Soooooo what'cha playing?

[vanguard333]

I 100% completed Mario vs Donkey Kong. It was fun; I will say that it was more fun when the emphasis was on the "puzzle" part of puzzle-platformer, and less fun when the emphasis was on the "platformer" part.

 

When I got the Mario vs Donkey Kong remake, I also got a used copy of Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp. I'm not very far in it because I haven't had much time, unfortunately.

What I can say is this: I like the gameplay in theory. I like the grid map, I like the variety of units, and I like that long-range units can either fire or move but not both. However, so far, while it hasn't been too difficult, it has felt very easy to mess up in ways that are not fun to roll with. The Valkyria Chronicles games could sometimes feel like that, but those games had many save files and let the player save at any time. This game, by contrast, only has one save file, and it auto-saves after every move the player makes, so your options are to either resume from exactly where you left off or restart from the very beginning of the battle.

I also don't like how little information is given to the player before a fight; the player is told how much damage their unit will do to a selected enemy unit, but it doesn't say how much damage the unit will receive, and that information is very important as units with less health deal less damage.

Does anyone have any advice?

Edited March 25 by vanguard333

[Zapp Branniglenn]

A lot of stuff has been appearing on my radar in the last couple weeks, so it'll be a challenge picking out which ones to focus on. For now, here's what I got done with in March.

007 Goldfinger 64 (2017)

Spoiler

Here’s a Rom hack that was in development as early as 2009. According to this history of development, the author was the developer of goldeneye’s rom hacking toolset before he took over the most promising project he saw other people making when development was halted. They would watch the film a hundred times when mapping out the level structure and it shows. Goldfinger’s Kentucky stud ranch feels 1:1 to the movie version. Entirely new weapons and gadgets were built to match the 1960s, low tech setting. And I was rewarded for having watched the movie, as the showdown with Oddjob is scripted to end the same way as you bait him toward the electric fence. It would be a waste of effort to try and match Goldeneye 64’s soundtrack blow for blow, and there are only so many ways you can revise Goldfinger’s theme tune as a motif. I can think of one track that’s a definite winner

Of course a lot of Goldeneye’s old issues rear their head once again. Corridor shooting can be obnoxious because defeated enemies take forever to fall down and remain as meat shields for the enemies behind them. And the enemies’ bullets pass clean through the bodies of their comrades so we don’t benefit from the same effect. They did flag civilians as unkillable to enemy bullets, so that's a benefit of the hit detection. Item hunt objectives can lead to a failed mission if you come across the levels’ end too soon. For instance in the Shipyard level, I was looking for gold samples. So I walked up to a boat – didn’t press any button, and the level ended pre-maturely because of my curiosity. A functional game over that forced me to start again from the beginning.

Overall I found at least half of the missions to be smooth experiences. Even on the 00 Agent difficulty which I absolutely could not say about the N64 original (goddamn Bunker II, what were they thinking). You’ll be spending a lot of time walking into the void, looking for a door you missed, but the objectives necessary to finish the level are often very straightforward. You’ll know what you’re doing, even if you don’t know where it is yet. I was annoyed at a lot of the unused space, rooms with nothing in them. Until I realized a lot of the most egregious cases are because they made multiplayer maps out of those areas. I wasn’t expecting a totally unique multiplayer suite, but they even went to the trouble of totally original maps unrelated to the campaign. Also, just like Goldeneye, there are two bonus missions you can unlock that take place in the first and second Bond films respectively. I can definitely recommend this one to fans of Goldeneye. It’s console compatible, and will work with any controller configuration mods you have for mouse/keyboard support. Though I got by just fine with a simple Xbox controller.

Penny’s Big Breakaway (2024)

Spoiler

It can be hard for an indie game to get its big break like the title implies. Even with a famous name attached. Many people are familiar with this one because of one heavily marketed detail: Christian Whitehead – the lead developer of Sonic Mania. I wasn’t crazy on Sonic Mania, but I do think it’s the best Sonic Anything from the twenty first century that was published officially by Sega. Some fan games can certainly match Mania, but it’s just as well because Whitehead was himself a Sonic fan game maker until they gave him a job. Only a little of that Sonic design sensibility shines through in this new game. The way the yoyo builds and diverts your momentum. And how the level design includes half pipes and ramps for big air time, and ziplines for dramatic on-rails traversal. But the player has a lot more agency and options than Sonic does with a bunch of movement tech that I had not mastered by the end of the game. I had fun with it, but I don't think it ever hits you with a grand scope of ideas unless you're a big fan of speedrunning and/or score attacking games.

Overall I didn’t come away with too much to say on the game. I suppose I wish it was more of a 3D collectathon style game rather than Mario 3D World-esque linear levels with a goal post at the end. Each stage has exactly three of each thing to look out for. It’s rare to play a platformer where the basic movement is this engaging, so I would love to zip around open environments rather than stopping myself from careening over every edge. Or alternatively, a 2D version of the game that places more emphasis on the precision. The version we did get has this sort of isometric camera that adds to the general inaccurate feeling of inputs. Left, Right, Forward, I don't always seem to move or attack in exactly the angle I was envisioning. If the camera were positioned to be usually at Penny’s back, these wouldn’t be a problem. Finally the end of level Busker Bonus minigame has an issue where rotation inputs will fail you on the next control stick input unless you’re inputting them extremely slowly. As far as I can tell, this still hasn’t been patched at time of writing.

Contra Operation Galuga (2024)

Spoiler

Witnessed a funny interaction on a discord where the abbreviated ‘Contra OG’ was misconstrued as Contra for the NES. That’s funny, but also lampshades Galuga’s vague status as a reboot/remake. And I don’t expect Konami to do anything with it when you look at the series’ always-confused chronology. To be honest, I’m surprised they didn’t order someone to make a Vampire Survivors clone out of Contra. You can levy a lot of adjectives at Konami, but Trend-Chasing aint one of them.

Whatever it is, Operation Galuga is Konami’s latest attempt at making the franchise relevant, and WayForward’s second success at doing a killer job of it. It’s a fine blend of decades of game mechanics and level gimmicks. And the best new idea is the Overloads. Essentially Item Crash from Castlevania Rondo of Blood. You can destroy your currently equipped weapon for a once-only super move. Even just fooling around with these casually got me some cheeky quick kills on bosses. And the later unlocked characters have a few weapon and overload variations and ability differences that allow for entirely different approaches to certain screens. I did find a pretty busted oversight with the auto level 2 perk. Every time I pick up a weapon, it’s the upgraded version immediately. That alone is a good perk, but if I pick up a new weapon, then grab my old one off the ground, it re-upgrades as if I got a new one. I don’t think that’s intentional.

In terms of Contra, I’ll still say that Hard Corps: Uprising is the best in the series, but Operation Galuga definitely looked to that one as its chief inspiration in blending all these difficulty and co op options, health bars, and a perk shop that grants a bit of progression and incentive for repeat playthroughs. The biggest downgrade is unfortunately just the presentation. Wayforward’s 3D Models aren’t particularly inspired next to Arc System’s works now-famous art style. Seriously, if they can work out how to release that game on Steam, it would do extremely well. Like if Fromsoft did remasters of Kings Field now that there’s a dedicated Dark Souls audience. Some things we just don’t realize are ahead of their time.

Another difference with the new game is the 1-2 hour runtime. That’s a strength or weakness depending on who you ask. I hopped in for another playthrough almost immediately after the credits, and the greatest weakness of Hard Corps Uprising in my imo is how the game is just a couple stages too long to comfortably do a run of in one night. Also I hate to even bring up any game’s price tag, but it is a hard sell to spend forty dollars on such a short game. Especially when it has so much potential for co operative multiplayer, it’s hard convincing someone else to take the dive. 

I also met a big milestone this month. I 100% completed Hyrule Warriors Definitive Edition. I wrote on this game about five years ago and have chipped away at it casually for a month at a time whenever the mood struck. That’s how I approach these mega grindy completionist projects, It’s not good to be hyper fixated on one thing for too long, or else it'll deteriorate your initial interest in the game. And I do really like Hyrule Warriors. 2014 was sure a different era of Zelda as we were inundated with remasters, remakes, and entirely new releases in the outrageous waiting period for “Zelda U”. There’s so much reverence for the most inane of details across every era of the series that makes it feel comparable to a Smash Bros. It being over is kind of bittersweet. There's no more to discover, I have witnessed each of Tingle's animations. In the end I got all the in-game achievements. And for some extra credit, I finished the Badges for each character and A Ranked all the challenge mode maps and Ganon’s Fury which are conspicuously absent from the achievement list.

