Especially since there' at least a 30% chance playing it will get your brain killed by a space cthulhu or something
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Gripe about What You're Playing 2: Bellyache-tric Boogaloo
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Becksworth
Aging Hipster Dragon Dad
Alright further playing made this statement false. Weird bugs (locks not opening correctly, entire game states changing on me between suspending and suspending), incomplete looking graphics in certain spots, the main character's bizzare characterization waffling between collectivist champion of the people one minute and an exaggerated version of the Samus loner archetype the next...
My biggest complaint however is how this game obviously started as a more Metroid like metroidvania, but at some point the dev shifted gears towards a more Hollow Knight design. Like half of the enemies feel like they're vestigial carry overs from an original design where you probably had a more blaster like blaster, and trying to hit them with your now more sword like range often clashes with AI that tries to keep their distance from you.
Picked up Rollerdrome to try out (free on PS plus!) and it's... OK. It can be fun and exciting at times, doing sick flips and then shooting mooks. But I finished the 4th level, and realized I couldn't go on to the fifth without finishing more challenges, so I'd have to go back and replay at least one of the levels I already did. And for some reason that bothered me, because I...didn't particularly want to redo any of them. Not sure if I'll pick it back up.
I still adore FF7 Rebirth. It *feeels* perfect to me the vast majority of the time and evokes genuine joy in ways I sometimes forget is possible to feel as a human bean. And while I appreciate the vast majority of the minigames in it, some of them are stinkers. Or at the least, don’t hit well with me.
Wrangling Chocobos is frustrating in a way something so necessary to basic gameplay mechanics (riding chocobos in general) shouldn’t.
Chocobo Racing is so fun and polished that it could very easily be spun off into a full Mario Kart style game. (Imagine!!!!) But mapping accelerate to the X button makes my hand cramp after a while.
They somehow made Fort Condor worse from the version that existed in Intergrade.
The bb-gun game in Costa Del Sol is straight up impossible.
And there’s a couple others that invoke frustration, just from the fact that I know I’ll just never be able to beat fully and get their trophies, or top tier rewards.
Again, love the game, love most of the minigames and how much they break up the gameplay loops. But I sure wish I had a GameShark for a few of them.
Wrangling Chocobos is frustrating in a way something so necessary to basic gameplay mechanics (riding chocobos in general) shouldn’t.
Chocobo Racing is so fun and polished that it could very easily be spun off into a full Mario Kart style game. (Imagine!!!!) But mapping accelerate to the X button makes my hand cramp after a while.
They somehow made Fort Condor worse from the version that existed in Intergrade.
The bb-gun game in Costa Del Sol is straight up impossible.
And there’s a couple others that invoke frustration, just from the fact that I know I’ll just never be able to beat fully and get their trophies, or top tier rewards.
Again, love the game, love most of the minigames and how much they break up the gameplay loops. But I sure wish I had a GameShark for a few of them.
jpfriction
(He, Him)
Hah, I love that shooting gallery but I can see how most would not.
FelixSH
(He/Him)
I really enjoy The Witness, or at least parts of it. But it also shows me what kinds of puzzles I don't like that much:
- Sound puzzles are annoying, but I already knew that. Did a few, just looked up a solution for the confusing ones.
- Environmental puzzles just feel weird to me. I highly prefer, when I have everything that I can use clearly in front of me (think of Baba Is You), instead of not knowing what is part of a puzzle and what isn't. Do I need to use a shadow? Is something hidden in...something? Dunno, for me, it soon turns into confused guessing.
These two aren't really a gripe, just something I don't really like that much, when it comes to puzzles. As they are, they seem well done. But the third one is just bad, I think, and I also feel like people should know about something that might induce pain, so I will not spoil it:
- flashing colors are just not ok. And you can't skip them, they are a (hopefully) short part of the endgame. The puzzles themselves weren't hard, but they immediately made my eyes and head hurt, they are somewhat painful to look at. That's all the flashing does, make them harder to get a grip on, and create pain (I guess only in some people?). I did look up a solution for them, so I can continue, but at least, they should be voluntary, not something you have to do to beat the game.
- Sound puzzles are annoying, but I already knew that. Did a few, just looked up a solution for the confusing ones.
