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Some indie rougelike called Armoured commander 2 linked me off of twitter

https://www.armouredcommander.com/blog/2020/02/27/beta-1-release/

My thoughts: I wonder why the 2018 screenshot of the game from earlier in its development has a 6 tile in every direction battlemap when this beta has only 3 tile far and seemingly more advanced camoflauge/spotting mechanics?

Played through the entire Battle of France, which turned out to be 17 battles since you don't get deployed on every day of the May 10 -June 16

All 4 French tanks are basically heavy tanks (within the context of 1940).. it seems like a bonus campaign, maybe it'll even be made into the tutorial.

I tried all of the light fast tanks for a few battles and quit out of their campaigns - MUCH more fun, and the bigger risk of death helps the game from dragging on so long.

My game did glitch out later on (attempt unbog command stopped appearing at all even when I needed it / Game crash when you use close combat against non-infantry / Commander's sight range went down when he took light wounds but did not go back up when he recovered)  It might have been my individual save file, because none of these have come up when playing countries other than France.

I'm waiting to judge the game - the French experience (and I assume other heavy tanks) is a fun power fantasy but kind of overstays it's welcome and isn't too tactical - I'm hoping that the game will change a lot when I take a deeper dive into the light tanks. 

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3 hours ago, DragonFlames said:

Have fun with the game that got me into Atelier!

Will (hopefully) do. Like I said in the other thread, since I'm not even an hour in, I can't really say anything about the game yet other than I'm gonna have to get used to the battle system.

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59 minutes ago, Armagon said:

I can't really say anything about the game yet other than I'm gonna have to get used to the battle system.

This is how I felt starting up Caligula Effect: Overdose, loved that game but the combat was a whole different demon 

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17 minutes ago, ciphertul said:

This is how I felt starting up Caligula Effect: Overdose, loved that game but the combat was a whole different demon 

Well i don't know about Caligula Effect but in Atelier Sophie's case, it's more like, the combat is like 99% the same as other Atelier games but this time, you select everyone's actions and then the turn plays out, instead of it being instant like in most turn-based RPGs. It's odd and i'll have to get used to it but it shouldn't take too long for that to happen.

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18 minutes ago, Armagon said:

Well i don't know about Caligula Effect but in Atelier Sophie's case, it's more like, the combat is like 99% the same as other Atelier games but this time, you select everyone's actions and then the turn plays out, instead of it being instant like in most turn-based RPGs. It's odd and i'll have to get used to it but it shouldn't take too long for that to happen.

True, that is something Sophie does that the Atelier games don't. And I honestly didn't notice until you brought it up just now. XD
There are some other unique things to the battle system, but the game will explain those in time, I believe.

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1 hour ago, Armagon said:

Well i don't know about Caligula Effect but in Atelier Sophie's case, it's more like, the combat is like 99% the same as other Atelier games but this time, you select everyone's actions and then the turn plays out, instead of it being instant like in most turn-based RPGs. It's odd and i'll have to get used to it but it shouldn't take too long for that to happen.

That is Caligula, but different attacks require different things like, Protagonist get a counter off and that will launch enemy. Your teammates are all set up to combo off that juggled enemy but... you whiff so everyone just stands around doing nothing since the enemy remained on the ground.... and then you have to wait for your turn Cooldown before trying again

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I played Phantasy Star 4: End of the Millenium. I guess I'm twenty years late with a title like that, but thankfully this game is timeless. I love the Macro system. Essentially allowing the player to set AI scripts for auto battling. Not only can you tell party members exactly what to do in each script, but also set the order in which they get their turn. For instance, having a heal action come last, and that party member will target the ally most in need of it by the time their turn comes. You can't do that with manual selection. If you really get into it, you can create new scripts for specific enemy encounters in a dungeon, such as blasting with multi targeting spells on large groups, or favoring a specific element or instant death spell. You've got 8 macros to work with, so you can really let loose in mastering every encounter or planning out your turn 1 buffing on boss fights. I also like the inclusion of side quests and optional dungeons. Neither of which I recall being a feature in the previous two games.

