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Gripe about What You're Playing 2: Bellyache-tric Boogaloo
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Violentvixen
(She/Her)
Also, were you saddened by the motivations of the villain in the first game? Buckle up, you can be sadder.
I liked the game but yeah, the dials they chose to turn up were... a choice.
What is with the shooting mechanics in Policenauts? I just beat Snatcher and while I wouldn't call the shooting mechanics there good, they were at least doable. Policenauts's hitboxes seem to be super small and the stupid enemies can do a bunch of damage to you quickly. Even using the L and R buttons on my Saturn controller doesn't really help, which was a tip I saw online.
Anyway, I got past the prologue lol. I am interested in the story, at least.
Anyway, I got past the prologue lol. I am interested in the story, at least.
It probably is highly dependent on the platform/port of those games you're playing.
Snatcher's combat happens on a 3x3 grid, and you just have to click on the right grid to shoot whatever is in that part of the grid using directional buttons.
Policenauts combat was designed to use a mouse and click on the screen with a cursor. The Saturn and PS versions had light gun support where you were supposed to play with that, but without that you're emulating a mouse cursor with an analog stick or a dpad, which has never worked well ever in games.
Snatcher's combat happens on a 3x3 grid, and you just have to click on the right grid to shoot whatever is in that part of the grid using directional buttons.
Policenauts combat was designed to use a mouse and click on the screen with a cursor. The Saturn and PS versions had light gun support where you were supposed to play with that, but without that you're emulating a mouse cursor with an analog stick or a dpad, which has never worked well ever in games.
Becksworth
Aging Hipster Dragon Dad
I've come to the conclusion those Guli-kit sticks are just straight up snake-oil looking to capitalize on stick drift anxiety. Sure I haven't had any stick drift since I installed them (for like all of 6 months...), but since then I've had:
Kids now being able to pull the stick heads off of the analog sticks, subsequently those being easily misplaced/lost.
An L3 button break while mid-playing Metroid Dread, so one of those rare moments when L3/R3 are actually needed.
On top of the various related issues resulting from me opening up the joy-con and engaging in self repair.
Sucks because it was those Nintendo Red ones that only came with a specific console SKU too
Kids now being able to pull the stick heads off of the analog sticks, subsequently those being easily misplaced/lost.
An L3 button break while mid-playing Metroid Dread, so one of those rare moments when L3/R3 are actually needed.
On top of the various related issues resulting from me opening up the joy-con and engaging in self repair.
Sucks because it was those Nintendo Red ones that only came with a specific console SKU too
R.R. Bigman
Coolest Guy
I’m playing DMC4: Special Edition, and the second half of the game is such a gargantuan fumble that I am genuinely happy the developers had to watch as Capcom gave the series to Ninja Theory, who proceeded to twist and mangle it into the still-enjoyable mockery that was DMC.
I played DMC4 when it came out on Xbox 360. I didn’t like it much, though, I didn’t have experience with character action games at that point. Several earlier DMC and Platinum games later, I like it even less now. The rushed development hurts it at every level, with the pacing being the worst off. Nero gets a bunch of barely used gimmicks in lieu of boss weapons, and since he gets shoved aside until the end game boss rush a little over halfway through, none of them get used to any real degree. Likewise, Dante’s handful of short levels don’t give you enough time to wrap your head around his overwhelming array of moves and constant new weapons. I simply ran of motivation once I got to the boss rush and had forgotten how to play as Nero and didn’t want to relearn the exceed timing to fight the fire centaur or ice frog a third time.
There are some good parts to DMC4, but it almost killed the franchise as much as DMC2. I have heard very good things about DMC5. If I liked DMC 1 and 3, will I like 5?
I played DMC4 when it came out on Xbox 360. I didn’t like it much, though, I didn’t have experience with character action games at that point. Several earlier DMC and Platinum games later, I like it even less now. The rushed development hurts it at every level, with the pacing being the worst off. Nero gets a bunch of barely used gimmicks in lieu of boss weapons, and since he gets shoved aside until the end game boss rush a little over halfway through, none of them get used to any real degree. Likewise, Dante’s handful of short levels don’t give you enough time to wrap your head around his overwhelming array of moves and constant new weapons. I simply ran of motivation once I got to the boss rush and had forgotten how to play as Nero and didn’t want to relearn the exceed timing to fight the fire centaur or ice frog a third time.