- Environmental puzzles just feel weird to me. I highly prefer, when I have everything that I can use clearly in front of me (think of Baba Is You), instead of not knowing what is part of a puzzle and what isn't. Do I need to use a shadow? Is something hidden in...something? Dunno, for me, it soon turns into confused guessing.
These two aren't really a gripe, just something I don't really like that much, when it comes to puzzles. As they are, they seem well done. But the third one is just bad, I think, and I also feel like people should know about something that might induce pain, so I will not spoil it:
- flashing colors are just not ok. And you can't skip them, they are a (hopefully) short part of the endgame. The puzzles themselves weren't hard, but they immediately made my eyes and head hurt, they are somewhat painful to look at. That's all the flashing does, make them harder to get a grip on, and create pain (I guess only in some people?). I did look up a solution for them, so I can continue, but at least, they should be voluntary, not something you have to do to beat the game.
Issun
(He/Him)
Replaying RE4 2005 and while the camera mostly does what you need it to do, there are moments where a modern, free-roaming camera would be welcome. Like the entry into the castle grounds. Ashley died so many times because I couldn't keep an eye on the flaming catapult motherfuckers. I know it becomes more about twitch timing and knowing your routes but that doesn't make it better.
FelixSH
(He/Him)
The final challenge of The Witness is bullshit. It's a bunch of puzzles, the whole collection timed and randomized. You start the challenge, by turning on music. You have until the music ends, to do all of the puzzles. If you don't make it, you have to restart. The time limit is doable, but far from generous. Basically, you don't have time to think much about the puzzles. There is a bit of time, but there should be more.
You also can't learn a puzzle, and then just do it again next time. The puzzles are randomized. And I think I found some that are unsolvable? Maybe? I could have sworn that some have no solution, but being under time pressure doesn't help with the concentration.
Speaking of unsolvable - part of the challenge are three screens, of which only one shows a solvable puzzle. The other two you see at the same time are unsolvable, by design. You have to find the one that is doable. This happens two times in a row.
An early puzzle of the challenge shows you a map. You actually have to remember it, aside from making a route through, together with two dots. Because near the end of the challenge, there is a labyrinth with hidden walls, jumping out when you get near them. Sure, you can just run through, but there isn't enough time for that. You need the map from earlier, including the two dots you had to collect. Because the dots are the places where you find two more puzzles. Which weren't super hard, but also not trivial. One time, after solving the puzzle, I was completely disoriented, and had to restart for that reason.
It's just so stupid. At this point, you aren't really solvign logic puzzles. The puzzles are simple, because you don't have time to think. It's the opposite of why I like to play puzzle games. There is no time pressure, they are relaxing, and so on. This part is everything, but that.
I still beat it, because you will do so, if you just get easy puzzles. That's all there is to it, really. It just feels so pointless.
Anyway, the cave system still has some regular puzzles, which should be a good amount of the ~40 I'm still missing.
Also, I used a guide for that puzzle on the wrecked ship. I don't feel bad at all.
You also can't learn a puzzle, and then just do it again next time. The puzzles are randomized. And I think I found some that are unsolvable? Maybe? I could have sworn that some have no solution, but being under time pressure doesn't help with the concentration.
Speaking of unsolvable - part of the challenge are three screens, of which only one shows a solvable puzzle. The other two you see at the same time are unsolvable, by design. You have to find the one that is doable. This happens two times in a row.
An early puzzle of the challenge shows you a map. You actually have to remember it, aside from making a route through, together with two dots. Because near the end of the challenge, there is a labyrinth with hidden walls, jumping out when you get near them. Sure, you can just run through, but there isn't enough time for that. You need the map from earlier, including the two dots you had to collect. Because the dots are the places where you find two more puzzles. Which weren't super hard, but also not trivial. One time, after solving the puzzle, I was completely disoriented, and had to restart for that reason.
It's just so stupid. At this point, you aren't really solvign logic puzzles. The puzzles are simple, because you don't have time to think. It's the opposite of why I like to play puzzle games. There is no time pressure, they are relaxing, and so on. This part is everything, but that.
I still beat it, because you will do so, if you just get easy puzzles. That's all there is to it, really. It just feels so pointless.
Anyway, the cave system still has some regular puzzles, which should be a good amount of the ~40 I'm still missing.
Also, I used a guide for that puzzle on the wrecked ship. I don't feel bad at all.
I never like when a puzzle game adds a time limit. The challenge should be the puzzle itself.
