellow escapees. It gets tedious especially for that sweet 80% escape rate to unlock the good ending (and that 100% rate to unlock the secret end scene). And like, it would've been fine if it was just a one off, but there were 2 levels of this. And a third where there was nothing BUT this. A level segregated into 10 waves of this. It's ridiculous.

Congruent to this, the non-combat parts of the game were either simplified puzzle-wise or just an excuse to take in the sights and do some light combat. If you weren't running around huge stretches observing the background and foreground, you were dealing with the one or two levers needed to pass the challenge. Stealth was now a bigger part of this game and thankfully was not annoying because of the dumb Mudokon AI, but because there's just so much stealth. So much gathering mats and crafting them and dealing with the same challenges over and over. It didn't bother me so much until the penultimate level where you had to go through 12 missions of the same type. What kept me going was the plot.

One other thing that bothered me was the save system. Idk if this has been patched but for awhile, the next level refused to load and I was eventually forced to hunt down a save file to save my sanity. The levels are also VERY long most of them clocking at least an hour if your intent is to save all the Mudokons. Which would be fine, if there wasn't a bug that messed with your last saved checkpoint, taking you instead to one from the previous level. There is no ingame save and only a level select. And there is no profiles so you can't start a new game without deleting your entire progress. I must say these design choices are certainly Odd.

As a retelling, it works. It actually makes alot more sense now and I hear that this was always the original intent. A bit sad that some levels got shortened or trivialized but if it was all to sacrifice for the retelling then I don't mind as much. I also like the change in characterization. Delving a bit into spoiler territory here, Abe here was not a terrorist but a ghost, and the reason why his exploits were mostly undetectable was because the Glukkons never perceived that there could be an uprising. Up until the finale. The plot was centralized more on Abe finding himself and coming into his own as the savior of his own people though I'll admit that arc was as eventful as a molehill---Abe doesn't really gather the courage he just sort of keeps chugging along doing what people have tasked of him. Truly Abe in this game felt even more flat than he was in Exoddus and that's saying something.

But yeah anyways, glad to finally knock this one out. 7/10

Kenri posted...

I saw someone post on the Steam forums about how some of the changes made it feel like easy mode, but that they took that as a sign to finally just beat the damn game and put it behind them. I think I concur.

I felt the same way about the Spyro trilogy when they mapped the right stick to the mouse, which trivialized most of the challenges in this game. And this will probably be what I will feel when I eventually try to beat Turok 2

In between my boardgaming hobby and my new job, I'm just beating less games this year because my PC is due for an OS upgrade (I'm still on 7). As such, I am just trying to beat my current backlog and not finding new things to play.

Also DRG is still addicting as hell and suits my current purposes.

Kenri posted...

Heck yes, Phoenotopia: Awakening is amazing. Definitely a hidden gem. It's just a shame that they've all but said "we're not making a sequel, the game didn't sell enough" because yeah, it desperately wants a sequel.

Nooooo daym. I thought for sure it was getting one. This is so criminal.

Phoenotopia: Awakening (PC)

Has anyone played this game? Or did I just miss this during the hype? Because it's so good. Play this now, everyone. Did you know this began as a Newgrounds game? Man, I gotta play that too someday.

When I first started this game, it sort of sat on my Desktop for months I think. At that point I was getting burned out from playing all the 2d Platformer Adventure games and thought this was no different, that I would finish it easily in 2 days or something. I had no idea this was a Zelda clone, and a very faithful one at that while its dna is distinct make no mistake this game stands strongly on its own. To get things out of the way first, when you load this game for the first time, please please please use the easiest or 2nd easiest difficulty setting. When the 1.0 of this game first came out, it had stupid Soulslike mechanics that were absolutely not needed here. Normal attacks used stamina, money was very scarce, and you didn't flinch so normal enemies could combo you. Fix all that first please, and don't feel like a sissy for doing it. This game was not meant to be a Soulsclone.

Anyways with that out of the way, where do I even start? As some might remember, I held Iconoclasts in very high regard. It had a great story and wasn't afraid to not pull punches and take the plot into weird directions. It also had great worldbuilding, music, and mysteries to solve. But it was also pretty linear despite having secret bosses that required massive backtracking and little else going for it. For all its flaws, it was charming enough of a feat to be made by a sole dev. Why do I bring this game up? Because Phoenotopia: Awakening is like if the Iconoclast dev actually had a team. It is everything Iconoclasts is, but better. Open Worlds, a shitton of collectibles, secrets abound, a lived-in universe, amazing worldbuilding, great bosses, and a spectrum of great music.

The game is set in a post-apocalyptic world, but fast forwarded a few centuries that the world has now revolved back into medieval fantasy with a few touches to science here and there. Here, the world we currently live in is literally a relic of the past and so there are ruins of modern cities your character can delve in and explore and like, these places always felt so soulless and empty, not unlike everything else in this game. Every character has something interesting to say and many states in which they will continue saying something else. Every side activity doesn't feel like its own quest or a list that needs checking. And every city and town has its own thing going on and in fact you do not get to see the entire world. The fact that alot of things remain out of our reach just intrigues me to dream and expect that this game could do alot of other things. Its just asking for a sequel.

Just to give you guys a taste of how much the devs love this game; sometime later you meet a fortune teller who will give you a riddle on literally EVERY collectible in the game. There's about 110 of them and the fortune teller has a riddle for every single one. Absolutely insane. And they're all fiendish as well, requiring you to talk to people and actually know where things are. I was surprised to be halfway into the plot and finding out I've missed around 10 heart containers already!