There are some good parts to DMC4, but it almost killed the franchise as much as DMC2. I have heard very good things about DMC5. If I liked DMC 1 and 3, will I like 5?
Honestly DMC5 is more like 4 in that the game forces you to learn more than 1 character. However, it is definitely better executed than 4 is in that respect.
R.R. Bigman
Coolest Guy
As long as the game is finished, I’d be happy.
I don't know if Hi-Fi Rush was the right choice for me. I am not great when it comes to rhythm...
I did not like 2 or 4 and I LOVED 5. Honestly... it might be the best game in the series? Some characters are better than others, depending on your playstyle, but one of them can do a goddamn NORTHERN LIGHTS BOMB to demons and it rules ass.
There's a new Silent Hill out. The Short Message is a brief, free-to-download, so far PS5-exclusive first-person jaunt and a skip through a spooky apartment complex, and I imagine it exists solely to promote the brand at large now that they have almost half-a-dozen distinct projects underway under the name. It's good that it's free because I did not enjoy it and it does not instill confidence in related projects, even if the teams handling them mostly differ in each instance. I'll put some commentary on it below, which can be series-wide spoilers, because this game is derivative to the core.
Mainly what destroys it and the atmosphere it attempts is that everything in it hits like an anvil, from the constant IT'S YOUR FAULT graffiti in place of interesting or interpretive storytelling, and dialogue that doesn't fare much better. The themes present don't have room to live in the characters or be expressed external to them because you are strictly just told how everyone feels and how you should too. The game wants to be deeply serious, which then invites unintentional comedy: I don't think I've ever laughed harder at a survival horror note than a scientific article you can read which goes on to explain that the "Silent Hill Phenomenon" of hallucinatory fog apparitions is due to worldwide COVID-19 anxiety and only better mental health care can save us from being trapped in Silent Hill. There's just almost nothing here but unfortunate misfires in tone, wrapped up in tired first-person horror cliches that don't interact with the series's own mechanical identity and legacy evocatively or interestingly. Congrats to Masahiro Ito for the pretty alright monster design though, regardless of how it was utilized.
man is it still stuck in silent hill 2. protagonist caused the death of a friend and classmate, so there's that revelatory aspect--you even find the thing out through a pivotal letter that's narrated in voiceover. like, i say silent hill 2 but it's really obsessed with just repurposing and referencing series motifs everywhere. got a WITCH scribble on a school desk like sh1. see your own dead body like sh2. protagonist kills themselves over their past actions like sh2. yamaoka winging on his guitar for the credits theme, quoting a sh2 melody; the chase sequences have the great knife scraping sfx mixed into the audio. mannequin storehouse-esque scare like sh3. the sh4 apartment door is here. "my brother's dead" like homecoming. shadow people apparitions like shattered memories. escape sequences from shattered memories/downpour. looping structure from p.t. like this almost isn't even worth assessing individually when it has practically a compulsion to fashion itself a patchwork from anything and everything it can recall
it also has the audacity to be about Big Themes like self-harm and suicidal ideation, to an extent that playing through it once they throw a "if you start feeling this way, call this number" notice on the screen no less than four times--for the bookends, and every time the game loops after the protagonist kills herself. it's so schlocky and insulting
it also has the audacity to be about Big Themes like self-harm and suicidal ideation, to an extent that playing through it once they throw a "if you start feeling this way, call this number" notice on the screen no less than four times--for the bookends, and every time the game loops after the protagonist kills herself. it's so schlocky and insulting
Mainly what destroys it and the atmosphere it attempts is that everything in it hits like an anvil, from the constant IT'S YOUR FAULT graffiti in place of interesting or interpretive storytelling, and dialogue that doesn't fare much better. The themes present don't have room to live in the characters or be expressed external to them because you are strictly just told how everyone feels and how you should too. The game wants to be deeply serious, which then invites unintentional comedy: I don't think I've ever laughed harder at a survival horror note than a scientific article you can read which goes on to explain that the "Silent Hill Phenomenon" of hallucinatory fog apparitions is due to worldwide COVID-19 anxiety and only better mental health care can save us from being trapped in Silent Hill. There's just almost nothing here but unfortunate misfires in tone, wrapped up in tired first-person horror cliches that don't interact with the series's own mechanical identity and legacy evocatively or interestingly. Congrats to Masahiro Ito for the pretty alright monster design though, regardless of how it was utilized.