Dynamax Adventures in Pokemon Sword/Shield with NPCs is absolute bullshit. They love to spam dumbass moves like Helping Hand or Wide Guard rather than attack the Pokemon in front of them, causing countless turns to go by, then they love to not take Pokemon that'd be useful against the final boss. I've fought Tapu Fini four times this morning, and lost three of them because the CPU players are stupid. All for a 1/100 chance the final boss will be shiny. I've beaten it 53 times so far and it hasn't been.
I really wish I could just reset for the shinies. This is miserable.
I really wish I could just reset for the shinies. This is miserable.
R.R. Bigman
Coolest Guy
I was escorting an important NPC in Dragon’s Dogma 2. My charge bolted after a harpy and fell off a cliff, becoming both dead and unreachable. I tried to reload my last save, only to find out the game auto-saved the moment she died. My only recourse is to go back to my last Inn Save, which was half an hour and decent quest progress ago.
I genuinely hate this game sometimes.
I genuinely hate this game sometimes.
Consequences!
R.R. Bigman
Coolest Guy
In my videogame!?
It turns out you can ferrystone warp NPCs with you, and since the destination was a short jaunt from a port crystal, my second attempt went much smoother. I am less angry at Dragon’s Dogma 2 now.
It turns out you can ferrystone warp NPCs with you, and since the destination was a short jaunt from a port crystal, my second attempt went much smoother. I am less angry at Dragon’s Dogma 2 now.
Violentvixen
(She/Her)
I rented Endless Ocean Luminous and while I am enjoying it and it was absolutely a perfect plane game, there are just a lot of interface/design decisions that are baffling. You need to unlock the story chapters (which are all very boring) by scanning a ludicrous amount of fish, and from what I could tell large schools of fish only count as one creature. There's also spots where you need to come back to the area with a specific animal, but although everything else on the maps is taggable these spots aren't, which is bonkers as you really do need to remember where they are!
I did overall enjoy it but am glad I rented it.
I did overall enjoy it but am glad I rented it.
Wak-wak trees are basically bonfires and the healing potion is an estus flask. Besides that, everything in the game seems like pretty typical Metroidvania design to me. If that's too much Souls, you might have a rough time playing video games ever again.
zonetrope
(he/him)
Believe me, that is something that has occurred to me. What prompted my post was the Alternate Sargon encounter, which was a level of twitchiness that I just don't have patience for anymore, especially for this early in the game. For now, I've just set the combat difficulty to Rookie.
zonetrope
(he/him)
This has definitely improved my experience. Now it feels more like Metroid, where I can do away with most enemies without much thought, which is much more palatable to me. I appreciate that this game offers assistance for both platforming and combat for players who might need either. Gripe resolved!
Becksworth
Aging Hipster Dragon Dad
Much like the Ubisoft open world before it. I think bonfire/estus flask game design has become over saturated. Arguably worse, as it is something indie devs are capable of playing follow the leader on too.
Animal Well wasn't the first non-combat, puzzle focused metroidvania, but I'd argue part of its success was simply audience fatigue over souls-vanias.
Animal Well wasn't the first non-combat, puzzle focused metroidvania, but I'd argue part of its success was simply audience fatigue over souls-vanias.
I've gotta be honest, I think almost all the souls DNA in Lost Crown just happens to be there because they are aping Hollow Knight so directly. Which isn't a bad thing, IMO - if you're gonna steal, steal from the best! I'm probably 2/3 of the way through Lost Crown and I've quite enjoyed it so far, although the combat is a little overbearing. But the platforming gets to be really great as you accrue new skills - they even recently added some challenge rooms that are basically like PoP kaizo!
zonetrope
(he/him)
The platforming is really fun, and with the combat set to Rookie, along with various upgrades I've purchased and accrued, most of the enemies don't put up much of a fight. I'm glad the combat system has so much depth for people who like that kind of thing, but holy shit am I glad that I didn't have to deal with some of these bosses on the default difficulty.
FelixSH
(He/Him)
Shadowrun (SNES) starts out great. I love how it looks and sounds, and that will never change. The mood is excellent, it feels grim and depressing throughout. And at the start, there is a lot of running around and learning about people, about yourself, finding things, basically adventure-y stuff. You shoot enemies, but that's just part of it. A small part. It gets a bit more as you progress, but for 2/3 of the game or so, it's fine.
