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Beating Games

Finally beat a run of Hades. It's a good game after a month or so, but I'm not really in the mood to complete more story. There are lots of unlocks left but I'm not particularly excited about them. I might do a run every so often between games but I think I'm ready to put this to bed.
 
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Finished Double Dragon II: The Revenge. Fun game outside of one or two bullshit enemies (fuckin' ninjas) and everyone's favourite part of any beat 'em up, jumping over pitfalls and spikes. That said, I wish it told me I wouldn't be able to fight the last boss unless I chose hard mode (which wasn't noticeably more difficult to me).
 
Finished The First Berserker: Khazan, with all achievements for whatever that's worth. It's primarily a Nioh-like, but extends to lifting material from the wider Souls umbrella on an ubiquitous basis; it's likely one of the most derivative games I've ever played. That's not necessarily a value proposition in itself, as some of my favourite games are stalwart clones themselves, but in this case I mean it as a pejorative, because there is no character or spirit to any of the game's spins on what it does. It carries itself like a macho-sexist '90s comic book in the Joe Madureira aesthetic tradition, a story of a musclebound revenge-man (voiced by Ben Starr, who is by now one of the most typecast leading actors in the industry) wandering through a world so desaturated and absent of palette that it defies belief. The ostensible design intent of the game is to streamline and consolidate the dizzying complexities of Nioh's play systems to something more immediately digestible, by removing technical fundamentals like Ki Pulses (timed buttons presses to restore stamina after attacks) and its moveset-altering stance system, and reducing the most diverse equipment arsenal in video games to just three weapon types--each with meaningful depth and diversity within their respective skill trees, but a smaller pool regardless.

This nominally signals restraint but turns out very lopsided, as it's all in the service of supercharging the main event of the production in the bosses, who go far beyond what's usually presented by the genre with constantly expanding movesets, generous health pools and relentless aggression, to the extent that I would argue the final boss has no contender for the length of the battle, how diverse their offense is, and the skill-checks you're ultimately subject to at the game's climax. "Overtuned" is the word for the design language, and it's meant to be responded to in kind by the game's overall rhythm where you are through your kit able to deny opponents their turns, exhaust their stamina and maximize your very long combos to empty the big HP totals; playing slowly and cautiously akin to typical Souls is usually a shortcut to your own exhaustion as a player instead.

It can be enjoyable, but the genre's cliches turn up in full force even as you engage with the mechanics, for instance professing three (maybe four) distinct parry mechanics that are supposed to lend themselves to options and player expression but in practice come off as superfluous padding born out of being insularly invested in the genre's most parodic excesses and playing them straight without thinking twice. That's an ethos that fuels all of the game in that it has no nuance, going full-bore at all times, attached to a genre legacy that it has no interest in and nothing meaningful to do with, in service of its real passion as a boss rush showcase, leaving the rest and majority of the experience feeling workmanlike to the extreme, running through both the osmosed ambient staples of the genre and many, many borrowed direct setpieces and conceptual imagery. The few times the game contributes something new or novel to its own lineage--such as the unusually numerous magic-casting, projectile-emphasizing boss battles--it tends to shine brightest, but despite its ambitions to provide an action-gaming extravaganza the lasting impression for me is as dull as its colour palette.
 
Eliminator Boat Duel... is kinda fun, actually. Not much too it and it ends pretty quick but it's the video game equivalent of those dollar store knock off toys. In this case, it's Punch Out characters in a boat race game. But also, EVERY enemy boat looks the same so it almost doesn't matter because we only see their faces during the introduction scenes.

I can't really recommend it strongly, but if you try it out, it's a completely serviceable boat racing game.

Also, look at this dude.

eljump02.png
 
Wario Land 3 - I loved it. The way the levels and the world map open up as you progress is a lot of fun. The puzzles are great, and they feel bite sized and self-contained. Super interesting enemies and effects they have on Wario. A lot of them are used in surprisingly creative ways. And the visuals are phenomenal. I did use save states in a few areas where failing forces you to waste time getting back to the action, which made it a bit less tedious. And I did not 100% this game (or the last two Wario Lands). At some point I'll return, but right now I'm not in a completionist mood. But it was a blast to play through!