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Playing Persona 5 Royal.
In the third Palace, steamrolling everything to the point where I can't remember the last time a party member said anything other than "wow that was easy" after a fight.
I flub ... something, somehow, the MC suffers three digits damage from a Technical hit, and game over.
I'm now looking at doing who knows how much up and down stairs, back and forth hitting buttons, battling or avoiding guards, for an hour or two all of which I already did. Why are there so few safe rooms in this place?
Will I even get the motivation to continue playing, now?
In the third Palace, steamrolling everything to the point where I can't remember the last time a party member said anything other than "wow that was easy" after a fight.
I flub ... something, somehow, the MC suffers three digits damage from a Technical hit, and game over.
I'm now looking at doing who knows how much up and down stairs, back and forth hitting buttons, battling or avoiding guards, for an hour or two all of which I already did. Why are there so few safe rooms in this place?
Will I even get the motivation to continue playing, now?
It's honestly wild to me how such a wide-open concept as "haunted town that makes your worst fears and anxieties into freaky monsters" just continually returns to the same well of "what if we personified grief and guilt!" Like, sure, those are pretty universal feelings, but you can do literally ANYTHING with this place and the folks making these games just keep doing a bad impression of what came before.
For as much shit as I just got done talking about Kojima yesterday after the State of Play stuff, I feel like he would have possibly done something kinda fresh with the property, given the chance? Or at the very least, presented it in a slightly more interesting way.
Like with a stop-motion puppet, for example.
Yeah The Third Birthday was surely a thing....Oh, how far did Parasite Eve fall.
Becksworth
Aging Hipster Dragon Dad
Got to the credits on my Galaxy 2 replay, and I got more minor complaints:
1) For some reason I thought Galaxy 1 had more comet stars, but if my math is right Galaxy 2 has actually has 5 more.
2) The post game in Galaxy 1 was the purple comets whereas whole ass new levels are locked behind the credits in two 2, which sounds cool on paper, but in practice means your options in meeting the required stars to progress are more limited if you're purposefully avoiding the comets in favor of focusing on the more unique levels.
3) The final stage threshold is 10 stars more in Galaxy 2.
Combined this makes a casual playthrough of Galaxy 2 feel more constrained and labored than Galaxy 1. 2 does have the green stars, but I've burned out on collecting stars well before then both times I've played it.
1) For some reason I thought Galaxy 1 had more comet stars, but if my math is right Galaxy 2 has actually has 5 more.
2) The post game in Galaxy 1 was the purple comets whereas whole ass new levels are locked behind the credits in two 2, which sounds cool on paper, but in practice means your options in meeting the required stars to progress are more limited if you're purposefully avoiding the comets in favor of focusing on the more unique levels.
3) The final stage threshold is 10 stars more in Galaxy 2.
Combined this makes a casual playthrough of Galaxy 2 feel more constrained and labored than Galaxy 1. 2 does have the green stars, but I've burned out on collecting stars well before then both times I've played it.
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FelixSH
(He/Him)
Started the second world of 40 Winks / Ruff & Tumble, and I think I'll give up. The monsters suddenly became damage sponges, who will very likely hit you, while you punch them again, and again, and again. I guess even than, lesser developers just couldn't comprehend that fighting might not be the focus of a video game. I don't get how they missed that, because Mario 64, Banjo-Kazooie and also Crash Bandicoot had monsters already more as obstacles, that are either indestructable, or go down in one or two hits. Or just gave you ways to avoid it.
A shame, because I enjoyed my time with the game in the first world. But there is probably little, that turns me off a game as much as forced, bad combat.
A shame, because I enjoyed my time with the game in the first world. But there is probably little, that turns me off a game as much as forced, bad combat.
Violentvixen
(She/Her)
I tried out Spirittea on Gamepass, a sort of Stardew Valley-ish "help revitalize the town" sim thing. One of the first quests you get is "meet the townspeople" which is pretty standard. However there are twenty-seven townspeople and you can't move onto the next thing until you meet all of them. There is a helpful dog to help you find them all and navigate the town but you still just have to wander around to read one line of text from everyone.