But, looking a bit over a guide, it seems like as soon as you enter the first for-real dungeon (the ship), all the to me interesting bits have stopped existing. All you do is dungeon crawling, killing stuff. And not easy stuff either, they kill you easily, if you aren't careful. Granted, I would have needed to upgrade my armor, but even then, I would only have killed enemies. I gave up in the middle of the Drake building. I'll take a look at the lp that I consulted while playing, to see what of the story I missed.
I can't say if it's me or the combat system, or both, but it was never more than something that should have lasted a few seconds at once, for me. I don't like it, at least not when it gets harder. I had a mage, but telling one in the middle of a firefight to cast a spell is ridiculous. Moving the cursor in the chaos is a crapshot at best.
Anyway, I'll remember the first half or so as an excellent rpg, and just forget about the second half. The writing was strong, I enjoyed that, and the mood, as mentioned, is excellent. I don't mind my time spent with it, I just wished it hadn't given up completely on the parts that interested me.
But, looking a bit over a guide, it seems like as soon as you enter the first for-real dungeon (the ship), all the to me interesting bits have stopped existing. All you do is dungeon crawling, killing stuff. And not easy stuff either, they kill you easily, if you aren't careful. Granted, I would have needed to upgrade my armor, but even then, I would only have killed enemies. I gave up in the middle of the Drake building. I'll take a look at the lp that I consulted while playing, to see what of the story I missed.
I can't say if it's me or the combat system, or both, but it was never more than something that should have lasted a few seconds at once, for me. I don't like it, at least not when it gets harder. I had a mage, but telling one in the middle of a firefight to cast a spell is ridiculous. Moving the cursor in the chaos is a crapshot at best.
Anyway, I'll remember the first half or so as an excellent rpg, and just forget about the second half. The writing was strong, I enjoyed that, and the mood, as mentioned, is excellent. I don't mind my time spent with it, I just wished it hadn't given up completely on the parts that interested me.
Purple
(She/Her)
It does peter out in a weird way. There's also a bunch of characters and equipment in both the manual and if I recall the end credits that so far as I know don't actually exist? Or if they do I like... missed a whole character recruitment bar/shop. But anyway there's a pretty direct path of influence from that into Shadowrun Returns which has a more robust engine for the adventure-y stuff, turn based combat, and being an editor first and a game second, multiple people I think went and did a full remake of the SNES game in that engine immediately.
Also something I always found ironic is that while there is a totally unrelated Shadowrun game on the Genesis, the soundscape of the SNES game has the sort of sensibilities that just sound fantastic whenever someone does a remix of them for the Genesis soundchip. Which... people do. Hard to search for though.
Also something I always found ironic is that while there is a totally unrelated Shadowrun game on the Genesis, the soundscape of the SNES game has the sort of sensibilities that just sound fantastic whenever someone does a remix of them for the Genesis soundchip. Which... people do. Hard to search for though.
Becksworth
Aging Hipster Dragon Dad
For once I am going to complain about a Hollow Knight-like for not being Hollow Knight-like enough. Bo: Path of the Teal Lotus is just kind of linear and boring. Also, the bosses aren't hard so much as they are long and drawn out.
Pretty though.
Pretty though.
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Dang, that's a shame. This one was looking pretty good to me, but yours is the first review I've seen.