Theatrhythm Final Fantasy (2012)

Spoiler

This has settled in as my next “project” following the wrapup of Hyrule Warriors. I’m not a big rhythm game player, but I have fond memories of tapping away at my 3DS waiting for class to start as a college freshman. I came back to wrap up the in-game achievements which require nothing other than simply playing the game more and more. Of the 51 total songs in this first entry, I think even a theoretical TAS of this game would need to run them each 9 times minimum. Plus another two hundred songs of randomly generated Dark Notes, and your performance in those doesn’t contribute to other modes either. I’m not TAS level good, so some of these ultimate difficulties took me several dozen attempts for the filled out Critical Chart and Perfect Chain clear. I still have a few Perfect Chains to go at time of writing. My wrist is real upset every time it hears Battle at the Big Bridge.

As part of the Final Fantasy theming, you form a party that levels up, earns skills, and uses items. Items and skills that help you survive too many missed notes, or defeat the onscreen monster for more exp and potential rewards. Unfortunately if you want the highest score possible, you have to unequip them all for the ‘Stoic Bonus’. When going for completion, the rpg elements are simply something you will not engage with at all. Making the experience more dull and not permitting you to take advantage of the awesome characters you’ve built up with all this effort. The Stoic Bonus is also responsible for yet another chunk of the critical chart that’s only accessible on that playstyle – meaning yet another perfect playthrough on each difficulty. In my 60 ish hours of casual play many years ago, I was clearly not playing with knowledge of this mechanic, and so the majority of that effort did not count towards the most intense achievements. I understand the immediate sequel, Curtain Call, ditched the Stoic Bonus as a concept and Thank God on so many levels

I can’t say that I recommend going for completion on this one. Then again maybe that’s true of all rhythm games. I’m not well versed in the genre and it feels icky to sit here dinging the game for "design issues” when it’s meant to be enjoyed casually. Furthermore, just because the in-game achievements invite you to be a completionist doesn’t mean someone held a gun to my head and told me to do it. If a game was built by amateurs, then maybe it's on me to experience it like an amateur. I was a big Final Fantasy Dork ten years ago and hearing these tunes again definitely stirred some great memories. The only FF games I’ve played in that time since were FF13-3, and 15. And they turned Cloud Strife into an NFT. Ugh. I'm happy to hear people say good things about FF7: Enter the Nomura-verse, but I'm in no hurry to check it out for myself.

 

[Fabulously Olivier]

47 minutes ago, Zapp Branniglenn said:

A lot of stuff has been appearing on my radar in the last couple weeks, so it'll be a challenge picking out which ones to focus on. For now, here's what I got done with in March.

007 Goldfinger 64 (2017)

  Reveal hidden contents

Here’s a Rom hack that was in development as early as 2009. According to this history of development, the author was the developer of goldeneye’s rom hacking toolset before he took over the most promising project he saw other people making when development was halted. They would watch the film a hundred times when mapping out the level structure and it shows. Goldfinger’s Kentucky stud ranch feels 1:1 to the movie version. Entirely new weapons and gadgets were built to match the 1960s, low tech setting. And I was rewarded for having watched the movie, as the showdown with Oddjob is scripted to end the same way as you bait him toward the electric fence. It would be a waste of effort to try and match Goldeneye 64’s soundtrack blow for blow, and there are only so many ways you can revise Goldfinger’s theme tune as a motif. I can think of one track that’s a definite winner

Of course a lot of Goldeneye’s old issues rear their head once again. Corridor shooting can be obnoxious because defeated enemies take forever to fall down and remain as meat shields for the enemies behind them. And the enemies’ bullets pass clean through the bodies of their comrades so we don’t benefit from the same effect. They did flag civilians as unkillable to enemy bullets, so that's a benefit of the hit detection. Item hunt objectives can lead to a failed mission if you come across the levels’ end too soon. For instance in the Shipyard level, I was looking for gold samples. So I walked up to a boat – didn’t press any button, and the level ended pre-maturely because of my curiosity. A functional game over that forced me to start again from the beginning.

Overall I found at least half of the missions to be smooth experiences. Even on the 00 Agent difficulty which I absolutely could not say about the N64 original (goddamn Bunker II, what were they thinking). You’ll be spending a lot of time walking into the void, looking for a door you missed, but the objectives necessary to finish the level are often very straightforward. You’ll know what you’re doing, even if you don’t know where it is yet. I was annoyed at a lot of the unused space, rooms with nothing in them. Until I realized a lot of the most egregious cases are because they made multiplayer maps out of those areas. I wasn’t expecting a totally unique multiplayer suite, but they even went to the trouble of totally original maps unrelated to the campaign. Also, just like Goldeneye, there are two bonus missions you can unlock that take place in the first and second Bond films respectively. I can definitely recommend this one to fans of Goldeneye. It’s console compatible, and will work with any controller configuration mods you have for mouse/keyboard support. Though I got by just fine with a simple Xbox controller.

Penny’s Big Breakaway (2024)

  Reveal hidden contents

It can be hard for an indie game to get its big break like the title implies. Even with a famous name attached. Many people are familiar with this one because of one heavily marketed detail: Christian Whitehead – the lead developer of Sonic Mania. I wasn’t crazy on Sonic Mania, but I do think it’s the best Sonic Anything from the twenty first century that was published officially by Sega. Some fan games can certainly match Mania, but it’s just as well because Whitehead was himself a Sonic fan game maker until they gave him a job. Only a little of that Sonic design sensibility shines through in this new game. The way the yoyo builds and diverts your momentum. And how the level design includes half pipes and ramps for big air time, and ziplines for dramatic on-rails traversal. But the player has a lot more agency and options than Sonic does with a bunch of movement tech that I had not mastered by the end of the game. I had fun with it, but I don't think it ever hits you with a grand scope of ideas unless you're a big fan of speedrunning and/or score attacking games.

Overall I didn’t come away with too much to say on the game. I suppose I wish it was more of a 3D collectathon style game rather than Mario 3D World-esque linear levels with a goal post at the end. Each stage has exactly three of each thing to look out for. It’s rare to play a platformer where the basic movement is this engaging, so I would love to zip around open environments rather than stopping myself from careening over every edge. Or alternatively, a 2D version of the game that places more emphasis on the precision. The version we did get has this sort of isometric camera that adds to the general inaccurate feeling of inputs. Left, Right, Forward, I don't always seem to move or attack in exactly the angle I was envisioning. If the camera were positioned to be usually at Penny’s back, these wouldn’t be a problem. Finally the end of level Busker Bonus minigame has an issue where rotation inputs will fail you on the next control stick input unless you’re inputting them extremely slowly. As far as I can tell, this still hasn’t been patched at time of writing.

Contra Operation Galuga (2024)

  Reveal hidden contents

Witnessed a funny interaction on a discord where the abbreviated ‘Contra OG’ was misconstrued as Contra for the NES. That’s funny, but also lampshades Galuga’s vague status as a reboot/remake. And I don’t expect Konami to do anything with it when you look at the series’ always-confused chronology. To be honest, I’m surprised they didn’t order someone to make a Vampire Survivors clone out of Contra. You can levy a lot of adjectives at Konami, but Trend-Chasing aint one of them.

Whatever it is, Operation Galuga is Konami’s latest attempt at making the franchise relevant, and WayForward’s second success at doing a killer job of it. It’s a fine blend of decades of game mechanics and level gimmicks. And the best new idea is the Overloads. Essentially Item Crash from Castlevania Rondo of Blood. You can destroy your currently equipped weapon for a once-only super move. Even just fooling around with these casually got me some cheeky quick kills on bosses. And the later unlocked characters have a few weapon and overload variations and ability differences that allow for entirely different approaches to certain screens. I did find a pretty busted oversight with the auto level 2 perk. Every time I pick up a weapon, it’s the upgraded version immediately. That alone is a good perk, but if I pick up a new weapon, then grab my old one off the ground, it re-upgrades as if I got a new one. I don’t think that’s intentional.

In terms of Contra, I’ll still say that Hard Corps: Uprising is the best in the series, but Operation Galuga definitely looked to that one as its chief inspiration in blending all these difficulty and co op options, health bars, and a perk shop that grants a bit of progression and incentive for repeat playthroughs. The biggest downgrade is unfortunately just the presentation. Wayforward’s 3D Models aren’t particularly inspired next to Arc System’s works now-famous art style. Seriously, if they can work out how to release that game on Steam, it would do extremely well. Like if Fromsoft did remasters of Kings Field now that there’s a dedicated Dark Souls audience. Some things we just don’t realize are ahead of their time.