There's still some archaic design worth pointing out. Examining items is very vague on what an item does, and there's no way to examine spells. If you want to know what the rare moon and star dews are for (phoenix down and Mega Potion, respectively), you have to use them in battle, which is very wasteful. You also can't compare the stats of equipment available in shops, forcing the player to drop a save first to assess what is worth their money. Also the plot is sometimes hindered by the fan service. There are several callbacks to previous games, which is great for longtime players like me, but referencing events from those games some times has no ultimate bearing on the plot. And somebody just jumping in at the fourth entry would have no idea which names, artifacts or places they should attach any mental significance to. Though it's not as bad as, say, jumping into a movie like Avengers: Endgame with no context. Beyond that though, the storytelling is the best it has ever been due to comic book style illustrations turning dialogue sequences into makeshift cutscenes. It really draws you in to the characters and conflicts.

I rate Phantasy Star 4 a 6.6 out of 10. It definitely stands up to the beloved square rpgs of the SNES era, and is a fantastic close to the series quadrilogy. It makes the plot and themes of previous games way stronger with new contextualizations while also having extremely solid gameplay and storytelling in its own right. I'm honestly surprised to see the series end here. Well, with the exception of MMO games that I would never play. The Shining series is still getting games, why not Phantasy Star?

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  • 4 weeks later...

May as well keep this thread on the front page while I'm fasting from Fire Emblem.

It came out in summer of last year, but I've just started to play AI: The Somnium Files. It's directed by Kotaro Uchikoshi - visual novel fans may recognize as the mind behind the Zero Escape titles, also favorites of mine. But this game has a surprising connection to Fire Emblem - the art direction was handled by Yusuke Kozaki, who helped bring Awakening and Fates to life.

Anyway, in this game, you play as a cold-blooded detective who's trying to solve a gruesome murder in a near-future Tokyo. He's aided in his point-and-click investigate efforts (very Phoenix Wright-like) by an artificially-intelligent talking eyeball, whose sassiness is exceeded only by her tech savvy. Things get really interesting in the "somnium" phase, where you Freddy Krueger your way into people's dreams, in order to discover what they're hiding. Here, you can control your AI partner, moving around a scene and performing tasks that expend time. Depending on the tasks you choose, you can actually influence the direction of the dream, and create a branch within the story.

So far, I'm really enjoying it. I've reached one ending, but it's an Uchikoshi game, so there are numerous other ones to achieve. The characters are really colorful, and excellently voice acted (Zach Aguilar, Allegra Clark, and Greg Chun are among those lending their chords to this work). The game isn't afraid to surprise you, nor to seriously raise the stakes. The investigation sessions can feel a bit constrained, but it's understandable - rarely have I felt the game dragging, or truly been at a loss as to what do next. The somnium sessions, while only taking up a small portion of the game time, come at pivotal moments, and really allow the design team to flex their creativity. I'm not certain where the full story is going to lead me, but based on my experience with 999 and Virtue's Last Reward, my expectations are high, and I've been given no reason to drop them.

Anyway, let me know if you have any questions, or if you've played this game or any related ones!

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8 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

Anyway, let me know if you have any questions, or if you've played this game or any related ones!

Finished it last year, definitely a hidden gem. I was suprised this game got so little publicity, being directed by Uchikoshi and all. 
Storywise it's great and I think less tense (and instead more humorous) than the Zero Escape series. Really enjoyed moments when direction drifted to absurdities like Mizuki's

Spoiler

super human strength

or Date's improved reaction time based on you know what treat 😉

but actual gameplay (somnium sessions) I thought was confusing and mediocre. I'm not so fond of the time limit and later puzzles boiled down to tedious trial & error due to how abstract they became. Another downside is how significantly worse the game looks (character models, backgrounds etc.) while in the somniums. The visual novel parts on the other hand look very neat: clean, stylish UI + lovely character portraits & scenery (but here I'm maybe biased, really like Kozaki's style). 

-------------------------------------

Anyway, I'm playing Romancing SaGa 3 Remastered on my Switch rn. This is my first foray into the SaGa series and I'm impressed that such a unique game was made in 1995. The SNES is truly a goldmine for jRPG fans. 