Ghosts 'n Goblins (arcade) - I've started this games a bunch of times, but I don't think I ever got much farther than the graveyard or made a serious attempt at it before. This game is great! Holy crap it is hard (yes I used savestates here and there, no I did not play NG+ for the real ending). And I apparently played the hard version that had extra enemies and a harder boss in world 6. If I practiced I am sure I could get through without any saves, but I am happy scraping my way through. But what really surprised me is that it is extremely cool. The vibe has some similarities to Castlevania, but it is way more demon focused and it feels more like a grungy indie game somehow. Cool as hell, A+ vibes. Looking forward to exploring the rest of the series.
 
Patrick said:
Ghosts 'n Goblins (arcade) - I've started this games a bunch of times, but I don't think I ever got much farther than the graveyard or made a serious attempt at it before. This game is great! Holy crap it is hard (yes I used savestates here and there, no I did not play NG+ for the real ending). And I apparently played the hard version that had extra enemies and a harder boss in world 6. If I practiced I am sure I could get through without any saves, but I am happy scraping my way through. But what really surprised me is that it is extremely cool. The vibe has some similarities to Castlevania, but it is way more demon focused and it feels more like a grungy indie game somehow. Cool as hell, A+ vibes. Looking forward to exploring the rest of the series.
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Is that the same version as the nes one? Didn't know, that there was an arcade version. Sounds absurd, with this extemely difficult game. I played through the SNES version once, using savestates a ton (also not ng+). Did try the NES version a few times, but it's so brutal. But yeah, all very cool vibes, great stuff.

And yes, Wario Land 3 is great. I wished that, getting new "skills" when getting hurt, would get copied by indie games, it's such a fun concept. A bit of a shame, that all the love goes to Wario Land 4, which is quite different to 2 and 3. I mean, nothing against it, glad that people finally get these games, just wished someone would make a game in the vain of 2 or 3.
 
The Famicom/NES port of Ghosts 'n Goblins was developed by uncredited and outsourced contractor Micronics, the masters of the low-quality arcade port, working for various companies in that era. It's barely comparable to the excellent arcade original, and despite the game's massive success and popularity, probably also damaged its reputation in the long run by supplanting the source material in wider exposure and awareness. But it was also a very different time in porting culture, where one game could be interpreted differently for half or a full dozen's worth of distinct platforms, like all the home computers G'nG ended up on in addition.
 
Johnny Unusual said:
Finished Double Dragon II: The Revenge. Fun game outside of one or two bullshit enemies (fuckin' ninjas) and everyone's favourite part of any beat 'em up, jumping over pitfalls and spikes. That said, I wish it told me I wouldn't be able to fight the last boss unless I chose hard mode (which wasn't noticeably more difficult to me).
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Over the years I've grown fonder and fonder of the game. Now I think it's one of the best brawlers ever, even with the crazy platforming. And yeah, I don't think there's a huge difference, but I do think enemies have a bit more health in Supreme Master mode. Also, I've never been great with the flying knee timing, but I can nail the cyclone kick/hyper uppercut timing, so that's my usual keys to victory.
 
Not only is the arcade version different from the NES version, but there are multiple arcade versions. The first 5 levels are identical in both arcade versions, but in level 6 one of them has you fight a unicorn (first level boss) in a small hallway, and the other version has 2 unicorns in the same space, making it virtually impossible to get past without taking a hit. They also have different arrimer arrangements, and the level bosses have double the HP.

This game is already hard! There was no need to make it harder!
 
Got the bad ending of Omensight, but the nature of the game made the requirements for the Good Ending really tedious so I’m fine to say my goodbyes.

The game itself is an action RPG that’s a bit of Majoras Mask but with a murder mystery thrown in; where you’re a divine being trying to figure out exactly why an apocalypse god was summoned to sunder the world, one day before aforesaid sundering takes place.

The story itself was entertaining enough but the nature of the time loop means you’re replaying the same four levels a *lot* and even with the option to skip the bits you’ve already seen on each plot loop it wears on you. Also some of the plot points really only make any sense given the fact that your holy super powers will sometimes give you a major clue completely out of nowhere.

Anyway; I enjoyed it and would recommend it but I wouldn’t gush about it.
 
Finished Nine Sols. I missed part of the quest for the true ending, so I ended with the normal one, but I don't believe I could go back and mop up said quests at this point anyway and I don't feel like playing again. True to reports, the game is hard; I turned on story mode and ran with 50% damage taken and 150% damage dealt and that actually felt pretty balanced to me, still challenging but not overwhelming. I cannot imagine having fun with it on its base difficulty. But I've always been bad at parrying and such in games, so that makes sense. Otherwise it was a perfectly cromulent metrovania, although its skill unlock system was rather uninspired as far as such things go. Story was interesting enough, slow-dripped pretty well. Animation and art was really good! Overall, not bad at all but nothing I'll be rushing to replay anytime soon.
 