This game is challenging too and I must say prone to backtracking because of all the collectibles and quests. However I will say I didn't really truly feel the backtracking as padding or boring because of how healing is tied to cooking which you will need ingredients for which is found by exploring. This constant need to eat to heal while you're exploring uncharted territory gives you a sort of satisfying feedback loop. And you can truly feel the leg of your journeys as unlocking shortcuts between them are not only few and far in between but absolutely thematic and logical like I just discovered a shortcut from one dungeon to another which leads back to another town, and despite me never using that place ever again felt like it was great that it was there. There are about 4-5 secret dungeons for every main dungeon that you find and it all serves to increase the idea that you're living in an actual world that's had a history and such.

Finally, I also like how unlike Iconoclasts, this game's plot has harnessed cynicism and tragedy into a more colorful motif that goes beyond hopelessness and despair. I don't want to reveal much on the actual threat of this game but it really tests the character's wills and gives things a more idealistic bent no matter how dire the circumstance. I am reminded of Ashen and how it compares to Dark Souls.

After the disaster that was Curse of the Sea Rats and Siberia 3, I am finally blessed with a hidden good gem. My best game so far this year and probably going into my personal top 10. Here's hoping for a sequel.

SpoinkRulezz posted...

Agreed. Love 4. I never get why people rag on its issues whereas both 2 and 3 have real issues themselves. 4 is big, Cossack's castle is unique, its soundtrack has its own identity and is more layered than the other NES titles, it gives you options with a great variety of good weapons (people complain about the Mega Buster but 5 and 6 literally have OP busters but not great RM weapons unlike 4, especially 5). It could do with slightly tougher Robot Masters and platforming, but in the same vein the others lack a lot of stuff as well.

I think people like to rag on the buster because 4 is literally the first game where they invented the charge and all these 2/3 purists are just butthurt in the same way that Resident Evil purists were so against the nixing of Camera Angles in the remakes.

Toad Man, dum as he is, still had an amazing level and a wonderful track. I can't hate his boss fight for the life of me. And they redeemed him for me when they made him extra tough in Battle Network. And yes I love Cossack's domain and how distinct it is. In the future games, they just went with the 2-fort format because 4 did it.

Tomb Raider: Anniversary (PC)

I am really terrible at this game. But I finally beat it. I beat TR Legend a couple of years ago and honestly started this game directly after, but I gave up after getting lost. Getting back into it, it was alot tougher than I remembered but at least it didn't hold your hand like Legend did. I never played the original TRs and would never dream of doing so; they're just way too oldschool for me. But even in this rendition where fans complained that it was "too easy" I find myself struggling to beat. But it was definitely great playing it.

In my last ranking, I forgot to put in Fashion Police Squad, which is high up for its comedic concept and storyline, its great boss fights, its innovative albeit repetitive clothing shooter system, and that music. Adding it now, and the game I just beat:

Hedon
DUSK
Ion Fury
Hands of Necromancy
Cultic - is only this low because they decided to release it as "Episode 1"
Fashion Police Squad
Cruelty Squad
Dread Templar | HROT
Project Warlock
Amid Evil - This is my "Its okay, Average" Rating
Powerslave Exhumed
=======================================
Warhammer: 40k Boltgun (PC)
=======================================
Postal: Brain Damaged
Prodeus | Forgive Me Father

Fresh from HROT and a new Retro FPS drops, of course I'm going to play it. I'm probably going to piss alot of people off because I don't particularly see where the magic of this game is. It was fun it was rip and tear bloody and it was frantic. You don't need to be a Warhammer fan to appreciate. But it was also kind of...off.

8 Missions for 3 Episodes is just too much. Some of the levels sort of just blend in with each other and their environments were unremarkable mostly. In fact I swear that the game recycles a couple of mausoleums from one episode to another. I barely remember what makes each episode distinct. Secrets were mostly easy despite the wallhumping, and its very strange for them to make certain powerups hiding in plain sight to be "secrets". You'll pretty much meet most of the enemies and weapons by the first third of episode 2 barring the bosses and by then you'll be starving for more. The first 2 episodes were kinda boring but had better environs and the 3rd episode all took place on your ship so it was mostly industrial corridors but it was also when the game stopped holding your hand and started spamming enemies.

The game also gives you way too much ammo and difficulty is based on your durability and the sponginess of the enemies which I feel is artificial padding in an attempt to curb the game's challenge. There is an implied "proper weapon for the proper enemy type" mechanic going on but I mostly ignored it because of this abundance of ammo. You'll barely need to even find the secrets to survive. And while the gunplay is fine, the game doesn't really attempt to give you a satisfying shootout setpiece. Your first weapon the eponymous Boltgun is so nifty you'll be using it half the time as you take out enemies from afar long before they can see you. It suffers the same symptom as Postal Brain Damaged but this game ranks a little higher because it makes good use of arena shooting. Albeit...it tends to spam the shit out of it in the later missions, making the experience feel more Serious Sam and Painkiller than DUSK.

Probably the worst thing I hate about this are the bosses. There are 3 and they are all annoying as hell mainly because they can resurrect dead enemies as well as summon new ones and that's not even including their pinpoint accurate projectile moveset, one of which drains your shield because MaGiC. In addition, you'll have seen all of them halfway and then they become regular bosses as you unlock the final weapon which is "a gun that kills faster the bigger things are", trivializing the bosses up until the final level where the game has the gall to pit all three in a sort of gauntlet fight. I highly detest summoner battles in these kinds of games and when you've been fighting nothing but summoner bosses, it gets kind of irritating by the end when the Final Summoner would gate a mana shield behind the life of another Summoner boss. And you expect me to deftly dodge all the shit flying in my face while traversing an arena over a bottomless pit? Game, please. At least kill me fairly. This final fight got me so frustrated by the artificial challenge that I just played it on easy to get it over with. This and the final battle of Ion Fury are the worst endgames I've ever played in a retro shooter.