Another difference with the new game is the 1-2 hour runtime. That’s a strength or weakness depending on who you ask. I hopped in for another playthrough almost immediately after the credits, and the greatest weakness of Hard Corps Uprising in my imo is how the game is just a couple stages too long to comfortably do a run of in one night. Also I hate to even bring up any game’s price tag, but it is a hard sell to spend forty dollars on such a short game. Especially when it has so much potential for co operative multiplayer, it’s hard convincing someone else to take the dive. 

I also met a big milestone this month. I 100% completed Hyrule Warriors Definitive Edition. I wrote on this game about five years ago and have chipped away at it casually for a month at a time whenever the mood struck. That’s how I approach these mega grindy completionist projects, It’s not good to be hyper fixated on one thing for too long, or else it'll deteriorate your initial interest in the game. And I do really like Hyrule Warriors. 2014 was sure a different era of Zelda as we were inundated with remasters, remakes, and entirely new releases in the outrageous waiting period for “Zelda U”. There’s so much reverence for the most inane of details across every era of the series that makes it feel comparable to a Smash Bros. It being over is kind of bittersweet. There's no more to discover, I have witnessed each of Tingle's animations. In the end I got all the in-game achievements. And for some extra credit, I finished the Badges for each character and A Ranked all the challenge mode maps and Ganon’s Fury which are conspicuously absent from the achievement list.

Theatrhythm Final Fantasy (2012)

  Hide contents

This has settled in as my next “project” following the wrapup of Hyrule Warriors. I’m not a big rhythm game player, but I have fond memories of tapping away at my 3DS waiting for class to start as a college freshman. I came back to wrap up the in-game achievements which require nothing other than simply playing the game more and more. Of the 51 total songs in this first entry, I think even a theoretical TAS of this game would need to run them each 9 times minimum. Plus another two hundred songs of randomly generated Dark Notes, and your performance in those doesn’t contribute to other modes either. I’m not TAS level good, so some of these ultimate difficulties took me several dozen attempts for the filled out Critical Chart and Perfect Chain clear. I still have a few Perfect Chains to go at time of writing. My wrist is real upset every time it hears Battle at the Big Bridge.

As part of the Final Fantasy theming, you form a party that levels up, earns skills, and uses items. Items and skills that help you survive too many missed notes, or defeat the onscreen monster for more exp and potential rewards. Unfortunately if you want the highest score possible, you have to unequip them all for the ‘Stoic Bonus’. When going for completion, the rpg elements are simply something you will not engage with at all. Making the experience more dull and not permitting you to take advantage of the awesome characters you’ve built up with all this effort. The Stoic Bonus is also responsible for yet another chunk of the critical chart that’s only accessible on that playstyle – meaning yet another perfect playthrough on each difficulty. In my 60 ish hours of casual play many years ago, I was clearly not playing with knowledge of this mechanic, and so the majority of that effort did not count towards the most intense achievements. I understand the immediate sequel, Curtain Call, ditched the Stoic Bonus as a concept and Thank God on so many levels

I can’t say that I recommend going for completion on this one. Then again maybe that’s true of all rhythm games. I’m not well versed in the genre and it feels icky to sit here dinging the game for "design issues” when it’s meant to be enjoyed casually. Furthermore, just because the in-game achievements invite you to be a completionist doesn’t mean someone held a gun to my head and told me to do it. If a game was built by amateurs, then maybe it's on me to experience it like an amateur. I was a big Final Fantasy Dork ten years ago and hearing these tunes again definitely stirred some great memories. The only FF games I’ve played in that time since were FF13-3, and 15. And they turned Cloud Strife into an NFT. Ugh. I'm happy to hear people say good things about FF7: Enter the Nomura-verse, but I'm in no hurry to check it out for myself.

 

As someone who's 100% completed FEW, congrats on HW. That sounds like a daunting achievement even for me.

 

Anyway, two last minute clears for March.

 

29. Terror of Hemasaurus

Spoiler

Cleared 3/29

7/10

Little known fact - Rampage was a huge part of my childhood and I miss it dearly. So, I had a great few hours clearing this one. The gameplay is nostalgic and addictive, the soundtrack is high energy, and the political satire had me rolling in laughter all night. 

 

Only flaws here are 1) low number of kaiju and low variety of kaiju and 2) some serious lag spikes. It's forgivable since it was made by one guy.

 

30. Fire Emblem Fates Conquest

Spoiler

Cleared 3/31

4/10

Frankly, I hate Fates so much that I enjoyed it more after switching to normal phoenix mode and turning off animations. The game has zero redeeming qualities in my eyes, and I'm just glad to be done with it. It wouldn't do to not have all Fire Emblems eventually completed.

The story is bad, the characters are mostly bad, the map design is gimmicky, the enemies are grossly overpowered, player units range from mediocre to worthless (yes, even the "top tier" characters are mid at best). It's just a mess.

 

Edited April 1 by Fabulously Olivier

[Integrity]

13 hours ago, Zapp Branniglenn said:

I also met a big milestone this month. I 100% completed Hyrule Warriors Definitive Edition.

holy moly

i kneel to you

[Florete]

Damn. I got close to 100% in Hyrule Warriors DE, but never quite finished the grind. Maybe I'll go back to it now that I'm thinking of it.

[vanguard333]

I've been making progress on Advance Wars 1+2: Reboot Camp. I'm currently still on the first game, but I think I'm starting to get used to the combat.

One thing I find a little funny: normally, when a game introduces a new playable character, the next mission is generally designed to be one that is tailored to show off what the new playable character can do. And yet, with this game, I just unlocked the third commander: Sami the infantry specialist, and the first mission for which the player can use Sami is one where Sami is the last commander the player would want to use to the large amount of flying vehicles, which infantry can't target, and the nerfs that vehicles get with Sami as the commander.

 

I recently got another game that was on sale, but I haven't started it yet. The game in question is called Ys Origins; I got it while it was on sale for 70% off, and I had enough points to bring the price further down to less than 20 cents.

My only experience with the Ys games is Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana. I loved everything about that game except its ending. This game is a prequel to the entire rest of the Ys series, so I'm hopeful that it will at least end strongly. Anything I should know in advance, such as how this game differs from games like Ys VIII? I saw that it uses a top-down perspective rather than over-the-shoulder 3D, and, since it's a prequel, Adol is not the protagonist but are there any other important differences I should know?

[Fabulously Olivier]

April was a good month. I finished 3 of the best games I've ever played (this may be the only time you see me give 3 10s in a month), and made serious progress on my resolution games. I also got back into Pokemon.

 

31. Unicorn Overlord

Spoiler

Cleared 4/5/24 

Platinum trophy

10/10

 

Fire Emblem wishes it was as good as Unicorn Overlord. So much so that it is neck and neck with Path of Radiance in my 2nd/3rd top games of all time. So my point for point will also be a comparison to show why it's difficult to decide which is better.

 

+ Gorgeous art style

+ Godlike soundtrack

+ Excellent map design. Beyond excellent actually, as each stage doubles as both a fun strategy map and an immersive part of the game's world to explore. The maps are better than even most good FE maps, though perhaps not as good as the very best of the series.

+ Plenty of content

+ High replay value.

+ Gameplay and mechanics far greater than Fire Emblem's

+ Teambuilding so deep it really makes a buildcraft-oriented player tick.

+ Great characters, albeit perhaps less so than PoR's.

+ Game is just difficult enough to be engaging, while never being frustrating or tedious.

 

= The story isn't bad enough to detract but it also isn't adding anything. The lore helps lift it up a bit though. Story is the main advantage PoR has over UO.

 

- UO suffers from the same issue as PoR - slow battle animations. In UO's case, it's less that the animations are stiff, and more that there is just so much going on. You can skip animations and the game actually becomes really quick, but then you're missing out on some of the game's top tier presentation.

 

 

32. Diablo IV

Spoiler

Cleared 4/10

7/10

 

This game got a lot of immense praise while people did the story, while also getting shat on as the worst game ever when people got to the endgame. Frankly, it deserves neither. Right now, it's just mid. 

 

+ Great feeling combat and animations

+ Character creation is such an improvement in a genre that usually still thinks genderlocked classes are acceptable game design.

+ Above average story for its genre

+ Content rich

+ The replay value is definitely there with more classes and builds (but eh... I don't want to)

 

- Buildcraft is significantly more shallow than Diablo 3

- Open world events and world bosses suck. They've learned nothing from games like Guild Wars 2 and Marvel Heroes that are so fun in this regard.

- Combat mostly just feels involves alternating between 2 skills.

- Traversing the world is too slow.

 

33. Mass Effect 2

Spoiler

Cleared 4/16

10/10

Platinum trophy

 

Mass Effect 2 is one of the most improved sequels in gaming history. The combat was refined, the gear and skill trees made more elegant, the characters deepened, the presentation improved, and the Mako sent to Hell where it belongs.