playing dark souls 3. this game mostly isn't brutally hard coming off of elden ring and i kind of like some of the dungeon crawling pacing more if anything. likewise the fact that it evokes comparisons to the first two in various ways doesn't hit the wrong way since i haven't played them in so long anyway
no, the problem is that this game is like a likeable person telling good jokes terribly. the first chest in the game is a mimic. at one point i actually wondered, has there been a chest that wasn't a mimic? recently i found one that i will almost definitely remember not being a mimic, but that's 1-2 compared to like, a dozen mimics. around the same spot, the game tries to do the ds1 buttress archers again. except guys have been sniping at me from obscure ledges for most of the past 15 hours, so who even cares now? and similarly there's a cousin to that in the constant influx of guys dropping down or climbing over walls in the first few areas of the game...the game doesn't build up some kind of normalcy enough to make these things feel subversive or unique, it just keeps beating you over the head with them. it can't keep a straight face. it's not memorable to get got when "the game trying to get you" is just like the normal state you start expecting all the time
no, the problem is that this game is like a likeable person telling good jokes terribly. the first chest in the game is a mimic. at one point i actually wondered, has there been a chest that wasn't a mimic? recently i found one that i will almost definitely remember not being a mimic, but that's 1-2 compared to like, a dozen mimics. around the same spot, the game tries to do the ds1 buttress archers again. except guys have been sniping at me from obscure ledges for most of the past 15 hours, so who even cares now? and similarly there's a cousin to that in the constant influx of guys dropping down or climbing over walls in the first few areas of the game...the game doesn't build up some kind of normalcy enough to make these things feel subversive or unique, it just keeps beating you over the head with them. it can't keep a straight face. it's not memorable to get got when "the game trying to get you" is just like the normal state you start expecting all the time
hmm, i'm going to scribble down the essence of a rant here because it's the most appropriate thread for complaining about things that comes to mind. although i like ufo 50 a lot and when i think a game in it is kind of bad it's the kind that's fun to whine about on discord for a few minutes and then get over it
but the conceit of the game is described as "a game developer from the 80s who were ahead of their time." i think obviously i find this a bit annoying because the underlying insinuation is that there's some kind of progress towards a grand goal of the perfect game design or something. i personally feel that game design has iterated to produce a lot of concepts i don't really love right now. but more broadly the way tastemaking tends to go in games makes me tend to feel that people aren't really that open to new ideas. rather, it feels like something breaks through into the collective consciousness as "a good game" and people accept that as a new metric of what's good. let's consider dark souls. tons of games are dark souls now, supposedly! but also a lot of ideas about action game combat and resource management in that game have propagated even beyond "directly inspired" works because many people believe now that "i-frame dodging" and "estus flasks" are concepts that are key to a good game, and ideas from older games which those mechanics deemphasize or contradict are not so good. was dark souls "ahead of its time"? well for one thing demon's souls came before that, so maybe it was more of a "trendsetter" or something. but these are ideas that only make sense retroactively, when we can see what actually came afterward.
(as much as i might want to call skyward sword ahead of its time if we're doing this anyway because nobody else is making that yet)
so i mean, roguelike/deckbuilding type design, and overt randomization per playthrough in short games, are "in" right now, so that's what you make if you want to make something that seems retrotically futurist. and sure, a lot of other once-prevailing but unrepresented genres i can think of simply aren't suited to the constraint of the format, like fps games, 3d platformers, or prerendered adventures. i just feel like this devalues real old games, kinda?
and also there have been like 2 new windjammers games in the past year that i've played and also an official licensed sequel not long before that so let's talk about something that was actually obviously way ahead of its time
but the conceit of the game is described as "a game developer from the 80s who were ahead of their time." i think obviously i find this a bit annoying because the underlying insinuation is that there's some kind of progress towards a grand goal of the perfect game design or something. i personally feel that game design has iterated to produce a lot of concepts i don't really love right now. but more broadly the way tastemaking tends to go in games makes me tend to feel that people aren't really that open to new ideas. rather, it feels like something breaks through into the collective consciousness as "a good game" and people accept that as a new metric of what's good. let's consider dark souls. tons of games are dark souls now, supposedly! but also a lot of ideas about action game combat and resource management in that game have propagated even beyond "directly inspired" works because many people believe now that "i-frame dodging" and "estus flasks" are concepts that are key to a good game, and ideas from older games which those mechanics deemphasize or contradict are not so good. was dark souls "ahead of its time"? well for one thing demon's souls came before that, so maybe it was more of a "trendsetter" or something. but these are ideas that only make sense retroactively, when we can see what actually came afterward.
(as much as i might want to call skyward sword ahead of its time if we're doing this anyway because nobody else is making that yet)
so i mean, roguelike/deckbuilding type design, and overt randomization per playthrough in short games, are "in" right now, so that's what you make if you want to make something that seems retrotically futurist. and sure, a lot of other once-prevailing but unrepresented genres i can think of simply aren't suited to the constraint of the format, like fps games, 3d platformers, or prerendered adventures. i just feel like this devalues real old games, kinda?
and also there have been like 2 new windjammers games in the past year that i've played and also an official licensed sequel not long before that so let's talk about something that was actually obviously way ahead of its time
UFOSoft is "ahead of its time" in the sense that the games often have design elements which neither existed in the real 1980s nor feel like they were invented in the specific game. It's not a matter of linear progress, but rather of being in conversation with the games of the 2010s.