Gripe about What You're Playing 2: Bellyache-tric Boogaloo

[Kalir]

Dead by Daylight is a 1v4 asymmetric game that, on the surface, is about a group of brave survivors desperately trying to evade a merciless killer. Fundamentally, it plays like ultimate hide and seek, where the survivors have to fix generators around the map while also not getting caught and placed on a sacrificial hook by the killer.

In practice, it's a game where one pour soul gets humiliated by four cryptid versions of Taylor Swift that bully them by blinding them with flashlights and dropping pallets on their head. The 1v4 asymmetry is about as well-balanced as you can hope for where the base mechanics are concerned, but consider that each of those four survivors can pack their own set of four perks and can cover each other when they're weak, not to mention the bulk of popular survivor perks being excellent ways to deny or even flex on the killer... it can get exhausting.

That said, baiting out those meta-brain perks and then punishing them is always fun. "Oh, you can do an iframe dash when injured, causing me to waste valuable time missing with my melee swing. Consider the following: what if I don't swing, you dash, and then I just hit you anyway?"

 

[chud_666]

Despite all the cool DLC, after Friday the 13th, this game was just such a bummer. Graphics are pretty great, but the play seems.. simple, yet annoying?

 

[ShakeWell]

I bounced off it hard, having also played Friday the 13th first. I kinda despise the "hang 'em on a hook and wait for C'thulu or whatever the fuck to come take them" mechanic. Like, Jason could just crush their heads to put them in the fire or slam their sleeping bag against a tree. Fuck this hook shit.

 

[Positronic Brain]

I really want to like Blasphemous but I can’t get past its bloody imagery.

(I also find it hard to take its lore seriously - growing up with the religion it is taking its myth from, it feels off, like if I’ve bitten a cheeseburger that tasted like broccoli)

 

[Octopus Prime]

This is definitely the kind of gripe I’ll get used to, but I’m not used to it yet so a-griping I do go; but my main issue with Griftlands is that the non-violent combat takes the form of a Slay the Spire-ish card game… but they use different terms for everything as befits the fact that the combat is supposed to represent you arguing with people instead of fighting them.

“Health” “Shield” and “Damage” are way easier to interpret than Resolve, Composure and Determination.

 

[Becksworth]

Man, Miitopia really overstays its welcome. I appreciate they are still adding new ideas around 30+ hours in, but the simplified core RPG gameplay loop would have really benefited from compressing the playtime to the 15-25 hour mark.

 

[Paul le Fou]

I started Control, and so far it's what I would call "so-so." I'm near the point of upgrading to different weapons and just unlocked ability points, so I've really just begun, but so far it's felt pretty basic. The main character talking to herself (or whoever/whatever the blue swirl is) throughout conversations is not very smoothly done.

 

[ShakeWell]

She's not talking to herself. I'll leave it at that. Also, the more abilities you get, the more awesome that game becomes.

 

[lincolnic]

I started Control, and so far it's what I would call "so-so." I'm near the point of upgrading to different weapons and just unlocked ability points, so I've really just begun, but so far it's felt pretty basic. The main character talking to herself (or whoever/whatever the blue swirl is) throughout conversations is not very smoothly done.

Also, the more abilities you get, the more awesome that game becomes.

Seconding ShakeWell, but I'll add that at the very least my enjoyment of the game skyrocketed once I unlocked the ability to telekinetically hurl shit around. I think I got more mileage out of that than any other ability. Give it until then, maybe it'll bring some fun for you too.

 

[Octopus Prime]

TBF; Hurling Stuff with Telekinesis rarely makes games worse

 

[Positronic Brain]

Another vote to keep at Control. I too was unimpressed by it (so much that I almost dropped it after the very first shooting section. which killed me about half a dozen times because I wasn't used to bullets doing that much damage in games) but as you get more skills the better it becomes. I kept going because the way the lore is delivered really gripped me (I love those memos), but the definitive moment I knew this was going to be one of my GotY was when I unlocked Flight - so cool.

My one complain, true to the day until they patched the UI, is that the font is way too small and the textures are a bit blurry in my launch PS4, so some puzzles that needed me to read some whiteboards were painful.

 

[karzac]

Telekinesis is fun, but you get that super early in Control. I never found any of the other powers very interesting, and thought the enemy design was pretty bland, with big readability problems. I liked Control, but pretty much entirely for the setting.