But the most annoying thing I think was that this game included Navi. The fairy from Ocarina of Time. As a skull thing, as it uselessly points out information and where the ammo is but the ammo is fucking everywhere dude. Like, he could've just been a voiceover with subtitles. Often times I'd be in a quiet corridor and this fucking thing teleports in my way making a sound indistinguishable from an enemy apparating. I've been spooked alot of times if it weren't just extremely annoying to have. Just let me be the silent FPS protagonist in peace. (Yes Im aware there is a taunt button haha)

KCF0107 posted...

I'm not finished with it, but I do agree that some levels do feel overly long. The 15-ish minute levels that covered the first 5+ levels seemed perfect in that regard. I can't really speak too much about the death thing. I have died twice and right around where I had last hit a nexus point or whatever they're called. All progress seemed to stay after dying, so if I died in a big arena fight, I wouldn't have to do it all over again, which I of course appreciate. I still have a couple of levels to go, but I'm playing on the default difficulty or whatever the middle is if there wasn't one if that matters.

EDIT: I only just saw that you finished it haha

No that's what I'm saying. Normally in an FPS, there are checkpoints to mark your progress. When you die, you load back into the checkpoint and the enemies you didn't kill after that checkpoint are still alive.

But in this game, they remain dead. It forces you to traverse what is essentially a dead level just to get back to the point where you died. And that's not too bad if some of the levels weren't dependent on platforming. It's not alot, but it's still a little annoying.

You should also know that from the UI it might seem that there are alot of weapons. But you won't get to play with some of the final tier weapons by game's end! Which leads more credence to the fact that the devs probably expected people to just put these weapons in when they make their own maps. I have no complaints about everything else the enemies are cool the gameplay loop is fascinating and the gore is just right. It's just this roundabout way of doing checkpoints and the unfinished/odd design choices the devs want to take this.

Prodeus is great. My gripe about it is the design choice to make it more arcadey and the obvious glaring issue where if you die you just restart somewhere and you have to run all the way back. And the game's levels can often go into 20 minutes+ and expects you not to die in one sitting is ridiculous.

I don't know if they changed it, but it seems they didn't. I feel like they went with this with community-generated mapping in mind that will keep the game alive.

Ranking the retro boomer shooters I've played so far:

Hedon
DUSK
Ion Fury
Hands of Necromancy
Cultic - is only this low because they decided to release it as "Episode 1"
Cruelty Squad
Dread Templar | HROT
Project Warlock
Amid Evil - This is my "Its okay, Average" Rating
Powerslave Exhumed
Postal: Brain Damaged
Prodeus | Forgive Me Father

Noting that they are all good. But if I had to rank them it would be this.

Ive only so far given up on one and that's Nightmare Reaper as I couldn't handle the roguelike elements and the desire to push on with the plot through repetition.

HROT (PC)

I appreciate this game. Been following it since the dawn of the revival of this genre. Around the time DUSK was hype, this game had humble beginnings and honestly continued its development cycle well over 2 years. Then I find out its just by one guy and he's coding this whole thing in Pascal as if I couldn't love this game even more.

So is it the game that it was meant to be? I would say, that the developer went and did something he really loved and turned it into the game that he wanted. Almost every single level has a real life counterpart and when have you ever seen that. And the part that isn't---the surreal stuff, yeah those are just wild.

The game's clearly a love letter to Quake with some enemies being a 1 to 1 representation. But its also a love letter to many many games like Duke Nukem. I absolutely love being able to kick grenades back at people. In some ways I was glad to play Quake last year otherwise I wouldn't have gotten the references.

But now its time to put the gamer hat on. This game has weird pacing and in some parts feel imbalanced. HROT is great for its ambiance but for its challenge, that lies in your ability to find secrets. Ammo and Health are very tight and your defense is very squishy. Mooks can instantly kill you and unlike Dread Templar you don't have a fancy dash or a skill tree to save you so finding every bit of nook and cranny is important. That said, this is a game that thrives on well-placed enemies. In arena type battles which are few and far in between the challenge becomes almost nil as these enemies who were made to fight in specific environs are now in the open only to fail somewhat.

And that brings me to my next issue. The finale. The last 3 levels had the dev basically throw their hands in the air and say fuck it. After all those wonderful setpieces and odd places and things you find, the game suddenly decides to throw 2 arena levels back to back. Then its final boss time and I it was none other than Vladimir Putin himself. With not one not two, but FIVE forms. Then some surreal bullshit happens and you fix a piece of machinery and hurray. The lack of a plot is both to this game's benefit and detriment. I feel like this game could've benefitted from some kind of clear goal instead of being a mindless shooter in context.

Still would rank this game high. Perhaps 2 slots lower than DUSK for now.

Still better than Dread Templar? Hm. I think they both have a place on my list at the same time. So there's that.

NBIceman posted...

2 >= 4 > 3 > 6 > 5 > 1.

Hell yes. Glad to see someone who puts 4 on such a high pedestal. I am forever biased by the Megaman I grew up on and I always felt it had the best music. Dustman being my favorite.

Curse of the Sea Rats (PC)

Do not play this game. This game is cursed. I went into this blind and I severely regret it. Only finished it because I paid for it and I just wanted to see it through but I've never checked out of a game so fast.

This is probably the worst metroidvania I have ever played and its sad because the things that I like about it are rarely seen in the good ones: serviceable to outstanding but very varied voice-acting, great portraits and visuals, as well as animation for your 4 possible playables as well as the boss fights, and finally an exploration ethos that encourages out of order encounters, unlocking shortcuts and optional areas that are in turn also shortcuts to main areas.