Just.... why? Who wants to do this and who would remember anything about any of those 27 people later?! Make this a quest to do over a week or something, yeesh.
Just.... why? Who wants to do this and who would remember anything about any of those 27 people later?! Make this a quest to do over a week or something, yeesh.
Fire Emblem: Genealogy has a story that tries way too hard and isn't really that impactful. Sigurd is one of my least favorite units in the whole game, which is sad, because it's his game! It feels like he just randomly stumbles around with characterization more hidden than the ghost conversation. The game tries to portray him as both this clueless buffoon that doesn't know what's going on, but then he just goes around, conquering the world. Maybe if they showed the civilian consequences of Sigurd's ridiculous rule, then I would feel more about it. But as it stands, he's not a very interesting protagonist. Seliph is marginally better.
When they inevitably do a remake of this game, I wouldn't be mad if they spiced it up and made the central character someone like Deirdre or Lewyn. Or go full scorched earth and burn the whole fanbase to the ground- just make a self-insert character that can marry both Sigurd and Deirdre
When they inevitably do a remake of this game, I wouldn't be mad if they spiced it up and made the central character someone like Deirdre or Lewyn. Or go full scorched earth and burn the whole fanbase to the ground- just make a self-insert character that can marry both Sigurd and Deirdre
Rogue Legacy 2 is mostly fun but it gets way too grindy by the end. They tried to give it the equivalent of Hades' heat system but it doesn't quite feel the same for some reason.
In all fairness, the game also lets you modify a whole bunch of things (stuff like damage taken, damage dealt, etc) with no consequences whatsoever, which is cool, but it just ultimately doesn't feel as good as Hades did.
In all fairness, the game also lets you modify a whole bunch of things (stuff like damage taken, damage dealt, etc) with no consequences whatsoever, which is cool, but it just ultimately doesn't feel as good as Hades did.
5-3? Here's the thing about that one: Only the first of the three skiing sections has any meaningful collectibles, and if you jump as you're passing each of the red arrow signs, you should get them all. For the following two stretches, you only have to focus on not falling into gaps.
Unless you're talking about Extra 5: Kamek's Revenge. And yeah, that's just brutal.
.hack//G.U. Last Recode is a lot of fun to play, but I hate the main character you're forced to play as, Haseo. He's a dick. I do my best to be nice to the other characters in emails and stuff that I can control, but then in a cutscene he's just an asshole. It's really annoying. I'm gonna keep playing, of course, because I hope he changes and because the gameplay is fun, but I'll take Kite's blandness any day over this jerk.
Two gripes today. .hack//G.U. Last Recode still has writing issues with the main character. I just got to the third game last night, and I still hate him. The game seems misogynist as hell, too, with every female character infantilized or shamed for being "old" or in love with the main character (for reasons I cannot possibly fathom, he's the worst), and they keep getting killed in game, too (which puts them into a coma in the real world). The gameplay is fun but at this point I'm fairly confident I'd rather play the first iteration of .hack than these purely based on the writing.
My other gripe is that you can, in fact, use the GBA link cables to trade Pokemon between GBC games, but you need two cables and you need to make sure every plug in the chain is filled. Look at this dumb shit:
If I don't connect those inner plugs, the game doesn't detect the other one and the connection fails. I do not understand why it is like this. Surely they knew people would want to trade Pokemon on the "new" system (GBA) with the "old" (GB/GBC) games, right?! Why did I need to buy a second one? Also the store I bought the black cable from listed it as a GBC link cable when it was in fact a GBA one, but I evolved my Kadabra in the end. Sheesh.
My other gripe is that you can, in fact, use the GBA link cables to trade Pokemon between GBC games, but you need two cables and you need to make sure every plug in the chain is filled. Look at this dumb shit:
If I don't connect those inner plugs, the game doesn't detect the other one and the connection fails. I do not understand why it is like this. Surely they knew people would want to trade Pokemon on the "new" system (GBA) with the "old" (GB/GBC) games, right?! Why did I need to buy a second one? Also the store I bought the black cable from listed it as a GBC link cable when it was in fact a GBA one, but I evolved my Kadabra in the end. Sheesh.
Note: the contents of this meme do not represent the beliefs of Goggle Bob, or pretend to assume the intentions of the original post.