This is one of those games in which there is no exp that leads to level ups. New skills, HP / MP or weapon levels are acquired during fights, which always gives me the impression of a fairly random system. HP regenerates after each battle, so healing in between skirmishes is nothing to worry about. Each character has a certain amount of LP, or life points, where each death = -1 LP. When Life Points drop to zero, the hero leaves our team (but I don't know if it's permanent yet).

Team building, with characters joining and leaving frequently, while exploring the world at your own pace seem to be the key elements around which Romancing SaGa 3 revolves.
It struck me that it's actually an open-world RPG made 25 years ago! At the beginning we choose one of the eight heroes (I went will Ellen) and go through a short prologue. After the prologue, the team falls apart and we start the adventure with our chosen hero and are pretty much free to tackle any quest we encounter directly.

Tbh I was very confused for the first few hours and didn't really know what I want to do. I found two former companions in a bar, with whom I took a ship to another city, because in the first town there was practically nothing to do (except going to the top of a mountain covered with fog, which was an obvious roadblock for later).

It's important to not that in SaGa 3 traversing the world does not work like in traditional jRPGs. Although there is an overworld you can't just access it by moving your characters on it Dragon Quest style. Nope. Instead, you select points of interest on the map like in a fast travel system. It took me a moment to figure out that new places appear on the map after you hear from an NPC that they exist. For example, this foggy mountain which I mentioned above. I talked to an old man who said I would find treasures at the top. Only after this dialogue did the mountain appear on the map.

Cities operate similarly. "Ohoho, Lance is a town in the north where it is snowing." Poof, the option of sailing to Lance appears in the port! You have to pay for the boat trip but later you just select it from the map like all other places. If the new city is close to the one we are in, it sometimes immediately appears on the map.

I think the game finally "clicked" on me when I adopted the principle that I talk to all residents, focus on one quest at a time and keep two main characters (Ellen and Thomas in my case), rotating out the rest. I chased away some bandits, saved some town from a plague of rats (the mayor wanted to sacrifice my party first, then a little girl ...). Later on I met a nice lobster-person who wants me to help him beat an evil fish. Yup, the game is getting weirder and I love it. 

The graphics are nicely refreshed: this is how I would like to remember Super Nintendo games. Exposed backgrounds, sharper textures, beautifully preserved sprites. Mind you  this is not as great as the HD2D-style Octopath Traveler introduced,, but the beautifully restored towns and the big opponent sprites definitely give me an Octo vibe. ArtePiazza is responsible for the remaster. If I remember correctly they also did the Dragon Quest remakes for NDS. Good job imo, I hope Square does more of such SNES remasters. 

 

  

 

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Playing Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri as Miriam.

I shamelessly rushed Yang and eliminated him. Have been in alliance with UN and Spartans for a long time - Morgan has been 1st place the entire game, UN and myself have switched back and forth 2nd / 3rd - University and Gaia are basciallly on their own continent and I think at peace with each other + war with Spartans, but I'm only helping my ally technology wise because Morgan is right next to me.

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Vestaria Saga and Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition.
And Smash Ultimate when I'm not in the mood for strategy or don't want to boot up my laptop.

I think I'm at my 4th run of Vestaria Saga by now. The game is just so good.

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I play animal crossing new horizons, one of the best animal crossing that I could play, it's beautiful, it's new and above all the customization of the island is really great.

Edited by avensis
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In these uncertain times, I felt a need to return home to Raccoon City in Resident Evil 3 Remake. Lots of comparisons to RE2 remake from last year, which is natural with them running on the same engine and being developed concurrently. While RE2 Remake took a lot of gameplay inspiration from original RE3, this game took a lot of inspiration from RE4. They put in QTEs. Not as many as seen previously in RE4, 5, and 6, but enough to justify a setting in the options that allows you to hold the button rather than mash if mashing isn't your forte. They put in a freaking "cabin fight" sequence. Weapon capacity upgrades provide you with a full clip. They also ditched ink ribbons completely. Even the hardest difficulty settings allow you to save infinitely and the only penalty is giving up your S rank (requiring 5 or less saves). Opportunities to save are also abundant, with more save rooms and items boxes than you'll realistically need - at least for Hardcore and below difficulties. Still you should come in expecting a game very similar to RE2 Remake. I saw a youtube thumbnail saying "this should have been dlc..." and suddenly it was 2011 in my mind when folks said the same about Fallout New Vegas. Ugh.