Also can I just say. See the plot for this game is that you're pirates headed to be tried when all of a sudden you become rats. This ship has to have had the most multi-national set of prisoners you've ever seen because all the stereotypes are here: american indians, american americans not-guybrush threepwood, stronk jamaicans, sleazy louisianans, pompous persian princesses, bitch aussie with a pet toucan, and gypsies. All voice-acted all hammy af. Very enjoyable and I think I also liked the fact that I thought these people got turned into rats as an excuse to animate non-humans but there are in fact humans in this game both related and unrelated to the plot that you just bump into and you have to fight because you're rats!

But the praise ends there. The game by design is severely flawed. Every aspect to this is just wrong and I don't even know where to start so I'll just list a couple of bullet points on just some of the things you encounter:

• The way some levels and enemies are designed you can't tell if they are actually enemies or bottomless pits or a wall. Literally the first enemy in the game hit me because I thought it wasn't an enemy. And one secret required you to make a leap of faith with no clues whatsoever when every other incident would have led you to a bottomless pit.
• I say Metroidvania, but really you're unlocking some pretty useless shit. 3 bosses give you double jump, super jump, and dash. Then the rest are just bullshit. Like you get goggles that tell you the names of the enemies you kill...midway into the game. You get a backpack that increases your inventory by just a little (more on this later). Certain areas are locked behind by keys and you just find those like, why not gate the keys behind the bosses?
• Most egregious boss item is a "Resurrection Ring" that spawns you where you die. Handy right? Well if you die in a bottomless pit, you spawn in that same pit and die there AGAIN. And this ring is just ONE charge. How do you recharge? You have to beat the same boss that gave you the ring. This boss, has two forms and one of them is over a bottomless pit! You have to run over there and voluntarily do this and not die to recharge it.
• Every single time you die, an NPC is taunting the shit out of how much of a fail you are. And you will die alot because...
• ...severe power imbalances. There are enemies that hit you for a certain amount. But there are also enemies that hit you for a percentage. Common enemies btw. So it doesn't matter how much you level, they will still kill you in 4 hits. Oh by the way, there's no flinching invincibility frames so sometimes enemies can combo the shit out of you.
• One of the boss relics lets you switch characters anytime, except characters only differ in combat ability instead of any kind of uniqueness. Do you wanna be the parry master (can't parry bosses btw), the strong slow guy with no range and is the only one who can heal himself, the aerial expert who sucks at anything else, or the dagger fiend who hits fast and criticals the most. Guess who I used 90% of the time? It's really a shame too as each of the four has unique dialog with the bosses and you can only ever see one of them. You won't miss much lore although one character seems very heavy into it among the rest.
• So the dagger girl mixed with how broken the levelling system is, allowed me to pretty much steamroll over 80% of the bosses in this game. We're talking about them dying off before they finish the animation of their second major attack. It's that broken and I think its because of your ability to 100% crit from behind and most of these bosses having a suspiciously spacious zone behind them you can just roll into (the only bosses I found "challenging" were big bosses in the background or constantly flying ones). I would have played fair just to see how every boss is were it not for the fact that...
• Save Rooms are few and far in between. You die from a boss, you have to run all the way back and if the percentage-gibbing mooks don't kill you you'll be lucky enough to start with half health in the boss room.
• So remember that backpack increasing your slots by 3 per item? Well, it actually broke midgame. Suddenly I was back to pre-backpack inventory and healing in this game is ridiculous. Every item you find is either a useless collectible or food. And the menu will say ?/50 as if you'll find 50 of these but no. There are no random drops. No store for food. You will find a total of about 6-7 of a certain food before the game starves you, forcing you to go to the shopkeeper in few and far zones of the map just to buy 3/3 potions. Like I had 20,000 gold by the end of the game and this motherfucker didn't wanna sell me 99 potions (300 gold each) like every other platformer ever. It's artificial difficulty and it shows
• No inventory tabs. No item sort. So everytime you want to heal or use an item, you have to go into the menu and scroll down past the collectibles like why are the collectibles on top of this shit. Yes there is a shortcut menu, but because you can only carry 3/3 potions and there are only 6/50 food in the game, the point is kind of moot.

The endgame is also one of the worst. You are locked out of every teleporter in the game and you need to rush back to the start of the map, forcing you into a boss fight where you can't directly hit them and lasts almost forever. Mercifully you can skip them using the aformentioned optional boss shortcut route but its still a terrible slog and an obvious attempt to pad the game and btw, I hope you actually were working to unlock those areas instead of exploring for no reason because the game doesn't warn you of this teleport nixing malarkey and just drops it on you for no reason.

Oh ya and the game has references to Monkey Island, Hollow Knight, and for some strange reason the rather obscure or less talked about indie game Rime which has nothing to do with the motifs of this game but whatever. Just such a weird allusion.

2/10. I struggle but, this game is still better than Syberia 3.

I beat Return to Mysterious Island 2: Mina's Fate (PC)

I started this game last year and just could not finish it quick. Having beat the first one back in 2019, I expected this game was just a way to cash in on the premise so already I was having concerns starting it. The last game was sort of exploratory and intuitive in what you could do; this inventory and crafting system I am no stranger to it as I've played previous games from Kheops' Studio. It was also filled with intrigue about Captain Nemo as you make your way slowly into the heart of his operations through cunning and knowledge gathering. However, I just pretty much stopped caring a third into this one and only picked it up now to finally rid of it from my desktop. I felt apathetic towards the plot which seeks to undo all your hard work in the first game and saddle you with a burden and a responsibility to suddenly care about the island.

