Soooooo what'cha playing?

[Perkilator]

I got Pokémon Scarlet earlier this year after my college graduation. I initially avoided it in 2022 after hearing about the technical issues but after sinking some time into it, I wound up having a blast.

[vanguard333]

I just started playing the demo of Ys X: Nordics. I'm very early into the demo, so there's not much I really can say about the game.

One thing that I can say is that, contrary to what I heard from people who compared the different versions back when the game released in Japan, the Switch version of the demo looks really good for the most part. I had heard that a lot of the lighting effects were absent in the Switch version, but they are in the demo from what I've seen and played. The only real visual issue I've noticed is a large pop-in issue once the player reaches the starting town. Roof textures, flower textures, and even various objects like boxes and crates don't pop in until the player is fairly close to them, so there is constant on-screen pop-in as the protagonist moves about the starting town.

The combat's pretty good so far; I only just unlocked the "duo mode" that separates this game's combat from previous Ys games' combat, so I can't really say much about it, but it seems fun so far.

I'm really not a fan of Viking games, as I thought Viking media was already overdone back in the 2010s and just became even more overdone now in the 2020s, so I was a bit disappointed when it was announced that the new Ys game would be a Viking game, but I am really enjoying this so far. 

[Samz707]

Morrowind:

Very close to just quitting the game, I'm over 60 hours in and the game has yet again demanded I walk across the entire map several times to talk to several characters on several corners of the map, who of course demand stat checks/side quests even after I've spent like half an hour just getting to them.

It's very clear the game is way too large and it's just blatant padding at this point, it feels like GTA SA where it's purely size over quality. 

[Zapp Branniglenn]

On 10/14/2024 at 7:55 PM, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

Just beat Super Paper Mario, after letting it sit half a decade on my shelf, untouched. So, what did I think?

The Good: Yeah, the story is pretty good. I could probably pick a nit or two if I wanted to, but I don't care to. I respect the effort. The characters are the strong part, both among the allies and the nuanced villains. Strong dialogue characterizes everyone in a really compelling way. Yeah, see, Nastasia was probably my favorite.

What else... I appreciate the core gameplay gimmick. The ability to switch from 2D to 3D is really cool, and expands level design options. Thrre are some issues here - it's hard to line up properly with enemies or boxes, the time limit imposes panic and waiting (despite having little ultimate effect), and it's a shame that only Mario can exploit the mechanic.

That was kinda mixed, so let's do a good one - the aesthetic. Seeing Count Bleck's Castle, in stark black and white, was truly imposing. I definitely enjoyed the parallel of "Flipside" and "Flopside", too. And I like that chapters weren't necessarily limited to one aesthetic - like, chapter 1 switching from "Green Hills" to "Sand Ocean".

The bad: There were quite a few... frustrating... aspects while playing. Foremost among them was the constant "beeping" at low health. But what am I supposed to do, when I have no healing items? Oh, I finished thechapter, so I'll get auto-healed before the next one... or not. Ugh,guess I'll die. I'll be set back a ways, but at least I'll be playing with full health. ...Except they sent me back to the last save block, with 3 HP and still no healing items. I can return pipe out to heal... and then have to start the world over again. What the flip-flop, game.

There are "bad gameplay" moments tbat I can respect, albeit not enjoy. The "long walk" in 6-1 (take 2) felt like it was wasting my time, but I can appreciate it conveying the vastness of the setting. As for "Mimi's Sweatshop", it was definitely a time waste, to the point that I watched TV over the game while holding the D-pad down. In doing so, it made for a satirical critique of capitalism. Who saw that coming? Maybe the same person who predicted a dating sim boss battle against Francis. Glorious in its goofiness.

One more thing: the character designs. They're not bad, but... they don't feel particularly "Mario". Both the hyper-angular ones, and the 3D-ish aspects. Sure, that was probably the point - make them come across as "alien" to Mario and pals. But... I'm not really sold. Why do Merlon and Merlee, two returning characters, look different? What species are "Flipsideans" or "Flopsiders" supposed to be? The characters don't look bad, but they look like they could slot into any other franchise.

There's a lot of talk about Nintendo reining IS in, when it came to unique character designs, starting with Paper Mario: Sticker Star. I can't help but imagine that such a dreadful and ill-conceived change was borne out of an understandable overreaction to this game's own inherent "weirdness". And it's a shame, because I feel like the first two games managed to strike an excellent balance - distinct character designed in recognized species types, with everything feeling "Mario-like".

The verdict: I appreciate that this game tried to alter the Paper Mario formula somewhat. As much as I love the first two games, I can't stand the drumbeat of "Paper Mario should've retained that core gameplay, and evolved gradually at most!" This game did some really interesting stuff, some of which could warrant re-exploration.

That said, the game wasn't always enjoyable to play. At times, it got frustrating or tedious. Regardless, I chigged on through for the promise of story and characters - and in that regard, it largely delivered. I ignored countless "your wiimote battery is low!" reminders, and moved my pointer ever closer to the bar to get recognized. It's just the Paper Mario title that Wii deserved.

Uh... 6/10 I guess. Worth experiencing, but I'm probably never gonna touch it again.

A lot of this is how I remember the game. The aesthetic really rubbed me the wrong way. I played enough retro games even at that age to have standards for pixel art, and it remains the only Paper Mario game to completely disregard the notion that the world and its inhabitants are made of paper. Now if we had existing character designs done up in an 8bit style along with SMB3 goombas and other recognizeable mario iconography I could get down with that shift in aesthetic. Actually one of the final levels of Color Splash almost did exactly that with SPM dimension shifting. But as is, SPM's graphics are where my mind only notices what's missing, not what's there. Ditto for the gameplay.