But I do have legitimate grievances with the game. There are extremely few puzzles and moving key items across the map. The level design is far more linear than I anticipated - about as linear as RE4. Every Nemesis sequence is either a glorified cutscene or scripted event where he'll follow you for a few rooms at a time across the map, and the game could definitely have used more of the latter in conjunction with getting key items where they need to be. There was extremely little meaningful backtracking characteristic of resident evil games. Most of my backtracking was just ferrying item pickups I left behind into my item box, and that's only ever interesting if I left enemies alive along the path. The enemy design is still solid, however, presenting its own puzzles through combat as you manage your resources efficiently. There's only one enemy design I don't like and haven't figured out the most effective means of dealing with. And I kind of don't like the decision to give the knife infinite durability, since it saves so much ammunition once you pop a zombie's leg.

I have so much more to say, especially regarding the cut content and added content. Altogether the game clocks in at the same playtime as the original and last year's game, but I suppose it's still fair to be upset when RE2 remake added far more content than it removed. Resident Evil 3 was the first game to ditch multiple character campaigns, so I would prefer for it to be longer than the previous game on principle, but it isn't now. There are plenty of reasons to replay with a wealth of NG+-esque unlockables for tackling the new Inferno and Nightmare campaigns, however. I'm also hopeful that, like with last year's game, there will be additional challenge campaigns akin to the Ghost Survivors added as free DLC. I should also mention the narrative is very good, probably the best of any Resident Evil game ever - not to suggest that's an exceptionally high bar, just to point out how many of these damn games exist. The way they tied together elements of the original makes for a more compelling story with more likable/expressive characters. Notes left behind near corpses are always a fantastic read, and there's plenty of context on the city which I appreciate. The music and sound design is also a point of improvement over the previous game.

I rate Resident Evil 3 Remake an 8.2 out of 10. RE3 original was a goldmine of good ideas executed poorly, so altogether I wish they focused more on improving that experience, rather than mining RE4 for replacement ideas even if that's a great game as well. 

Edited by Glennstavos
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DOOM 2016 - With the recent release of DOOM Eternal and me being broke, I decided to pick up DOOM 2016 during a sale. Despite not being that good with FPS games, I'm having a blast playing Doom, destroying demons, and causing carnage. I'm nearing the end of the campaign and am wondering if I'll replay it on a harder difficulties.

Shadowverse - A Trading Card Game made by Cygames (the same people who made Dragalia Lost). If you played Hearthstone, Shadowverse works in a similar manner. Honestly, I'm playing Shadowverse more for its story mode instead of multiplayer. I enjoy TCGs, but trying to get your dailies in (wins only, not just matches) can be a pain when pressed for time as well as not having access to all the meta cards.
I also feature my story runs on my channel.

Stardew Valley - With the recent Animal Crossing hype, I decided to delve into Stardew Valley as it was similar but more suited to my tastes. I enjoy the pixel art style, the laid back nature of farming, and progressing at your own pace.
Heck, sometimes I just want to go back to Minecraft and take things easy, but I take such long breaks that new versions show up that may end up corrupting my older world.

Dragalia Lost - I'm still playing Dragalia and seem to be in a more "active mode" of playing where I try to get the dailies finished, play events, and catch up on the stories. I figured out that I've been wasting resources (been pouring my T3 weapon upgrades into the wrong weapons, as there are hidden tiers in T3 based off of where you get the weapon), so that's been fun.

World of Goo - I repurchases this for the PC even though I finished the game for the Wii way, way back in the day. I guess you can say its a puzzle game where you use goo balls to stick together and reach whatever objective the level calls for. It has a unique charm to it and I loved my time playing World of Goo, so why not play it again on PC?

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Skyrim: I recently had to get a more powerful computer to run more taxing Adobe programs and other rendering software for work, and I realized I could probably run a hyper modded save of one of my favorite games. 300 Mods and counting with 2K textures on everything and its looking like something out of 2018.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I beat Romancing SaGa 2 again this Tuesday

Been playing a ROMhack called Pokemon Gold 97 that makes the Spaceworld 1997 beta playable as a complete game. Pretty fun!