I’ve had Fuga: Melodies of Steel on my PS5 for a while, so I got around to playing it. As one of the thousand or so people who played Solatorobo, it was neat seeing an earlier look at that game’s world.

I did end up playing through the game twice after goofing up and getting the bad ending. Luckily, the game is fairly short and fully powering up your tank and animal kids makes even the enhanced foes of NG+ go down easily. That I cared enough about making sure all the little cats and doggos made it through to immediately start a new playthrough says something about the story, I suppose.

With the way the game ends, I’m not seeing how there can be two more games after this. Especially with the special ending scene that sets up Solatorobo, which takes place over 700 years later.

Lastly, don’t go looking up the guest illustrators who worked on the End Chapter pictures like I did. You’ll see some shit.

The person who drew the end card for Chapter 1 also drew the lolicon goat hentai that made the rounds online years ago. The one with the pants zipper panel.
 
R.R. Bigman said:
With the way the game ends, I’m not seeing how there can be two more games after this. Especially with the special ending scene that sets up Solatorobo, which takes place over 700 years later.
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The second one was incredibly good, the third just came out in May and I haven't had a chance to play it yet but want to. I had a few other comments in the thread.
 
I already own the second game, as well! I might take a break before plowing right into it. My PS5 is maybe not doing so hot, so I’m going through the games I’ve downloaded over the years before it gives up the ghost.
 
got the good ending in (baku) bomberman 64, pondering if i want to push for the 100% which feels like probably another 3-5 hours of grinding my execution and setups on the same two levels, lol. but the fact that i'm even thinking about it...the game really is that good. the core bomberman stuff (pushing, avoiding your own explosions, destroying stuff) combines with the bouncing system and weird abstract 3d platforming worlds to make something really special, a kind of genrefluid action adventure full of secrets, puzzles, and unusual platforming (platformers without a jump button might be one my favorite genres). and it's an early entry in the "physics comedy game" and "blow everything up" lineages to boot.

the game's rules, like boss tells and secrets, are a bit archaic, and that's just how i like it. finding hidden rooms in normal looking walls (either by just walking into them or seeing them via the camera oddities) is a real joy, and figuring out how certain things that don't seem very reactable work is pretty rewarding too. not to mention the overall variance in level design, with constantly changing goals and markers. all you can really do is wander around and see what's up on the level. it's a kind of "playground" design not unlike sm64, and nearly 30 years later, i still think it's about the coolest stuff around.

soundtrack's pretty good too, even if it's not got anything quite as iconic as a june chikuma banger. the jingles that play at stage start and when you run out of lives are pretty godlike though

 
I beat Mother 3 and R-Type (the original arcade game)

Mother 3 is clearly a well made game, but I didn't like it as much as I expected to. I'm sure that's partially because it was overhyped, it's a hard to get a hold of game, and it's a direct sequel to Earthbound (which made a huge impact on me). But also, I had a lot of specific issues with it. I would boil them down to: 1) the Magypsies are problematic, which has been discussed at length; 2) there is a lot of animal cruelty and animal body horror, which is just something that I especially dislike viewing; 3) The pacing and structure are weird; 4) some of the themes are odd; and 5) the musical combo system didn't work well for me.

I'll share a bit more in (major, do not click if you have not played) spoilers below:
The chapters were all different lengths, and the game kind of played with that like making chapter 6 super short. But, having it be 8 chapters felt misleading when the last 2 were way longer than the previous ones. It made the game feel like it dragged on, even though it's really pretty brisk overall. I also just like having a full party together, and some of the shorter chapters are slightly annoying because you only have 1 or 2 characters. Maybe I'm just picky about that. But on top of that, there is a huge info dump with Leder in chapter 8 and then the final scene all happens in total darkness behind the The End? sign, which makes it feel unfinished. And after playing I looked it up and sure enough it was originally planned to be a longer game.