For what it's worth, 2D platformer games were NOT oversaturated in 2007, and indie games like Braid didn't exist to pick up the slack either. The New Super Mario Bros game on the DS was at this point still a one-off project and its wii sequel wasn't announced until two full years after Super Paper Mario. Attempting to combine vintage super mario with modern super mario in some way is a compelling pitch in a vacuum. And I wasn't doom and gloom about the future of the series because of this dramatic gameplay shift. I guessed correctly that it'd be a one-off title. Sticker Star felt much worse because it was advertised from the beginning as classic paper mario. Including screenshots of cut content like the chain chomp party member.

Aren't there a ton of rooms where the answer to the "puzzle" is scanning the area with your wiimote pointer to uncover the invisible door? That's the sort of gameplay that lives on in the sequels. Maybe we can date these moments all the way back to Flurrie's partner ability, but at least in that game there was a visible seam you could identify rather than trying your luck on every wall like you're samus bombing every inch of floor. 

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

3 hours ago, Zapp Branniglenn said:

Aren't there a ton of rooms where the answer to the "puzzle" is scanning the area with your wiimote pointer to uncover the invisible door? That's the sort of gameplay that lives on in the sequels. Maybe we can date these moments all the way back to Flurrie's partner ability, but at least in that game there was a visible seam you could identify rather than trying your luck on every wall like you're samus bombing every inch of floor. 

Any time where I wasn't sure what to do, my order of operations was essentially:

1. Flip Mario on his side, and see if anything useful is revealed that way,

2. Point the Wiimote around the screen, and see if Tippi can reveal or suggest anything useful,

3. Pull out Fleep and do the same for any areas of interest, invariably to no effect (like what was this dude's point),

4. Try going backwards, see if there's any areas that I missed

5. Go online for the strategy guide.

Like, I turn to the side, and discover that the nondescript rectangular block is actually a Yoshi statue. Cool! But what am I supposed to do with this information? Obviously, the player will immediately recognize that they need to walk a full circle around the statue, in flipped mode, without being told as such, in order to progress. Naturally!

3 hours ago, Zapp Branniglenn said:

A lot of this is how I remember the game. The aesthetic really rubbed me the wrong way. I played enough retro games even at that age to have standards for pixel art, and it remains the only Paper Mario game to completely disregard the notion that the world and its inhabitants are made of paper.

Huh, I hadn't immediately noticed that the "paper" aspect was totally disregarded. The "flat" aspect is totally there, as characters become paper-thin when viewed from the right angle. But yeah, there's no "folding into a paper airplane", or "rolling into a paper tube" from the prior game. The closest I could see it coming is Mimi, who seems to "unfold" and "crumple" when she turns into her spider form. But even that is conveyed as vaguely body-horror-ish, suggesting it's a very unusual ability within the game's setting.

3 hours ago, Zapp Branniglenn said:

Actually one of the final levels of Color Splash almost did exactly that with SPM dimension shifting. But as is, SPM's graphics are where my mind only notices what's missing, not what's there. Ditto for the gameplay.

Huh, I was not aware of that! Color Splash is the only Paper Mario game that I've never so much as touched (also Paper Jam, whether or not that technically counts), as I've never had to suffer the indignity of owning a Wii U. Still, it looked like a substantial improvement upon the (admittedly dismal) baseline offered by Sticker Star. And seeing that it brought back Super Paper Mario's dimension-flipping is pretty cool. Honestly, I'd say the "isometric" style comes across as more pleasing visually, while perhaps offering more freedom of movement. Would be cool to see another Paper Mario game do something like that.

[vanguard333]

Played a bit more of the Ys X: Nordics demo.

I'm far enough that I've had multiple opportunities to use the new duo mode that's core to the new combat in this game. Overall, I really like it. Basically, hold down the button the player normally presses to block and the two playable characters enter a mode where their attacks are slower, but they attack together, do more damage per attack and they don't take any damage if attacked while not attacking. I've been playing the game on normal difficulty actually lost to the first boss of the game the first time around because I hadn't quite gotten a handle on the duo mode and my characters kept taking the full damage from attacks. Second time, I played more carefully, got used to using duo mode and I emerged victorious.

Speaking of how I lost to the first boss on my first attempt, the game presented me with three options when I lost: retry, make the boss easier and retry, or quit. I chose to retry. I like that that second option is there for the sole reason that it means the game isn't secretly making the boss easier on a normal retry. Quite a few games today use dynamic difficulty tuning to secretly make things easier if the player loses and has to retry, and I really don't like that; it means that, instead of the player learning, improving and getting better at the game, the game pretends that's what is happening while in reality removing challenges from the game. I've seen some argue in favour of secret difficulty tuning by arguing that presenting it as an option would be "condescending", but it isn't: it means that those who want the game to be easier can, while those who want consistent difficulty can ignore the option and know that the game isn't secretly making itself easier.

Anyway, I've gotten far enough in the demo that I've just unlocked the ship. I've played maybe 10 seconds of the sailing gameplay, and it is undoubtedly the best sailing gameplay of any game released in 2024, though that really isn't saying much.

 

EDIT: Almost forgot: I know I already criticized the sheer amount of pop-in in this game, but it became hilarious when, as part of a main quest, Adol and Karja needed to go to a local militia HQ, and, when we nearly arrive, Karja made note of a large crowd outside the entrance and wondered what was going on... and I literally could not see the crowd because the crowd was outside the render distance. That is how bad the pop-in is.

Edited 19 hours ago by vanguard333