Been thinking about continuing my playthrough of Digimon World Championship (New save file!), Metal Wolf Chaos DX, or replaying Romancing SaGa 2 but beating the final boss with solo Final Emperor. Shit is gonna be so cash, very excited.

Edited by Pixelman
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Kirby- Planet Robobot. The levels are pretty fun, and I rather enjoy sticker collecting. 

(The keychains in Triple Deluxe are more fun though.)

Edited by Lyn
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On 4/3/2020 at 8:20 AM, know_naim said:

Finished it last year, definitely a hidden gem. I was suprised this game got so little publicity, being directed by Uchikoshi and all. 
Storywise it's great and I think less tense (and instead more humorous) than the Zero Escape series. Really enjoyed moments when direction drifted to absurdities like Mizuki's

  Reveal hidden contents

super human strength

or Date's improved reaction time based on you know what treat 😉

but actual gameplay (somnium sessions) I thought was confusing and mediocre. I'm not so fond of the time limit and later puzzles boiled down to tedious trial & error due to how abstract they became. Another downside is how significantly worse the game looks (character models, backgrounds etc.) while in the somniums. The visual novel parts on the other hand look very neat: clean, stylish UI + lovely character portraits & scenery (but here I'm maybe biased, really like Kozaki's style). 

Thanks for the reply! I wanted to hold off on my follow-up until I completed the game (which I did, just a couple days ago). Anyway...

I definitely liked the goofy aspects, too! The one that stands out most is

Spoiler

Ending the game with a group dance number... and then introducing a "dance" mode!

While I agree that it's technically lighter-hearted than the Zero Escape titles, this is still a game where

Spoiler

A girl is sawn in half on live video, living people's eyes are regularly torn out, and the main villain sees his head blow up.

It's not for the faint of heart, or those uncomfortable with body horror, by any means.

I can definitely understand the sombium sessions having a "trial and error" format - sometimes you get clues, but sometimes you're just guessing. I understand why this might be seen as a problem, but I like it overall. You're in a dream setting, so real-world rules don't always apply. And the imposition of a "time system" heightens the tension and urgency that these segments are often trying to create.

Stylistically, I actually really liked them too. They may not be as "clean" as the overworld portions (which were well-presented, in their own rights), but I was really impressed by the use of vibrant colors and textures in somnia. Agreed on Kozaki's designs being strong here - one of my favorite "bonus features" was getting pictures for the Album, to see proto-designs for characters like Ota and Aiba.

One issue I did encounter was inconvenient lag. Any time the "AI sight" diamond was pulled up, it took like 5 seconds. At a certain point, the game basically crashed on me, presumably due to loading too many scenes (fortunately I was able to return to where I'd left off, via the flowchart). This also became a problem in "rapid response" segments - I liked the idea behind these, but having to wait 10 seconds to "quickly press the right buttons" is self-undermining.

Overall, though, I really enjoyed this game. It tells a really compelling story over only about 30 hours. Really interesting characters, music that's effective at setting the mood (there are a couple bangers in there), and a great use of the "branching" story model (I'd go as far as preferring one of the "branches" over the "true" ending). To compare similar-genre games, I'd call it about as good as "999" or "Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney", but perhaps a hair behind "Zero Escape: VLR" or "Ace Attorney: Trials & Tribulations".