The puzzles are just more of the same and kind of annoying because it requires a little understanding on chemistry. Granted everything you needed to know was in this journal you find early on so yeah its that kind of game where reading 12 pages of "notes" is integral to understanding solutions. Which I don't mind at all, but in this case if you cut that shit out you're pretty much left with a shorter game. So I struggle to think about the design here.

There's also at least two instances of padding, one that requires you to play politics with a couple of monkeys which was basically feeding them their favorite food until their bar turns green. There's a pottery minigame where you have to manually craft at least 10 vases or something and they were all boring af as you suffer through animation after unskippable animation. Mercifully not everything here is animated as some cutscenes are represented by a graphic novel format.

I think the worst thing about this is the ending. It's your traditional moral dilemma of leaving the island to die or not but you'll be stuck here and I, fed up by all the shit I had to plow through decided yeah fuck this island only to be met with a "yeah that was the wrong choice buddy, enjoy your sad ending" completely out of nowhere.

Still better than Syberia 3.

Oh and if its one thing I enjoyed about this game is that it features a cutscene that connects with the stinger to Voyage: Journey to the Moon which I beat last year and that one was a treat. So watching closure for the Michel Arden story was nice. And it wasn't much but there was enough to give me something to think about. It wasn't a coincidence I didn't plan on beating Voyage after the first Return game, but I'm glad I did. If I saw this scene here and didn't play Voyage I would be confused af.

The Charnel House Trilogy

I remember playing The Charnel House Trilogy back when it was just that one chapter on the train and it was free. Then they added those 2 more chapters if you even call it that, and sold it as a "game" which honestly wouldn't have mattered if they were actual full-fledged games. The train one (Sepulchre) as a free game would've sufficed. It was one of the most subtly scary things at the time without reliance on jumpscares and I still fondly remember it. But as an entire trilogy I can't justify its price. And of course the sequel that never existed.

GRIME (PC)

I forgot I actually had this souls-like-vania so here we go. This game is great. I don't mind the clunkiness one bit and would put it above Salt and Sanctuary. Think of this game as a grotesque version of Hollow Knight. Everything is appropriately themed around body parts and organs and there's this whole caste system that I really love. The usual solemness of the game subsides about midway when I find out you're actually the harbinger of death and everything is suppose to die anyway which in all honesty would've been a neat tug were it not for everyone in this game being a complete asshole, children not included.

Like Hollow Knight, a portion of the game is dedicated to platforming but unlike Hollow Knight the platforming at parts is insane. Gated behind eq and items sure, but a mandatory gauntlet right at the end just to pad the game? Idk about that. Basically imagine a slightly easier version of the optional gauntlet (the white palace) from Hollow Knight, but there's like 5 of them spread across the map. So when I say slightly easier I mean "still insane but not crazy insane". Some of them don't even have great rewards and just amount to some pithy collectibles. I have no problem with it but maybe some people do. This is also the first game I know where Double Jump is the final upgrade you acquire which is just insane.

If you're just after the plot, you might accidentally end it too soon. For the beauty of this game is actually backtracking and exploring whichever way. Because of the inane map system where you have to find a pylon to unlock the map of that area, until that happens you will get lost alot. And you will find secrets. I actually for once did not use a map here and just took it all in. By game's finish I found out I actually missed 3 bosses but at that point just didn't care. Most of the backtrack rewards aren't worth it but it's just that I wanted to see more of the world and that was enough for me. This game also has some of the easiest boss battles I've seen in a souls-like. Perhaps a bit on the forgiving side. But at least the bosses aren't cheap or annoying. They do have predictably slow movesets and rarely a weird timing window, but for the most of it they've been enjoyably unique.

The Case of the Golden Idol (PC)

When I first saw this game I passed it off for a long time because I thought it was like a modern version of 5 Days a Stranger which was also about a cursed creepy idol. To my surprise it's not so much a pt click adventure as it is a detective game. The logical portion of the game at times felt shoehorned but I still enjoyed it and as the overarching plots came together I appreciated how it all escalated and ended. And the plot itself? A classic tale of power and how it corrupts men's souls, bending them to their desires. It was satisfying and did not outstay its welcome. By the time I was getting tired of the logic puzzles, the game had pretty much wrapped itself up.

One thing though is that the puzzles relied on finding keywords of which their locations were 99% logical and it did encourage you to look into the setpiece with a fine tooth comb also while attempting to understand the story without skipping details. But some of the word locations are really dumb like the word "drugged" had to come from an innocuous and irrelevant poster of "drug" plants. Very reaching. Fortunately you a) do not need to find every word to solve the puzzle and b) the ability to highlight clickables is toggle-able. This game is very short if you minimize pixel hunting but it's worth it in my opinion. A true mystery and brainteaser to keep you busy for awhile.

Mortal Shell (PC)

Okay so, I accidentally made this game harder for myself. I was exploring the hub world and inadvertently just went for the 3 dungeons without going towards the central hub which would've granted me some very necessary abilities and options. Instead I blazed through it like a soulslike wondering why is this game so jank. I mean it still is but without realizing that the game expects you to rely on ripostes and alternative movesets I got a little frustrated. For example, you can't really trick an enemy into attacking somewhere you're not, because for some reason 90% of their attacks will snap onto you regardless of moveset/animation. Instead the game expects you to use that Harden ability of yours to parry and riposte juggling your meter. I don't know, because by the time I learned all the ripostes and what it even is I was already at the final boss and saw no need to do newgame+ or the dlc unless I wanted a roguelike.

It's clear that this game was meant to be replayable for something so short and sweet. As such I don't really wanna say the limited reused enemies are a detriment to this game. I would gladly put it above the more indie soulslikes I've played like Hellpoint and Ashes which isn't really saying something as it is the most "soulsy" of the Soulslikes in that category. Anyways, next one might be Salt and Sacrifice or Sekiro. Or Nioh 2.