 

[zonetrope]

I had the same experience as Karzac. Also the materials in the crafting system are so obtuse (Untapped Potential, Entropic Echo, etc.) that it almost feels like a parody of crafting systems, and I never used it.

 

[Paul le Fou]

She's not talking to herself. I'll leave it at that. Also, the more abilities you get, the more awesome that game becomes.

Oh, it's extremely obvious she's not talking to herself; whatever the blue swirl is that she calls "you" is is going to be a big plot point. My current guess is her brother, somehow related to the AWE they took him away for, but we'll see.

Seconding ShakeWell, but I'll add that at the very least my enjoyment of the game skyrocketed once I unlocked the ability to telekinetically hurl shit around. I think I got more mileage out of that than any other ability. Give it until then, maybe it'll bring some fun for you too.

The telekinetic throw is definitely V cool and a lot more fun. The first boss I fought would quick-dodge every box I tried to throw though, but not bullets, so he got shot a lot. I'm also not sure that what item you grab has any difference on damage, energy cost, etc. which could add a lot more interesting depth to it and make whatever items happen to be around matter a lot more. As-is I just hit the button to grab a random item, then throw it for damage, and the only consideration is whether it's explosive and not being too close if it is; at that point it might as well be a fireball.


The setting and world is definitely more interesting, being SCP the game, and I'm going to keep at it for at least a little while and unlock some more of the cool abilities I've seen on trailers. I'm just not finding the main character too engaging, or the tech behind their conversations (in their conversations, she and Emily seem really stiff, their dialogue with just a bit too much time in between). I'm just getting nitpicky now, but that's also something that kinda bugs me a lot in games. (For good and bad examples, see Horizon Zero Dawn vs its own DLC; the DLC is leagues better in facial expressions, gestures, body language etc.) I guess it's uncanny valley stuff, since just text boxes back and forth have never bothered me.

 

[lincolnic]

I'm also not sure that what item you grab has any difference on damage, energy cost, etc.

I don't believe it does, but those are things you can improve with various upgrades/mods.

I'm just not finding the main character too engaging, or the tech behind their conversations (in their conversations, she and Emily seem really stiff, their dialogue with just a bit too much time in between). I'm just getting nitpicky now, but that's also something that kinda bugs me a lot in games. (For good and bad examples, see Horizon Zero Dawn vs its own DLC; the DLC is leagues better in facial expressions, gestures, body language etc.) I guess it's uncanny valley stuff, since just text boxes back and forth have never bothered me.

Nah, I don't think it's nitpicky, those same issues bothered me too. Those conversations are definitely very stiff. I'm not sure why that wasn't addressed in testing, honestly. Even so, it didn't stop me from enjoying the Jean Gray Simulator parts of the game.

 

[ozacrot]

Now that my joycon drift has been resolved, I've finally restarted CrossCode, which I mostly love. Loving homage to 16-bit action RPGs - I love the sound effect/music cues that call back to Seiken Densetsu. The puzzles aren't too bad, although aiming and platforming both feel a little loose - the main anger generator in this game for me is the combat-centered side quests. I know they're not necessary fights, per se, but I've only been through the second dungeon and have already run into at least 5 combat quests that I beat my head against for too long. I'm certain I could be doing a better job using techniques & guarding, but it can't all be on me - bosses like the cursed sharkster for the third elite quest took way too long even after I came back with additional levels. I'm not generally-speaking a big fan of boss designs (most often in action games like Sonic) where you have to dodge for 45 seconds in order to get a clean hit in, and it's even worse when you have to get three clean hits in before you can even begin to do damage.

 

[Octopus Prime]

My big issue with the game was that it can be really really hard to judge elevation which is a big problem in a game with this much platforming and precision aim.

At least the combat difficulty can be toned down

 

[Purple]

Spending some time with the Switch anthology, I decided to dive back into Secret of Mana for the first time in decades. At first, hey, look, what a nice uncomplicated game this is. There's no real hidden content in dungeons or anything, you just go through fairly linear areas and fight like 64 bosses and grind up weapon and spell levels...

... OK I apparently forgot how vague it can be about where you're supposed to go next or how to get there.

... Also these hit boxes are kinda... not even overlapping with the visuals at all a lot of the time.

... and OK what is this system where the I-frames from being knocked over end before you're back on your feet but not even just as a you take more damage thing but further hits queue up so you stand up and fall over again after a few seconds is... bad.