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  • Darkest Dungeon - a dungeon crawler (duh) in a cthulu-like setting, humanity is dooooomed, eldritch horrors, looming madness, that kind of jazz. The general story is that you're the heir to a Mad Scientist/Warlock kind of nobleman who experimented on a LOT of fucked up stuff and unfortunately also made way for the elditch horrors to wipe out mankind. He begged you to fix his mistake, so you come to his estate and send groups of adventurers into the locations where he made his experiments.
    To be honest, the aesthetics of the game put me off this game when it first came out - I don't really care for grimdark. I only got it when a YTer/Twitch streamer that I follow picked it up recently, mostly because the game mechanics are actually fucking great. The game can be frustrating for sure - You WILL lose characters. Total Party Kill is totally to be expected if you run into a roaming boss (the Fanatic, in my case). Did I mention that Ironman is enforced? - but at the same time, it's forgiving enough not to let you run into a unwinnable position if you do fail a run. And if you do beat a diffucult boss, it feels good. No casualty against the Shambler, baby :B):
    Oh, other reason to play? The narrator (in story, your ancestor) is crazy good and badass and quoteable. Remind yourself that overconfidence is a slow and insidious killer. Many fall in the face of chaos, but not this one... not today. Great is the weapon that cuts on its own. Ghoulish Horrors, brought down and driven into the mud! Packs laden with treasure are often low on supplies. A moment of valour... shines brightest against the backdrop of despair. As the fiend falls, a faint hope blossoms. Behold, the infinite malignity of the stars...
  • Europa Universalis IV is a game that I keep coming back to. Depending on who you ask, it's either a historic simulator or Risk on crack. I tend to lean towards the latter and play campaigns with some steam achievement in mind, which usually means "Play as X, conquer Y" - last run I did was "Conquer all of France as Nevers", for example.
    Gameplay here is mostly staring at maps. ;): The level of detail is usually pretty Big Picture - economy pretty much boils down to money and manpower and the game is more concerned with your diplomatic standing with other nations, less with the concerns of your local nobles, clergymen and peasants.
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I knocked out Red Faction Armageddon. It felt a lot like Lost Planet 3, just a very linear, mostly underground environments third person shooter, where the enemies are glowy bug creatures 9 times out of 10. And when they do throw human enemies at you, they're total pushovers that make no effort to take cover. The environmental destruction elements seldom factor into the game, besides frustrating the player. As you run across a catwalk, for instance, an incoming explosive attack can take out the ground you're walking on and lead to a cheap death. Your own attacks can also blow up the ground you're walking on, even a horizontal sledgehammer swing. You can magically repair anything that's broken - a new feature to the series, but it's mostly there to keep the player from softlocking the game when the way forward has been busted up by stray weapons fire.

Weapons and unlockable abilities were extremely unbalanced but with such annoying enemy designs, I appreciated how strong certain tools were. Sticking behind cover was seldom effective at regenerating health since most enemies are firing explosive shots at you or hang on the ceiling to shoot directly down at you, but you've got this massive energy field that deflects all incoming weapons fire, allowing you to stop and recharge health no matter how many enemies have you surrounded. The sledgehammer had a wonky hitbox, but it one hit KOs almost every enemy type. All the ranged weaponry is either pitifully weak, annoyingly slow, or only has enough ammo to take out half a dozen medium enemies.

What hindered the experience most for me was the crashing. I'm not exaggerating when I say I suffered over a dozen crashes in my playthrough of the Steam version, all occurring specifically at new checkpoints, forcing me to replay about ten minutes of gameplay each time. I tried mitigating the issue with manual saves, but manual saves just record up to the latest checkpoint anyway, so they proved useless. Judging by Steam's forums, I'm not the only person with this issue, and none of the proposed solutions worked for me. The game's campaign was just 6-8 hours however, so I pushed through to the end. What kept me going was the fact that most fights in the game allow you to run straight for the exit without killing enemies which I did with ease on the normal difficulty setting. 

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Playing Crash Team Racing : Nitro Fueled

I have never actually played the PS1 original, but I did play the PS2 Crash Kart game - from what I have read, the PS1 is considered a fairly famous game, and this remaster mostly uses it's mechanics, even though it includes both the PS1 and PS2 Crash's level and charather selection.

I bought this game hoping to use it for local couch multiplayer, but compared to Mario Kart - it is near WORTHLESS for this. The skill cap is "too high" so it's only fun in Singleplayer.

The main thing about Crash compared to Mario Kart is a vastly different Drift & Mini Turbo system - you have the turbo's themselves, but you also have a reserve meter that will continue to give you speed, giving you time to go into your next drift - The community and Developers FULLY intend you to snake on straightways and chain drifts through entire levels. (The time trial ghosts, weekly challenges, and Hard difficulty AI show this).-- Most annoying of all is tht Drifting after landing from a Ramp boost (blue fire) is SO powerful than it even creeps into playing on Normal Difficulty - the raw speed that the weaker AI manages just from chaining that for "only" 2-3 corners makes player performance on the rest of the course near-irrelevant until you are able to at least do as well on that single part of the track (this is mostly for later levels like Cortex Castle and N.Gin Labs). The game's singleplayer is also SUPER exhaustive, as you have to play every level 4 times (normal race, relic race, Letter Race, tournament Race) with options for 2 more (Gold and Platinum Relic Races)  - The game has bosses, which are basically 1v1 kart races against opponets with INFINITE Items - they benefit from catch up, but take deliberetly kind of slow paths through the level. However, when first learning the game, some of them are excruciating (Pinstripe is probably my least favorite boss in any game period). - Of course the hardcore players have less of a problem because of chaining the entire level and just lapping them. 