Kenri posted...

Ittle Dew (Steam)

Pretty cute. It's obviously a parody of LttP, but whereas that game is a combat game with puzzles, this is much more of a puzzle game with combat. I got all three major items and did most of the bonus stuff but didn't try to finish the Master Cave. It's not amazing but it'll do.

What I really like about this game is it was made with speedrunning in mind because you can acquire 2 of the 3 main tools and bypass certain parts to finish the game anyway. I think you can also do it with just 1 but you'd have to be really smart about it.

EDIT: Btw the sequel is more combat focused but the puzzles are still good especially the Dream World which used to be dlc but now I think is part of the game's latest edition

KCF0107 posted...

Watch Dogs 2 (XB1)

It had been 6-8 years since I played the first, but I initially was unsure if I was going to continue on with this game. I can't say which game did stealth better (gut feeling is the original), but it otherwise seems like a step up across the board.

I love how all the ingame rewards counterintuitively encourage you not to do stealth.

Dread Templar (PC)

This game is weird and I can't quite put my finger on whether its good. I don't know if I like it enough to recommend it to people. I want to say you play this first on hard because the game at times can be too easy especially if you find the secrets, but even that advice is terrible because the fact is the game is very imbalanced and part of that reason is that the design is flawed in some parts.

Enemies, while deadly af, are dumb as flying homing bricks and about 70% of them don't fight close range so they can very well snipe you while slowly approaching you which would be fine if you didn't have shit sniping tools and some of them even have a limited range even if they feel like they don't. Enemies also lack tells and reactions so that zombie sniper you meet on the very first map will immediately shoot at you at the flick of a wrist as if it has an aimbot while taking more than enough pistol bullets to effectively finish off. This actually gets better later when accuracy isn't so important because your guns are pretty much overpowered but consume a ton of ammo.

I also found this weird thing with homing projectiles. They're not as intuitive to do sharp turns and so you can actually trick them. They also just disappear the moment you can't see them. Like literally turn into a sharp corner and they're gone. But turn into a sharp angle and they'll hit you. So weird. Mercifully there aren't alot of enemies in this game that can do that so it's not as annoying as say the final act of Forgive Me Father.

I like the maps. Thinking of it as a slight improvement over Forgive Me Father's and both games have very similar thematic progression but both games also have the same flaw in that it often tends to outstay its welcome. 5-levelled 5 episodes (not including secret levels) is just too much and its clear that some could just be combined into one. In fact the same metal soundtrack runs for at least 2 of each level and the music while repetitive tends to grate if you don't feel it. But for me I had no problems mostly.

A great amount of effort has been spent on secrets, specifically "Super Secrets" of which there is one per level. Was surprised as the breadth of references being tossed around. Who wouldn't love to see Leon Kennedy, De_Dust2, Sub-Zero, 007 Goldeneye, and the House of Harkonnen? But the biggest surprise is this campaign wide mega secret all leading up to a secret boss fight with Dopefish and upon beating them would grant you a game-breaking weapons modification. Honestly why hasn't anyone ever thought of making that a secret boss is beyond me it seems so obvious. Unfortunately or Fortunately though most of these Super Secrets are impossible to find unless you have a guide or are just really keen in observation but half the time spent humping walls for an off-texture wall in an already retrograde looking environment can be taxing at best. The game does its best to clue you in on what walls are hidden at least, and sometimes there are just dead ends for the sake of dead ends. So its a toss-up.

Story is edgy af. Though credit where credit is due, apart from the cutscenes you unlock (like there isn't even an introductory one, you have to beat level 1 for it), there is actually some lore but you have to go out of your way to find it. Very briefly, in a single level lies some stuff you can examine for a greater context. But don't expect anything revelatory if anything it's just an homage to Blood.

Notice how I'm avoiding talking about the gameplay I mean usually with these things its just your typical retro boomer shooter with modern sensibilities. I would say the combat is like Dusk if the enemies were dumber and less cleverly placed. I do like the variety though and for 5 episodes you have to be entertained. There are some weird choices in an attempt to be unique like a slow down bar which acts like an afterthought unless you play in Nightmare. There's also Runes which you can find to unlock to give you more passive bullshit like increased ammo capacity or modifying your gun to make it OP. But the thing is half of these runes don't purport what they say they do probably lost in translation or poor design idk.

One last thing I guess are the bosses. They're good. But they're a tad too spongy and idk how you're expected to beat them on harder difficulties because the game refuses to provide regular ammo drops a legitimate way so often I'd die because I didn't ration less ammo to take the more ammo from the mook flying around while the boss is kicking my ass. This pairs in with my on and off decision to recommend hard mode first; its great---up until you get stonewalled by a boss because you had poor resource management. In fact, one of the runes you find powers up the final weapon significantly that the rune description says "this makes the weapon cheese bosses". And its true, I took out the final boss in four hits. And its also true, that if I had fought that boss the normal way I would've had a very hard time very well done boss I haven't seen a boss that frantic in a boomer shooter since the Magician from House of the Dead 2.

I've tried my best not to compare this game with the greats like Cultic, Dusk, and Amid Evil. I think the game is solid but those games are definitely better. I'd chalk this one up to inexperience though it does have its merits. All in all, a nice filler boomer shooter while I wait for HROT or Phantom Fury.

Rogue with the Dead (Android)

Ahahahahahaha. I'm back from the insanity that is this Idle Gacha RPG. Now I know how Kaiji feels when he beat that giant Pachinko Machine by constantly throwing money at it (disclaimer I only did p2w twice, one for loot and one for no ads). First off kudos for this game to actually have an ending because I am so done with this hell. Secondly, it has a fairly "fair" breadth of choices when it comes to p2w. For example, the artifact that you get in this game go up to 9999 but you will never really need that much to finish the "main" story. I think they just exist so they don't get blocked off to be able to afford the rarer artifacts easier.