 

+ Satisfying and snappy third person cover shooter combat

+ Top tier story

+ Incredible characters

+ Awesome soundtrack

+ Compelling main and side missions

+ Solid replay value.

 

- Planet scanning is dull, and the game includes far more of it than you actually need to do. It's easy to do far more of this than you need, and it's so tedious.

 

34. Mass Effect 3

Spoiler

Cleared 4/27

Platinum trophy (meaning I got plats in the whole trilogy)

10/10*

* Reduce score to 9/10 if playing Vanguard, as Biotic Charge frequently becomes totally unresponsive and gets you killed.

* Reduce score to 8/10 on initial release of game with day 1 Prothean dlc, and war assets locked behind multiplayer.

 

+ Satisfying, snappy cover shooter combat

+ Top tier story

+ Incredible cinematics and setpieces

+ Wonderful characters

+ Awesome soundtrack

+ Good replay value

+ Lots of content

+ Turns scanning into an actual sorta engaging part of the game

 

- Most of the side missions are pretty dull item hunts

- Some of the trophies are frustrating to get

- Controversial ending (personally, I think the hate is way overblown)

 

35. Hyrule Warriors DE

Spoiler

Story cleared 4/28.

9/10

 

While calling a musou game a landmark title will raise eyebrows, if any of them qualify it would be this one. This was the game that proved musou games could be passion projects. It was the first game to solidify the spinoffs as incomparably better than mainline DW and SW games. And it's still considered by most to be the best musou game of all time.

 

+ Perfectly represents its series in a way that I wish Fire Emblem Warriors had.

+ Excellent roster

+ Lovingly recreates Zelda locations and tropes in a Warriors game.

+ The most badass versions of Link, Zelda, and Impa. Also had the best version of Ganondorf pre-TotK.

+ Movesets are all unique spectacles to watch

+ Extreme amounts of content. Has the best postgame of any musou alongside FE Warriors 1.

+ Introduces meaningful boss fights into a musou format.

+ Does an excellent job of maintaining split objective pressure. It's rivaled only by FE Warriors 1 in this regard.

+ Highest enemy variety of any musou other than maybbbbbeee the Dragon Quest Heroes games.

+ Absolute banger soundtrack, second only to Three Hopes

 

- Treasure hunting in the middle of a musou stage is not fun.

- Using gadgets to hit weakpoints is janky as hell, because they need to be selected via a scroll bar that does not pause the game.

- Adventure mode is a mixed bag in a way History Mode rarely is. A lot of it is really fun and a lot of it is realllllly not.

- Because movesets prioritize spectacle over practicality (the opposite of FE Warriors), the game has extreme balance disparities. Many characters are both viable and unique, while many others are grossly underpowered.

 

36. Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: Justice for All

Spoiler

Cleared 4/30

7/10

 

Honestly I just don't have much opinion on this. I'm playing this one on Gamepass because my brother gave me his old copies of the others on DS. (His eyes are too bad for handheld games now, and he has the trilogy on PC).

 

+ Fun quirky characters

+ Elaborate case stories

+ Fun puzzles

 

- Solutions can be pretty "how was I supposed to know to do that" and penalties are really high for getting it wrong.

- Pacing is really slow, though that's probably inherent to the genre.

 

 

I've been playing a lot of Pokemon Diamond and Pokemon Sword.

 

I made great progress in Like a Dragon Infinite Wealth.

 

I've played a small amount of Dragon's Dogma Dark Arisen and Path of Exile.

Edited April 30 by Fabulously Olivier

[lenticular]

1 hour ago, Fabulously Olivier said:

* Reduce score to 8/10 on initial release of game with day 1 Prothean dlc, and war assets locked behind multiplayer.

I have some seriously mixed feelings about Mass Effect 3 multiplayer. On the one hand, it was actually a lot of fun and I have some really fond memories of playing it and the people I played it with. On the other hand, it also had pay-to-win lootboxes, and is one of the big reasons why I don't let myself touch anything with microtransactions these days. Which is probably why the war assets were locked behind it, to funnel as many people into this exact scenario.

1 hour ago, Fabulously Olivier said:

- Controversial ending (personally, I think the hate is way overblown)

I agree with this, though. I really didn't have a problem with even the original version of the ending. And while there were some completely valid criticisms of it, so much of the hate was just Whiny Gamer Tears (TM).

[Fabulously Olivier]

2 minutes ago, lenticular said:

I have some seriously mixed feelings about Mass Effect 3 multiplayer. On the one hand, it was actually a lot of fun and I have some really fond memories of playing it and the people I played it with. On the other hand, it also had pay-to-win lootboxes, and is one of the big reasons why I don't let myself touch anything with microtransactions these days. Which is probably why the war assets were locked behind it, to funnel as many people into this exact scenario.

I agree with this, though. I really didn't have a problem with even the original version of the ending. And while there were some completely valid criticisms of it, so much of the hate was just Whiny Gamer Tears (TM).

Oh absolutely. If anything, EA benefitted from the ending outrage, because it overshadowed the issues the game actually had (particularly egregious dlc for the time, and being one of the very first non-sports, non-MMO games to have p2w lootboxes). The war assets were definitely designed to get people into the multiplayer skinner box, and it did very well for itself because the multiplayer was very fun.

[FRZNHeir]

Outside of my standard weekly Yugioh shenanigans, I'm currently (read:finally) attempting to S-rank every mission in Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon.
So far, I have all of Chapter 1 S-ranked, as well as a few stray missions and Attack the Watchpoint. 

Spoiler

I had some trouble with Attack the Dam Complex [Alt] that led to me having to run a really scuffed Plasma/Laser speed build. The [Alt] Mission for Attack the Strider and Attack the Watchpoint have me a little worried, but I'm not too scared.

I'm pretty nervous about the Defense missions later in the game, but I might run a long-range build for that. Or I could just keep running Zimmerman+Stun Needle go brrr.

[Omegaprism]

I am currently about 20 hours into Stellar Blade, and while the characters are nothing to write home about the combat is sublime and the overall aesthetic is pretty strong. There is a pretty impressive enemy variety, and every boss battle feels like an epic struggle so far.

I am also at the part right before the end of the story in Unicorn Overlord. The game is fantastic, but I have a problem where I don't want it to end and so I'm dragging my feet on just getting the final mission done.

Somewhere in all the miasma of spring quarter doldrums at school I found the time to play Scarlet Nexus. I am still trying to decide if I really liked it or not.

[Zapp Branniglenn]

I had already previously decided April would be where I catch up on some 2024 games before a recent tragedy got me looking ahead to the future. We continue to game for those who cannot. I dedicate this post to them

SM64: Decades Later (2024)

Spoiler

I definitely intended to take a break from Mario 64 hacks, but this pairs so well with the February writeup since it’s the same author. I was aware of Decades Later, but did not realize its release was so imminent back then. It’s sort of a Same-System Remake of Super Mario 64. The in-game story implies that the events of Mario 64 have already happened but also we’ve never been to this castle before so it’s a real mystery that I don’t believe was intended to be a mystery in-universe. The author has given a couple explanations of just what this is. That’s he’s “recreating levels from memory” which I can’t really comprehend in a way that I would in watching someone draw something from memory. It’s also described as “What if Mario 64 has another year of polish”. Whatever it was meant to be, it definitely follows the latter description much closer. Every level from the original game is expanded on and reworked. Some recontextualized like Hazy Maze Cave as the Hazy Maze Sewers. While others are entirely new like Ludwig Harbor replacing Dire Dire Docks. And in general a lot of the old tasks have been expanded in scope. For instance, freeing the chain chomp in Bob-Omb Battlefield now has the chain chomp open up a new area that houses that star at the top of it.

In terms of the current state of Mario Romhacking, we’ve got all the modern amenities. No extra lives to worry about. Lakitu Cam for setting up perfect angled jumps. Mechanics like Note Blocks and Spring boards to bounce off of. There's a handful of other features I hadn't seen before in any hack. If you fall into a death pit, Mario takes 4 damage instead of dying entirely. There's also an enhanced swimming mechanic where instead of just making Mario faster in the water, he gradually reaches 2x speed, and then you can hold the A button to maintain that speed rather than tire yourself out tapping. I was really hoping that collecting a star wouldn’t kick you out of the level, but we still find time to leverage SM64’s Biggest Design Flaw by having levels change based on star selection. The first star of a level might task you with climbing to the top, then later stars will have shortcuts and powerups in the level making the same climb faster and more convenient. This culminates in Tick Tock Core, a stage where each star is essentially a "checkpoint" on the climb to a top of a massive elevator that's under construction.