I also feel like items are a little TOO powerful on  normal playthrough (think of how Mario Kart has small spinouts for bannas/shells compare to the big one for things like Bob-omB) in crash, the Majority of items will have a big spinout (and It's confirmation bias, but I feel like the triple red shell is more common than it's single variant) and it's made worse because the focus on drifting means you will also probably go in the direction of your drift instead of at least make a little progress during the spinout... and getting hit before Ramps and doing a further lakitu reset penalty isn't a "1-2" levels in the game thing like in MK, but is bound to happen on just about every level in the game due to the more extreme level design.

The game is also extremely finnicky with it's walls and bad terrain - of course you don't WANT to drive on Grass/Sand in Mario Kart either, but the acceleration is hit just a touch too hard and walls suck you momentum very suddenly instead of letting you get away with slight bumps - and it's it's a stark contrast to how driving over grass/sand with a "correct" reserve boosted chain turbo DOES still work without the full acceleration penalty. 

I feel like the car handling is a little mean spirited and requires insider knowledge for no good reason - if you do "brake turns' normally, you lose ALL of your turbo reserves, but if you hold down on the pad/stick then it's ALLOWED. It also means all the different charather types (acceleration/turning/all around/speed/drift) are redundant, because a Speed charather using these "down pad brake turns" can make tighter turns than a acceleration charather anyway. The game still lets you pick speed type stats independent of charather, so that's a plus I guess.

Another thing that annoys me is some VERY janky OOB rules - landing on a fence/rail is nearly never accepted and will give you the full lakitu treatment, which makes most shortcuts into much more all or nothing that they should be.

I think the positives of the game are amazing production values (the 52 charather have different victory animations PER costume) and the very large number of tracks (39) look great. 

Honestly I think I liked the game personally even though I lost hair over it, but I think I would recommend the old Sonic-All Stars Transformed over this if you wanted a game with slightly more involved drifting than Mario Kart, but still leaving some breathing room to klutz and have fun with it.

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Shadowverse

Still playing Shadowverse, the Trading Card Game by Cygames. Also, still mainly focusing on the story mode.

The starting 8 chapters definitely suck and are a bad indicator of how the stories can get as they suffer from poor localization. While they do set up some plot points (and they do pay off), they are definitely weaker chapters and will likely turn off players. After those chapters though, the story takes a jump in quality and becomes pretty good! Granted, it's not the best story ever, but it is still entertaining.

While my favorites are Bloodcraft and Dragoncraft, my regular go to is a Forestcraft "Greenwood Guardian" build. It's nothing fancy, but I find the cohesion to be enough to be consistent.

DOOM 2016

Finished DOOM a while back. It was an enjoyable experience on Normal, although I did bump up the difficulty near the end and definitely felt the difference as I ended up dying a fair amount (especially at the end of that train section). I'm debating if I want to play through it again on Nightmare as it will take a while before I can play DOOM Eternal. (Also, it's sad to hear that Mick Gordon, the composer, may not be around for the 3rd installment. Some of his excellent compositions were poorly mixed in Eternal, amongst other factors.)

I haven't bothered with the multiplayer proper, although the two AI matches I played seemed to make it fun enough.

Stardew Valley

Originally bought for the purposes of trying to record a playthrough for the channel, after the initial session it seemed like a single-player "regular LP" of Stardew Valley would be rather boring. So, instead I just play the game casually.

My current character's focus is farm animals, so I have Chicken Coops to make eggs which I then transform into mayonnaise for better profits. Other than that, I have no real plans outside of just expanding the farm and learning the mechanics more. If I go back to do a different series, I'll be able to take what I know and do better instead of floundering around.

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