I don't wanna spend too much on mechanics it's your bread and butter idle gacha I will say though that after my one time purchase of premium currency there was enough to realistically anticipate and save up for the next tier of fighters you need to go further into the dungeon not to mention the constantly stacking up artifacts. Is this what dopamine feels like?

Anyways. The game isn't actually that long. There's this character who stays with you and she's really endearing and when you beat the game it's revealed that she has to go and just fucking disappears for the rest of the game. That is until you decide to go the distance and traverse twice as much as what you have done previously. I'm ngl, I don't know what possessed me even though this one npc was just an excuse to keep the idle going, but I just wanted to save her. And so after "beating" it once after 2 weeks, I would spend the next 3 months rescuing her from the Underworld.

And I've done it. I have no more life but I've done it. She's back in my NPC corner. I've unlocked "endless" mode. And she has extra dialog in other modes. I'm so fucking glad I have her and now I can consider this game beat.

keep it then

I just like to post saying that ever since my last game beat, I've just been playing nothing but Deep Rock Galactic for 1 month now at least. I can't seem to escape its rabbit hole of a game loop and I'm very much enjoying it that most of my attempts to try and beat anything else have been left in the wayside. I usually hit the ground running start of the year for this topic but I think I'm just burned out by whatever is coming out lately.

Hi @rwlh sorry I've been really busy lately and I only just saw this thread. I did wonder if you instantly got burned out and decided never to rank it but I'm glad you got it all out there.

The guy who made the art for Root is Kyle Ferrin. I recommend checking out his Instagram https://www.instagram.com/d20plusmodifier/

Kyle Ferrin has consistently been doing boardgame art for Leder Games whom which their specialty is releasing games of an asymmetrical nature and thus all their factions need to be distinct and unique. I'm avid collector of the Root games and I suck at it but I mainly like the production quality and the art. I do adore those critters alot.

Also yes Mystery Skulls has a series of videos. I was there when the first one came out and every year kept anticipating the continuation of its saga but the first one was always the best. I thought you'd like to appreciate something that was animated to the beat very well all the while telling a story which is very rare to do so well in general.

Finally it was very hard for me to find an appropriate video for Enderal but I'm glad you liked it. Because frankly those videos do not do the game justice at all. This total conversion mod manages to be tinier than Skyrim but a whole lot tighter and it's very hard to explain unless you're actually playing this game or watching a playthrough but the way the entire map is structured doesn't feel like you're in a PC Open Adventure game with biomes, but an actual world where the biomes make sense where one begins and another ends. The world itself is tied into the motif of the game and tells a story all on its own without any hand holding. I thoroughly recommend it to anyone looking for a break from "traditional" western open world RPGs as it is sure to subvery expectations in all aspects.

Young Souls (PC)

When I was looking into how much TMNT sucked last year, I was told that this was a better alternative. And it is. It's not without its flaws, but it's a rather enjoyable game that plays just right and it's got a nice story too. I'm actually glad the plot didn't go down the usual cliches. It's war basically and the game manages to find a balance between "War is evil and people die." and "Let's beat up everybody for peace and justice."

I recommend you play this game on the hard setting (as mentioned in the game to be the way the devs intended). The combat isn't that deep but the options are nice. One thing you'll have to get used to pretty fast is the parry system. And btw if you hate parrying that's fine too but you should probably play on "balanced" mode to save your sanity. One thing to note is that this game is not a roguelike so the game has a definite end or rather a definite path you should follow depending on exp points accumulated. This also means that the game doesn't outstay its welcome and ends just when things start to get stale.

The few flaws in this game are just nitpicks. Design decisions mainly probably remnants of what the game was intended to be. For example, there are explorable places in town but you only really need the 1 or 2 spots. Checkpoints line every room including treasure rooms...places you'll drop by to get the big loot and never come back again. So if that were the case why not just put the treasure in the boss room when the fight is over. Why can I teleport here? It's not like I can backtrack either. Rapid clicking minigames tied to extra stat growth. And then there's the ITEM GET screen popping up in your face if you've picked something up the first time. But it keeps happening even as you spend those resources.

Apart from that, one thing I will say is the game kind of started faltering in terms of balance but it ends before you can really do anything about it and with no NG+ I wonder about the weapon system sometimes. Ya see, you get your 3 basic stats (str, def, special) but. Every weapon has their own attack stats. So, in the end you'll just gun for the weapons with the highest attack like why even have stats at all? There's a game-spanning sidequest that has you collecting 4 Legendary Weapons. The first and last one are enough of a dealbreaker to carry you throughout the game early and late respectively as long as you upgrade them to the max and you will want to because resources are scarce despite encouraging crafting and grinding in this game. The fact that those gamebreaking weapons can carry you roughly 3/4s of the game questions why collect weapons at all.

Anyways that's it. My first true good game of the year. Very solid and I hope people give it some love it only has Very Positive reviews on Steam right now.

Syberia 3 (PC)

If you told me that I was a playing a game about a girl who's been saddled with a responsibility and a calling beyond her station, as she braves challenges set before her in a post-apocalyptic but anachronistic steampunk setting...no matter how cliche that premise is, I'm going to get into it. Unfortunately, this premise has the misfortune of being called Syberia 3---as in, it is a sequel to an already established terrible plot. Not only does it have nothing to do with the first 2 games (only having a few callbacks) but it serves to make the canon even worse. My god, just let Kate Walker die already I could give two shits about her (yeah I'm aware there's a 4th game. Don't worry, that day will come.) I'm not gonna bore you guys with how stupid Kate's arc is but needless to say its been 3 games now and she has never had a significant arc. It seems to me that Sokal god bless his soul didn't really want to tell her story as much as just tell the story of a journey and pepper it with eye candy in an attempt to give it substance.