Leder informs you that Tazmily was artificial and everyone there had their memory wiped. So, the theme of the game is kind of artificial/mechanical vs nature, but the nature part turns out to be fake as well. That's interesting in a way and it does help explain why the villagers are kind of vapid (Thomas telling Flint about his wife's death in a heartless way, everyone calling Lucas a crybaby for being sad about his mom). But also the theme is now an artificial setting that was rushed vs a different artificial setting that is being created by a child in arrested development. And it's also about the corrupting effects of capitalism, but that's watered down a bit if the society being corrupted was fake and kind of doomed anyway. Maybe it's just how it's delivered, and the lack of follow up in the end of the game, but it felt unsatisfying to me. Like, that idea should have been introduced way earlier in the game to actually explore it. But also, I might be nitpicky because of the other issues I have with it. Oh, and what's up with the Magypsies and the dragon? Are they just unrelated to the rest of the story? And the temple outside the town shows 2 dragons (maybe just 2 possible futures???) Again, seems kind of messy, though that's not necessarily a bad thing. It just didn't land for me.

I did think the music and visuals were great, the gameplay was mostly very fun (aside from the music thing, which you can mostly ignore anyway), and many of the individual moments were outstanding, even though it didn't all come together for me. I can see why others adore it, and that's fine, it's just not for me unfortunately.

R-Type is rad as heck. I used save states here and there. I messed up and died on the last boss and had to play the last level again and beat him with very limited powerups. Very cool game, I'll revisit it at some point.
 
Mafia: Definitive Edition seems at a glance like an open-world crime game in the vein of Grand Theft Auto, but besides the free roam option in the main menu, it's not really an open-world at all. The game funnels you directly from story sequence to gameplay sequence and back until it ends, with no real opportunity to actually explore besides finding the occasional collectible item in its various interiors. If you like organized crime stories and lovingly constructed facsimiles of 1930s Chicago, and don't mind factory-standard driving and cover-based shooting missions, you might enjoy it for its refreshingly brief sub-ten hour duration.
 
I need to play through R-Type one of these days. It's a genre classic that I should have finished for sure. Weirdly, I've beaten R-Type III (legit, even!) and had a good time with it. Very memo-heavy - routing is a huge part of it, and I've heard that's the case for the original as well.
 
Beat Jusant, a neat little Journey-like? based around rock-climbing. It's got some cute stuff and some neat visual design. A few cool twists on the core mechanic of "climb the handholds" to keep things a bit more varied. All in all, a worthy mostly-cozy diversion.
 
Adrenaline said:
I finished Death Stranding 2. Kojima still has the juice
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I finished Death Stranding 2 this week. It gets really crazy towards the end. A lot of MGS echoes throughout this game. I think its going to be my GOTY.

I like Blue Prince a lot too, but so far DS2 is my front runner.
 
Skin Deep is a very fun comedic sci-fi immersive sim where you play an "insurance commando" who rescues intelligent space-faring cats from pirates with banana peels, pepper shakers, and various other useful tools.
 
Adrenaline said:
Skin Deep is a very fun comedic sci-fi immersive sim where you play an "insurance commando" who rescues intelligent space-faring cats from pirates with banana peels, pepper shakers, and various other useful tools.
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Oh yeah, my spouse had this and we played it a bit. Too weird for me but I respect games trying totally unusual stuff.
 
My favorite part is that your character is barefoot, seemingly only so you can pull shards of glass out of your feet like John McClane.
 
Beat Herdling. I enjoyed my time with these fuzzy guys although I still never felt like the controls worked quite right. Beautifully done but doesn't have as much emotional weight as similar games like Journey. Still, the fuzzy creatures are adorable and I always stopped to clean branches out of their fur and make sure they were healed up, and I immediately quit and restarted when I didn't understand what to do during a sequence and accidentally lost one. Finished the game without losing any of them.

I don't think I would pay the $20-25 it's going for on other platforms, it's only a couple hours long and has some jankiness. Play it as part of Gamepass or wait until it's closer to the $10-15 mark I think.
 
Finally got around to beating Darksiders III, the one where they decided to make a Souls-like. I don't think the series really benefits from the shift in gameplay and design, but I still had fun playing it.
 
I liked it a lot. I'd barely even remembered any Souls-like elements, so had to jog my memory a bit. I thought it played a lot more like a PS2-era action-adventure, and it really did hit the spot for me. I'd be curious to see another entry in the series someday, because they've all been pretty different from each other despite all having action-adventure/RPG trappings.
 
Sarge said:
I'd be curious to see another entry in the series someday, because they've all been pretty different from each other despite all having action-adventure/RPG trappings.
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Good news, they're doing a Darksiders 4!
 
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