If there’s one area I think Decades falls short on its ambition is the music. There are a lot of amateur musicians having fun remixing existing songs in SM64’s ‘sound font’. And a small subsection of these fellows do their own improvement mix of the original songs from the game. Decades Later would have been THE Rom Hack to incorporate stuff like this. And I know BroDute has heard of this one because it was IN one of his hacks I wrote about in February

Upon collection of all 150 stars, the game treats you to 170-ish Blue Stars spread throughout each of the stages. These have their own onscreen radar to help you locate them. They’re in some tricky spots to reach, so it’s a fun way to extend the life of the game while getting us to think about all the intricate details sprinkled into this hack’s excellent level design. Unfortunately I did not have the time to delve into this extensive post game content. In fact I didn’t even collect a hundred power stars. I’d love to return and finish the job someday.

Princess Peach: Showtime! (2024)

Spoiler

As of the 21^st Century, Mario is the most recognizable fictional character – more than Mickey Mouse. And that means the extended cast of Mario is also very recognizable – like knowing that there is also a Minnie Mouse even if I genuinely can’t name a single thing Minnie has ever said or done. Love her or hate her, Princess Peach is an icon of gaming. And she was first playable all the way back in her very second game appearance. There was never a question that Peach could play the role of Hero, but it’s also worth pointing out that having her run and jump just like Mario isn’t the most creative choice. Even Nabbit or a lowly Toad could beat a Super Mario Bros. But Yoshis Island, Wario Land, those are games tailored around their protagonist. Princess Peach Showtime, fills the void in expressing just the sort of hero Peach can be. Anything from a Cowgirl to a singing Mermaid to a Tokusatsu-esque super hero. She is Large, she contains Multitudes. And I think her Debut will paint how I perceive her going forward in the future of Mario games.

Showtime! engenders completionism at every step with detailed checklists for each level. It’s not a long game, and since I had a lot of fun playing it I figured this is a good way to get my moneys worth out of a Triple A release. After the game’s finale, it tells you that there are hidden ninjas in each stage. So even a thorough 100% clear of the game demands yet another playthrough of every level after the credits. Some of us that replayed levels before the finale sure feel like chumps now. You can’t just find the three ninjas and exit either. The game has a Saving icon in the lower right when you pause and exit a stage, but will not update your progress at all which is plenty misleading and would have sped up these post game replays. You Must actually finish the level. Unskippable cutscenes and dialogue throughout. Stages are also laden with constant points of no return that will cheese you out of this or that sparkle gem just because you decided to interact with one thing before another on the same screen.

My biggest issue however is the lack of D-Pad support. Showtime! is no more 3D than a Streets of Rage and could be played entirely on an NES controller. I don’t know why Nintendo develops Switch games under the presumption that the player has a fully functional, non drifting control stick. And even then, people like me prefer the precision that a D-Pad provides. The Nintendo Switch’s hardware has shown an outrageous dereliction for quality, so I think a lot about kids getting a cool Switch game for Christmas. Only to slog through it on non-functioning controllers. Whose replacements costs more than the game itself. I didn’t have to deal with that growing up. Even wearing out the N64 control sticks on Mario Party still left the games adequately playable decades later.

Even after doing two playthroughs of every stage for 100%, Showtime! never got old. I found the action-y stages to have insufficiently polished controls and the umarked QTEs to be a little awkward, but these are minor issues in service of constant spectacle. The Switch era of Nintendo has been extremely safe, especially right now in its twilight years of constant remakes, so this feels like a big break for a classic Nintendo character. It may not be as meaty as Pikmin 4 or have the satisfying level of action and exploration of a Metroid Dread, but those are games with decades of game design triumphs and misfires to learn from. Showtime! is entirely new and thus has nothing to compare to. As a fun bonus, I’ll rank the gameplay styles. Dashing Thief > Cowgirl > Patisserie > SPOILER > Mermaid > Figure Skater > Ninja > Kung Fu > Detective > Mighty > Swordfighter

Pepper Grinder (2024)

Spoiler

They say if you’re in a hole, stop digging. But industrial power tools can be a match for the most time-tested idioms. Pepper can run and jump, but not nearly as effectively as when you have diggable ground beneath your feet. The drill cuts through the earth like butter at two speeds: Fast and too-freaking-fast by pressing A. The latter is useful if you want to emerge with more momentum. This is a platformer at the end of the day and the inability to stop moving underground is going to launch you foolishly over many cliffs. I’m torn on whether the game ought to have included a Stop button underground with left trigger. Perhaps it would make the game too easy to give you that level of control and time to orient yourself. But what we end up doing is spinning in a circle awkwardly to achieve the same effect.

Whatever the case may be, I sure would have appreciated more life refills. Seems like they forgot in the second half of the game. There’s no penalty for death beyond respawning at the last checkpoint, but a lot of exploration and environment interaction awards near-meaningless coins. Even in zelda you get hearts from stopping to cut grass. I also found some levels were not optimized for their checkpoint placements. Like how in 4-3, they don’t spawn you another gun, so you have to play the level without one which was very hard and clearly not intended. 4-2 gave me a much more explicit soft lock when falling out of bounds underwater respawned me way back in the level. And past the one ledge I could not climb because the robot I needed to climb it was stuck past the ledge itself

The game remains charming in spite of its frustrations. There isn’t a single word of dialogue in the game, and yet we’re treated to some fun sight gags and even a couple of character arcs. I found it fun that the friendly NPCs are mole men while the enemies have Narwhal-like horns. And all the big tools are operated via drill. Implying that every living creature of this universe has an affinity for digging and drilling.

Minishoot’ Adventures (2024)

Spoiler

Minishoot’ Adventures is a classic top down Zelda-esque adventure in a world inhabited by characters reminiscent of a shoot em up. Nobody in the world talks or has any sort of gesture beyond elated spinning and beep boops. The NPCs you rescue build up a village around the starting zone. And when you level up you can invest points in several parameters. Even minor-sounding upgrades like your shot’s range and travel speed make a tangible difference when a boss is forcing you into awkward dodge motions at very specific distances.

What stood out immediately is the game’s soundscape. It’s basic sound effects for shooting, enemies dying, environments crumbling are all pleasing to the ear. The intense action communicates to your senses a scene of toy-figures or bugs battling it out with the soft sounds of pebbles getting scattered by each explosion. It pairs especially well with the subdued music. I don’t know if I entirely like calming music when I’m schmupping my way through frantic overworld fights, but it’s a unique vibe for sure. And they at least provide some energetic music for the big boss fights at the end of dungeons.

If I have one complaint It’s the lack of dungeon maps. I definitely wasn’t lost or confused by the dungeon layouts but it’s a surprising choice given the detailed overworld map. The map that we do get allows us to reveal the locations of collectibles, optionally, by interacting with a specific NPC. This being left up to the player is great for those that insist they don’t need help and want to find everything on their own. A Dungeon Map would fit right in as one of these optional upgrades that you purchase from the shop.

I may not have much to say on this game and it’s frankly uninspired title, but it’s currently the best indie game I’ve played this year. If you’re a fan of Zelda or schmups, don’t miss it.

Also yes I did get my backer copy of Eiyuden Chronicle. This is my most anticipated game of the year, so I'm looking forward to it. Was also looking forward to the massive Fallout: London mod release, but that was unfortunately postponed to accommodate for Bethesda's random next-gen update.

Edited May 9 by Zapp Branniglenn

[vanguard333]

I've been continuing to play the Advance Wars 1+2 remake. I finished the final mission of Advance Wars 1, and I'm not eager to play any of the additional missions in that game because of how much the game could sometimes become very tedious. So, I moved on to Advance Wars 2, hoping that that game has enough refinements that I will feel a lot better playing it than Advance Wars 1.

One thing that's obvious from the start is that there's a greater narrative focus in Advance Wars 2, which isn't saying much as the plot of Advance Wars 1 can be summed up as "everyone is tricked into fighting each other until the end", but it's nice to see.

I also found the missions went a lot smoother this time; perhaps it's a difference in AI from me selecting classic difficulty rather than casual as I did for Advance Wars 1, or it could just be me getting used to the game. The only thing that I'm not a fan of is that the initial enemy's CO power introduces an element of chance: when he uses it, his units can do anywhere between very little damage and a lot of damage. I don't like chance in a game where you're not only graded on whether or not you complete the mission, but how efficiently and thoroughly you complete the mission with as many units left as possible; it really doesn't fit and it can be the difference between a perfect score and a lower rank.

 

EDIT: Just yesterday (May 27th), I started playing Ys Origin.