This isn't the worst point-click adventure I've played. But it's pretty bad. I mean, technically, it's not really a point-click adventure as it only scrapes the most barebones definition of the genre. Its somewhere in the middle and resembles crappy First-Time-3d Adventure Games of the 2000s. The problem is this game came out in 2017 well a decade over. Not to mention, its suppose to follow-up a decade's worth of cliffhanger but failed to satisfy so not even the fans could get into this. I often think about Dreamfall Chronicles who's episodic cap to a trilogy redeemed itself after its 2000's 2nd game of shit. Syberia 3 would be like a failed example of that.

As I mentioned in last year's topic, morbid curiosity got the best of me and I decided to play a godforsaken sequel to one of the worst adventure games I've ever played. Syberia 1 and 2 is a very polarizing series of games. You either have someone who will put it up there with The Longest Journey, and then you have the rest of us who think that it's just a bunch of backtracking, with useless screens, and "non-puzzles", mainly dialogging and watching steampunk things move around. Well if you're a fan of the latter, the great news is despite now being in 3d the third game has these exact qualities: Backtracking, pointless screens (now peppered with bland 3d modeled setpieces), an unintuitive UI, a stupid inventory system, terrible unskippable dialog, and blank puzzles. I guess you can say that this really IS a Syberia game.

And you know honestly in the 5% of the time I played this, in the times where I take a deep breath and surface from the mediocre muck....I can feel a semblance of a good game. I can see well written dialog. I can see ambitious setpieces. Camera angles that wouldn't be out of place in a 3rd person game like Resident Evil or Silent Hill (I'm not kidding, you just have to believe me here). But all that is wasted on a flimsy premise, with stupid forgettable characters, and a lore that butchers itself. Like, they could only find 2 voice-actors with distinct russian accents, and everyone else just sounds American. It's like Secret Files all over again.

I hope I'm clear on this---nobody should play Syberia 3. It's really bad. If you had any doubts that a 3d touchup could salvage the series, rest assured I've busted this myth.

tagging. happy new year all

Visual Design

rwlh posted...

For that nomination, I would probably judge based on the overall package. If the mod includes base Skyrim assets, I'd probably look at those as well, and maybe look at the relationship between the new and base things. If the whole thing is revamped, then it'll just be the whole thing. Really it depends on what you submit.

In general, I'm going to try to consider things like a design's effectiveness, uniqueness, and objective vs. subjective "quality." It's going to be one of those "I'll know it when I see it" type things.

I don't know if that helps you or not. Sorry if it doesn't! I would say nominate whatever you're passionate about and we'll figure out the rest. :)

Alright! Honestly it was a toss up between this or Infra. But here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itm_AG9YbeQ (just watch the first 6 minutes. the rest is combat)

another video. its just 3 minutes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chn3GAHyLeY

My 4th Nom is Enderal: Forgotten Stories

So I got a question for my 4th potential nom. I was thinking of nomming Enderal which is a total conversion mod for Skyrim. But, what exactly do you mean by "visual design"? Because visually, Enderal is really just a Skyrim game but all the assets are rearranged in a way that makes the world 200% more realistic and beautiful (in my opinion). Are you just going to judge it based on its assets?

Fluttershy_Pony posted...

Rakugaki Showtime:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCfc--vqxkM

You can stop shortly after the two minute mark, after the first fight ends. Video shows the character select screen, giving a brief pic of how they look & then does some fights... sadly they use "generic main character", but I think it does a reasonably okay job of showing the designs and how they look in motion.

Omg thank you for nominating this obscure PS1 game I thought I was the only one who knew this existed

I for one am actually glad to finally get in on nomming again. I haven't done so in a long freakin time

My 3rd Nom is Root the Boardgame.

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/fb/6a/50/fb6a50b2e7b4bfeaf5dd245996fe4236.jpg

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0921/7330/products/1_860179d7-56cd-42ce-ab81-dff64a9f2ecb.jpg

https://cf.geekdo-images.com/Na9zpg26EgqFggB9VokUPQ__original/img/64vXR6GgstelXPwx3zyBYiWAS3M=/0x0/filters:format(jpeg)/pic5502087.jpg

https://cf.geekdo-images.com/X9jYJP-6Md7mpwoDyDILHA__imagepage/img/4NJ0Mk_RE7M5oe17ITJSaTSwbK4=/fit-in/900x600/filters:no_upscale():strip_icc()/pic6802828.jpg

https://m20336.files.wordpress.com/2022/04/img_4443.jpg

nom 2:

Mystery Skulls Animated is a series of 5 music videos with an interconnected overarching plot.

Here's the first video which is all you need to see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlEb3L1PIco

I'll have nom 3 later. I'm just working right now.

1) Ion Fury (video starts at 1:14)
https://youtu.be/W8ofNHZ31fM?t=74

Ion Fury has a sequel coming called Phantom Fury but it's not out yet as of this writing. Here's the trailer for your reference:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K37l3-La-Go

Thunder Force V - Justice Ray Pt 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wc3etQa9xLg

Fashion Police Squad - The Almighty Tailor
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRtk0Xk2NQA&t=3909s

Ender Lilies - Blighted Lord
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PI7wD_P2y8Y

TUNIC - The Heir
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7f3_aB2-nRA

Enderal: Forgotten Stories - The Prophet
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88DxouIKUyo