My only previous experience playing a Ys game was Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana, which I was interested in because of its creative premise: an adventuring hero stranded on a deserted island full of dinosaurs while dreaming of a long-dead civilization. Since a lot of what drew me into Ys VIII was the things unique about it, I wasn't sure if I would enjoy the series or just the one game. I heard a lot of good things about Ys Origins, it was on sale, and I do generally enjoy prequels, particularly when they actually are prequels and aren't alternate-timeline games falsely marketed as prequels, so I got Ys Origin.

I knew this would be a different experience from Ys VIII: I knew going in that it would be top-down rather than full 3D, and a linear tower climb with backtracking rather than an explorable world, but it still initially took a little bit of getting used to. One thing that caught me completely off-guard was the character selection: I was not prepared to have to choose at the start between playing as an axe fighter and a mage; both of which are archetypes I consider underused as game protagonists. I particularly wanted to try playing as the mage first, but I ultimately went with the axe fighter, as I wasn't sure which, if either, the game wanted me to play as first, and the axe fighter was first on the list. A bit more information upfront about the differences in story between the two characters would've been appreciated.

Another thing that through me off was the amount of cutscenes I had to sit through before I could play. I get that this game needs to set up a lot more than Ys VIII did, but I always find it weird when a game starts with enough cutscenes that the screen will go dark during the cutscenes if I don't press a button every now and then.

With that out of the way, the combat is a lot of fun. It is very offence-focused without being about button-mashing as there is need to consider careful positioning, and I like the whirlwind skill that the axe fighter gets near the start. I feel like it would've been nice to have a way to block enemy attacks, but it works. I chose to play on normal difficulty, and I'm a little ashamed to admit that the first boss defeated me three times, with me finally winning on the fourth try with 1 HP left.

Navigating the tower so far is a bit like playing one big dungeon. I'm probably going to miss overworld exploration, but there is some charm to the idea of exploring one big dungeon.

Overall, I'm really liking it, but part of me does keep wondering if I should've chosen to play as the mage.

Edited May 28 by vanguard333

[Fabulously Olivier]

The only thing better than clearing a fresh game is going back and finishing one from way back. It feels like you're vindicating your past commitment to the game. And this month, I finished two big ones - an Assassin's Creed Syndicate playthrough with roughly 40 hours in it and a Witcher 3 playthrough with a whopping 120 hours in it. 

 

37. Pokemon Diamond

Spoiler

Cleared 5/6

7/10

Bottom tier Pokemon but still decent.

 

+ The core Pokemon game loop is still fun, with all that entails.

+ A minority of the new mons are very good and iconic, such as Empoleon, Lucario, and a few others.

 

- The core Pokemon flaws - EVs, IVs, lack of story, lack of difficulty settings, lack of save slots, random encounters, random retreat failures, etc. are still flaws.

- Text speed, animation speed, and health bar speed are slower in this game and it is glacial even if you disable animations and speed up text.

- Mon variety in each region is pathetic throughout most of the game.

- Most of the new mon designs are lame, IMO, and this game marks the start of the trend with a majority of new mons being uncool. Gen 4 also includes stupid looking evolutions to some of my favorite classic mons, like Electabuzz and Magmar.

- 7.8/10 too much water? Try too many caves. That's way worse.

 

38. Quantum Break

Spoiler

Cleared 5/16

7/10

A solid shooter marred by the very concept that makes it novel.

 

+ Satisfying third person gunplay

+ Interesting story

+ Well-paced, episodes aside

 

- Who wants to watch a 20 minute tv series after each mission to understand the whole plot? Not me.

- The characters are mostly pretty lame

- Platforming sections suck

 

39. Final Fantasy XVI

Spoiler

Cleared 5/19

9/10

This game took up most of this month's time and it was time well spent. I put in over 50 hours, clearing the campaign, all side quests, and all hunts. It's hard to rate, too, as the game is a strong 10 at its best (often) and a 7 at its worst (also pretty often).

 

+ Incredible story and characters

+ Gorgeous visuals

+ Spectacle and bosses that would make God of War blush

+ Awesome DMC-esque combat

+ Plenty of agency over Clive's playstyle

+ Most of the side quests actually do help flesh out the world and characters

 

= Soundtrack is top quality, but lacks in quantity/variety

 

- There's a fair amount of busy-work sidequests too.

- The open world is pretty devoid of meaningful content.

 

40. Assassin's Creed: Syndicate

Spoiler

Cleared 5/24

7/10

While this remains one of my favorite entries, it also isn't as good as I remember it being.

 

+ Decent story

+ Jacob and Evie are great characters

+ Immersive city visuals

+ Strong soundtrack

 

- Carriages ruin so many missions. 

- Kidnap missions are not fun, at all.

- Long animation locks

- Ubisoft bloat

 

41. Hellblade 2

Spoiler

Cleared 5/25

4/10

A slow, boring 6 hour walking simulator/movie. The combat is scripted, the puzzles are brain dead, and the game is multiple steps beneath its predecessor in every way. Except for visuals - those are superb.

 

42. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Spoiler

Cleared base game main story 5/27

10/10

 

+ Top tier story

+ Wonderful characters

+ Impressive worldbuilding

+ Gorgeous visuals

+ Tons of content

+ Side quest quality tends to be really high

+ Meaningful choices in story and playstyle

+ Sublime music

+ Extremely immersive attention to detail

+ Gwent is arguably the best minigame ever made. (Personally, I prefer Vantage Masters).

 

- Combat has a nice weight to it, but it's pretty shallow

- Geralt's movement is pretty much tank controls

- Excessive numbers of candles and interactables can make doing what you want difficult

- Horse races in Skellige are much too difficult

- Fast travel implementation is inconvenient.

- Durability system sucks.

- Excessive fall damage. I know Geralt is old, but does he also have osteoporosis?

 

43. Like a Dragon Infinite Wealth

Spoiler

Almost done

10/10

 

Mechanically, it's a significant improvement on its already glorious predecessor. It improves on the already top tier combat, improves progression, adds even more content, and fixes skill inheritance from jobs.

 

Story-wise, it's a lot weaker. It's still good, but not up with the best of the series.

 

I'm currently playing Pokemon X, Immortals of Aveum, and Path of Exile.

 

With FF XVI and the Witcher 3 down, I'm now in the home stretch of my New Year's resolutions. Only Dragon's Dogma, Path of Exile, Eiyuden Chronicle Hundred Heroes, and Tears of the Kingdom remain. And I've already decided to quit Dragon's Dogshit. So that's 11 down, 1 abandoned, 3 to go.

[Zapp Branniglenn]

1 hour ago, Fabulously Olivier said:

37. Pokemon Diamond

- 7.8/10 too much water? Try too many caves. That's way worse.

I dunk on this game a lot and I'm sure every Pokemon game is someone's first pokemon game, but I remember this being a difficult revisit. The slow speed of everything, the glacial pace at which they introduce new Mons, the HM spam (you need four to climb to the top of Mt Coronet, two more if you want all the items), really obnoxious encounter methods for specific pokemon like Munchlax and Vespiquen, and the bizarre lack of Fire Types (juuuuust Ponyta). All issues straight out of Gold/Silver, but no awesome, sassy soundtrack and brisk pacing to go with it.

The real tone setter is when you step into your first cave in the first hour and face, what else, Geodude and Zubat. Pokemon was a ten year old franchise by this point. Then in later caves you're up against Bronzor which has the bulk of Geodude and the Confuse Ray of Zubat, wonderful.

 

[Fabulously Olivier]

7 hours ago, Zapp Branniglenn said:

I dunk on this game a lot and I'm sure every Pokemon game is someone's first pokemon game, but I remember this being a difficult revisit. The slow speed of everything, the glacial pace at which they introduce new Mons, the HM spam (you need four to climb to the top of Mt Coronet, two more if you want all the items), really obnoxious encounter methods for specific pokemon like Munchlax and Vespiquen, and the bizarre lack of Fire Types (juuuuust Ponyta). All issues straight out of Gold/Silver, but no awesome, sassy soundtrack and brisk pacing to go with it.

The real tone setter is when you step into your first cave in the first hour and face, what else, Geodude and Zubat. Pokemon was a ten year old franchise by this point. Then in later caves you're up against Bronzor which has the bulk of Geodude and the Confuse Ray of Zubat, wonderful.

 

I have a powerful hate for Bronzor/Bronzong.

 

And an even stronger hate for the Medicham spam in Victory Road. I just love going against a bulky mon with an excellent type combo that outspeeds most of my team so I can't run away from it, and it one shots most of my team with Hi Jump Kick.

 

Also, I forgot to mention that Diamond has the worst Safari Zone in the series by far. Marsh tiles are so comically unfun to traverse.

[vanguard333]

9 hours ago, Fabulously Olivier said:

37. Pokémon Diamond

  Reveal hidden contents

Cleared 5/6

7/10

Bottom tier Pokemon but still decent.

 

+ The core Pokemon game loop is still fun, with all that entails.

+ A minority of the new mons are very good and iconic, such as Empoleon, Lucario, and a few others.

 

- The core Pokemon flaws - EVs, IVs, lack of story, lack of difficulty settings, lack of save slots, random encounters, random retreat failures, etc. are still flaws.

- Text speed, animation speed, and health bar speed are slower in this game and it is glacial even if you disable animations and speed up text.

- Mon variety in each region is pathetic throughout most of the game.

- Most of the new mon designs are lame, IMO, and this game marks the start of the trend with a majority of new mons being uncool. Gen 4 also includes stupid looking evolutions to some of my favorite classic mons, like Electabuzz and Magmar.

- 7.8/10 too much water? Try too many caves. That's way worse.

Yeah, there's a reason that, whenever I return to the Sinnoh games, I return to Platinum, not Diamond. Gen 4 is my favourite Pokémon gen and I have plenty of nostalgia for it, but I am not blind to its flaws.

Environmental design, Pokémon variety, and the story are all greatly improved in Platinum, as is the level balance between areas, and I think the animation speeds may have been improved but I can't remember as it has been a long time.

 

8 minutes ago, Fabulously Olivier said:

Also, I forgot to mention that Diamond has the worst Safari Zone in the series by far. Marsh tiles are so comically unfun to traverse.

Oh, yeah; I remember that Safari Zone. Yeah; that really was not fun at all; I almost never used the Safari Zone as a result.

 

I have made more progress on Ys Origin; I now have the lightning skill in addition to the whirlwind skill and I just found the giant centipede monster that's the final boss of the flooded part of the tower, which is a bit weird; I was expecting a water-themed boss since it was a water-themed area and one of the NPCs outright said that the dungeon themes are influenced by the monsters within them.

Overall, it's been a lot of fun, though one thing I did notice that's a bit annoying is that, during a boss fight, the ability to pause the game is taken from the player. Why? This isn't a multiplayer game, and there aren't any healing items for the player to use during a difficult boss fight (admittedly, there are items that raise the player character's maximum health, but those are infrequent and I don't know if they actually heal since I always use them as soon as possible and have full health when I do so), so why take away the ability to pause? If I need to have a different skill for a boss fight, I'd have to quit the game so I can swap the skills, and without the ability to pause, I can't actually quit the game without leaving the game entirely. It's a really weird choice.

[Fabulously Olivier]

18 minutes ago, vanguard333 said:

Yeah, there's a reason that, whenever I return to the Sinnoh games, I return to Platinum, not Diamond. Gen 4 is my favourite Pokémon gen and I have plenty of nostalgia for it, but I am not blind to its flaws.

Environmental design, Pokémon variety, and the story are all greatly improved in Platinum, as is the level balance between areas, and I think the animation speeds may have been improved but I can't remember as it has been a long time.

 

Oh, yeah; I remember that Safari Zone. Yeah; that really was not fun at all; I almost never used the Safari Zone as a result.

Yeah, I get that 99% of all gen 4 nostalgia is explicitly because of Platinum. But Platinum unfortunately isn't the version I own, and Diamond was singlehandedly responsible for knocking me off of the series for many years. I was so jaded at that point that I didn't enjoy White as much as I probably should have, and didn't even resonate with X, which is actually an extremely fun generation as I'm playing now.

 

It's kind of a weird milestone to go back and complete now, as I genuinely don't remember if I ever finished gen 4 back in the day, and it was important in revisiting the series. Will probably never touch it again because there just aren't enough appealing mons to make more than one full team.

 

Every other gen was fun enough in its initial version, or at least not massively reliant on its third version.

Edited May 29 by Fabulously Olivier

[vanguard333]

13 minutes ago, Fabulously Olivier said:

Yeah, I get that 99% of all gen 4 nostalgia is explicitly because of Platinum. But Platinum unfortunately isn't the version I own, and Diamond was singlehandedly responsible for knocking me off of the series for many years. I was so jaded at that point that I didn't enjoy White as much as I probably should have, and didn't even resonate with X, which is actually an extremely fun generation as I'm playing now.

It's kind of a weird milestone to go back and complete now, as I genuinely don't remember if I ever finished gen 4 back in the day, and it was important in revisiting the series. Will probably never touch it again because there just aren't enough appealing mons to make more than one full team.

Every other gen was fun enough in its initial version, or at least not massively reliant on its third version.

I understand.

Incidentally, my thoughts on X/Y are similar to my thoughts on Awakening: both felt to me like games that were originally going to be a lot more weird, but something happened and they instead chose to play it safe and make a "Greatest Hits" game. A lot of Pokémon Y reminded me of Awakening; particularly in the similar ways in which both try to be "greatest hits" games for their respective series.

[Fabulously Olivier]

6 minutes ago, vanguard333 said:

I understand.

Incidentally, my thoughts on X/Y are similar to my thoughts on Awakening: both felt to me like games that were originally going to be a lot more weird, but something happened and they instead chose to play it safe and make a "Greatest Hits" game. A lot of Pokémon Y reminded me of Awakening; particularly in the similar ways in which both try to be "greatest hits" games for their respective series.

I reckon "greatest hits" works way better for Pokemon than it does for Fire Emblem. Because ultimately, all people want is lots of mons, lots of content, and cool mechanics. And Mega Evolutions are such a cool idea that everything else short of monster fusion just feels like a step down.

Edited May 29 by Fabulously Olivier

[vanguard333]

17 minutes ago, Fabulously Olivier said:

I reckon "greatest hits" works way better for Pokemon than it does for Fire Emblem. Because ultimately, all people want is lots of mons, lots of content, and cool mechanics. And Mega Evolutions are such a cool idea that everything else short of monster fusion just feels like a step down.

Yeah, it probably does work better for Pokémon than for Fire Emblem. It has been a while since I played either game, so I can't really say which game I prefer. And yes, Mega Evolutions were a great mechanic; I really enjoyed it in both Y and Omega Ruby.

[Fabulously Olivier]

Just now, vanguard333 said:

Yeah, it probably does work better for Pokémon than for Fire Emblem. It has been a while since I played either game, so I can't really say which game I prefer. And yes, Mega Evolutions were a great mechanic; I really enjoyed it in both Y and Omega Ruby.

I look forward to playing Alpha Sapphire. I am a gen 3 guy. Always have been. Everything about it just clicks with me.

 

I reckon I should get Moon out of the way first, and I also have a copy of Soul Silver to play.

[vanguard333]

I have to retract a criticism I made earlier of Ys Origin; specifically, the criticism that being unable to pause during boss fights meant that I couldn't swap the character's skills. During another boss fight, I accidentally figured out that I can swap the character's skills without pausing the game by pressing the L or R buttons.

Anyway, I'm far enough in the game that I got the knight character's fire greatsword and I'm now at the desert part of the tower. I can tell I'm probably going to look forward to playing this game again as the mage, given how much joy I felt when I learned that the greatsword's fire skill is a ranged attack. I'm enjoying the combat, but the lack of any form of defense outside of jumping and positioning (and a couple of invincibility frames when using the lightning skill) does take a little bit of fun out of the melee combat.

 

On 5/29/2024 at 9:56 AM, Fabulously Olivier said:

I look forward to playing Alpha Sapphire. I am a gen 3 guy. Always have been. Everything about it just clicks with me.

I reckon I should get Moon out of the way first

Neat. I chose Omega Ruby because my brother had the original Sapphire, so I figured I would get the other version.

Wow; you and I practically chose opposite versions every time except Diamond. You chose X, I chose Y. You chose Alpha Sapphire, I chose Omega Ruby. You chose Moon, I chose Sun.

[Integrity]

56 minutes ago, vanguard333 said:

Anyway, I'm far enough in the game that I got the knight character's fire greatsword and I'm now at the desert part of the tower. I can tell I'm probably going to look forward to playing this game again as the mage, given how much joy I felt when I learned that the greatsword's fire skill is a ranged attack.

to wit, hugo's difficulty curve is about what you'd expect from a mage - he has a rough time with the second boss as i recall and then he just gets into gear and cruises. i had a pretty great time with him

 

(i've been enjoying your little ys origin blog keep it up)

e: i have not played ys origin in over ten years so if you do not find this to be the case it is entirely possible that you are either an ys god compared to me or that i misremembered

Edited May 31 by Integrity

[vanguard333]

On 5/30/2024 at 10:45 PM, Integrity said:

to wit, hugo's difficulty curve is about what you'd expect from a mage - he has a rough time with the second boss as i recall and then he just gets into gear and cruises. i had a pretty great time with him

(i've been enjoying your little ys origin blog keep it up)

e: i have not played ys origin in over ten years so if you do not find this to be the case it is entirely possible that you are either an ys god compared to me or that i misremembered

I see. Thanks for the information.

Thanks. I will. Incidentally, I realized that I haven't really talked about the story (apart from criticizing the length of the cutscenes at the start of the game). I can't really say anything about how it works as a prequel, as I haven't played any version of Ys 1 or 2. As a standalone story, it's pretty good so far. Part of me wonders if it might've been better to see a little bit of the part of Ys that's in the sky before going into the tower, but what we do learn about Ys from the characters does paint a pretty good picture of a kingdom dependent on the magic of the black pearl and the twin goddesses.

I don't think I'm enjoying the story as much as I enjoyed Ys VIII's story, but I'm guessing that this is going to have a better ending than Ys VIII simply because, as a prequel, it has to end in a way that ties into Ys 1 and 2.

 

EDIT: I have completed the sand area of the tower, and I'm now partway through the plant-and-spike-themed area of the tower. One thing I will say is that I knew going in that this would be a top-down game, but I have now encountered more than one area of the game that suddenly becomes isometric for no discernable reason.

The plot of this playthrough has now brought in Hugo Fact: the mage who is another playable character. People mentioned him exploring the tower on his own, so I figured that how the story works is that both characters' stories are happening at the same time. But then he stays behind to break the barrier sealing one of the goddesses, so I have to wonder if the different playthroughs actually contradict one another and only one is canon.

Also, the sealed goddess revealed that the black pearl: the source of Ys' magic, is also the source of the monsters attacking Ys. It's a good reveal only slightly undercut by the goddess opening her explanation of Ys' magic with "As you know", though I will attribute that to translation. I feel like the reveal might've had more impact if we had gotten to see more of Ys and its dependence on the magic of the black pearl, but what we do see from the characters' dependence on the magic is enough to make it work.

To compare to Ys VIII (if only because it's the only other Ys game I've played), one thing Ys VIII excelled at was showing the golden age of the Eternian Civilization from Dana's perspective before then seeing the Eternians be brought to an unnatural extinction by the main antagonist. Seeing Dana's past the fall of the Eternians would not have been nearly as impactful if the first thing we saw of their civilization was during its collapse.

This makes me wonder how much of Ys' past was revealed in Ys 1 and 2. Since those were NES games, I guess I assumed not much was revealed. But now I'm wondering if stuff like the Black Pearl being the source of the monsters was first revealed in those two games.

 

EDIT: I have now made it to what I assume is the final boss of the knight's route: Dalles. I'm going to put my thoughts in a spoiler tag, both to keep this post from getting too long and because some of what I'm going to say is story spoilers:

Spoiler

The mantis boss was fairly straightforward; basically spam fully-charged fire attacks while avoiding the boss' attacks and make sure it hits the minions in addition to the boss, otherwise the boss will sacrifice the minions to heal. It was a straightforward fight with a decent back-and-forth.

The fight against the pitchfork-wielder with the same name as Link's horse was also pretty good. I don't have much to say about it.

The fight against Zava the sorceress was a pretty good boss fight. It was a bit on the easy side, but this character is established as a coward whose best magic is summoning monsters to hide behind, so it makes sense. As for Roy's death, it's handled fairly well. It is a bit strange that none of the healers can make it in time when they can teleport to goddess statues and there's a goddess statue near where Roy is, but he dies quickly enough that my suspension of disbelief isn't broken by that. I don't really feel like I knew his character enough to be saddened by him being killed off; all we really know about him is that he grew up alongside Yunica and had a crush on her.

The fight against the axe-wielding antagonist: Kishgal, was pretty fun. That said, like the mantis fight, using fully-charged fire attacks really is Yunica's best friend in this fight; it destroys all his ice attacks, can disrupt most of his other attacks, and can damage him multiple times. Anyway, Kishgal's dynamic with Yunica almost feels like a speedrun of Ike and the Black Knight: from enemy who-killed-the-protagonist's-father-while-seeking-to-grow-stronger to enemy that the protagonist dies on good terms with and almost feels like they learned from. I say "speedrun" because, well, they've had two interactions total: the hopeless boss fight where Kishgal reveals that he killed Yunica's father, and this boss fight where Yunica surpasses him. It's alright; it pales in comparison to Ike and the Black Knight, but Ike and the Black Knight got two home-console games of time for building up their rivalry, so that makes sense.

Anyway, as for Dalles, his first phase is very easy and straightforward. His second phase I initially lost to because I didn't realize that the barriers are broken by specific skills, and I was able to beat the second phase on my second attempt. The third phase, however, is just a massive pain. Throwing more stuff on screen is not the same thing as making the fight more challenging. One or two of the added attacks would've been fine and made for a good challenge, but Dalles gets multiple attacks that slow Yunica, a giant laser beam that's difficult to avoid and impossible to escape, and an aoe spell that, if Yunica even so much as sets one toe in, results in her being subjected to a cutscene where Dalles takes away most of her remaining health. I have lost to this phase several times, and not in ways that ever felt fair or that they were caused by me messing up. It's ridiculous. It's clear that they wanted the final phase of the fight to be a challenge, but throwing a dozen things at the player at once is not the same thing as a challenge.

 

EDIT: I have now completed my first playthrough of Ys Origin. Once again, I will put what I have to say about the game in a spoiler tag mainly so this post doesn't become extremely long. I would really appreciate someone replying so that this post doesn't become extremely long from all these edits.

Spoiler

After levelling up from level 45 to level 46, and after several attempts, I finally beat Dalles and completed this playthrough. One thing that also helped a little was learning that getting close to Dalles makes the laser easier to dodge (though it makes everything else harder to avoid). It was a massive pain, and this was with all equipment being fully upgraded.

The ending was alright, with the goddesses sealing their power away to contain the demonic essence and going to a deep slumber, and Yunica and Hugo staying on the ground to make sure the land is ready when the seal inevitably breaks.

The story did leave a few important questions unanswered; questions that I presume will be answered in the secret third route that the new game menu hinted at when I started up a new playthrough to play as the mage. One of those obvious questions concerns the villains: the demonic essence is an unintended byproduct of the black pearl's magic being used by humans, and the humans that are trying to harness that essence for their own ends all call themselves Darklings and are stated to not be from Ys, so how do they know about the black pearl at all, let alone that demons and the demonic essence are byproducts of its power? Moreover, when did they start getting involved in the fall of Ys? Was it after the demons started appearing, or did they know about all this before the demons appeared? I'm not asking for the answer; I just want to know if the third route does answer these questions.

Anyway, I started a new playthrough as the mage: Hugo Fact. I haven't really done anything other than start the new playthrough.

 

EDIT: I completed the first section of Ys Origin in my playthrough as the mage. I don't know if it's me having gotten used to the game, or  the differences in gameplay between the mage and the knight, or possibly both, but I am finding the combat a lot easier as Hugo. The first boss fight was really easy, but instead of being the monster that Yunica fights, the first boss is the trident-wielder: Epona. The second boss, which is the same monster that Yunica fights as the second boss in her route, was also easier to beat.

I do think part of it is Hugo's gameplay: Hugo's first skill, for instance, is a shield, something I kept wanting Yunica to have throughout my first playthrough (why does the melee fighter not get a defensive ability?), and the default attack being a ranged attack does help a lot. I remember the knight enemies with large shields being the first regular enemies in my Yunica playthrough to provide a challenge, but against Hugo, they remain locked in place behind their shields when hit by his attack, and they still take damage from his attack, making fighting them a joke.

EDIT: @Integrity Which boss do you mean by the second boss? Do you mean the last boss of the first area (the giant creature with the long arms and the green bubble attack)? If so, I found it really easy to beat as Hugo Fact, but this is my second playthrough of the game.

 

EDIT: I am now at the fire section of the tower in my playthrough as the mage Hugo. Both routes present a boss fight in this area that the player is expected to lose but technically can win. For my first playthrough as Yunica, I decided to just try my best and ultimately lost. For this playthrough, I decided to see if I could beat the boss without much level-grinding. I came so close on my first attempt that I decided to keep trying, and, on my fourth attempt, I beat the boss.

As far as the cutscene afterward having to lead to the same outcomes, it honestly is one of the best examples: the cutscene acknowledges the victory, has the boss remark on Hugo's power before criticizing his inexperience, then has the boss transform into a monstrous form and easily beat Hugo in the cutscene. I suspect that that monstrous form is the form the boss will be in during the second fight against him much later in the game.

Edited June 4 by vanguard333