... and there's really nothing to do about bosses casting spells than heal up after huh.

Still enjoying it but... oof I remembered there being less thumbtacks and rubber bands holding things together.

 

[ArugulaZ]

Secret of Mana was pieced together from the remnants of a planned CD version, right? Maybe that's why it feels disjointed. I dunno, I haven't played that game in aaaaaages.

 

[Purple]

I mean, that would explain why any sort of "oh cool go here next" scenes feel a bit terse, but the sloppy hit detection and weird damage-taking-queue thing are just in there.

 

[Phantoon]

I'm playing Link's Awakening again. It's one of my favourite games, always will be! However I'm in the Eagle's Tower where you have to bring an iron ball through a dungeon to smash 4 pillars to bring the top floor down so Link can reach it.

It's one of the great Zelda puzzles, with one huge flaw. I accidentally managed to perfectly position the iron ball on a wall, in such a way I couldn't pick it up again from either side, making the dungeon impossible to complete. So reset it, Phantoon! He's the problem; you can't if you saved the game. The ball's position is saved too. Warping to the entrance won't respawn it. Leaving the dungeon doesn't. Only dropping it down a pit will do that, and you can't, because you can't pick it up.

I finally found a way round it with the warp glitch. If you warp screens when by the ball, it warps too. So if you're careful and don't warp it somewhere else irretrievable you can fix it by breaking the game even harder. Fairly scary though, it's a potential soft lock at the end of a pretty long game.

 

[Yimothy]

I’ve been playing Horace for switch, a pretty tough but inventive and interesting platformer. In some areas you can find arcade machines which play simple games, mostly based on old games - there’s an after burner clone, a rhythm game, a version of Tetris with 3 block pieces instead of 4, and so on. They’re mostly pretty ordinary, to be honest, but not bad for a quick look.

In chapter 19 (of 22), your character participates in a video game tournament. It seems I have to win it to proceed, and winning requires doing extremely well in these bad video games that I’ve been mostly ignoring. You get to choose between two games. In the first round, you’ve got either rhythm king, which is basically guitar hero, or Day Off, a worse version of OutRun (with the occupants of the car being the three main characters of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off). I’m rubbish at rhythm games, so I’ve been trying to make it in Day Off. The tournament version has targets on the road which give extra points, and best as I can tell I’ll need to hit all of them to get enough points to proceed with the game. Which means if I miss the first one then I know I can’t win but I still have to wait out the forty seconds or whatever of the timer. It absolutely sucks and I’m pretty sure I’m not going to get past it. Even if I do, there are three rounds to the tournament and I assume they’re all equally bad.

In the platforming sections of the game, if you die repeatedly in a given room it’ll give you a health boost, and the checkpointing is pretty generous. This arcade game segment doesn’t seem to have any equivalent. I tried googling to see if it would eventually let me through, and mostly just found people complaining about a similar mini game high score competition earlier in the game which I was fortunate enough to pass on the second try.

Edit: Gripe thread strikes again: I switched to the rhythm game and beat it on about the fifth try, and the rest of the tournament first go.

 

[Positronic Brain]

I don't know who's more at fault h who's more at fault here - they for deciding we needed more game or me for agreeing with them. I had forgotten how long it was and I underestimated how much an extension would make it grow.

Persona 5 Royal keeps going, is what I'm saying.

 

[R.R. Bigman]

I’m trying to get into Binding of Isaac: Rebirth for the third time now, and it’s still not working. I was hoping after putting over 90 hours into Hades I would see more to appreciate with Isaac. My main issues are that I just don’t get Isaac’s default attack, and that I wish pick-ups and abilities were explained more. What do Faith and Evil do? How do I open doors the non-boss skull doors? How do I cross the many gaps in the floors to get the items there? It’s a lot.

 

[jpfriction]

I’m trying to get into Binding of Isaac: Rebirth for the third time now, and it’s still not working. I was hoping after putting over 90 hours into Hades I would see more to appreciate with Isaac. My main issues are that I just don’t get Isaac’s default attack, and that I wish pick-ups and abilities were explained more. What do Faith and Evil do? How do I open doors the non-boss skull doors? How do I cross the many gaps in the floors to get the items there? It’s a lot.

I’d focus on unlocking Azrael (default flight and a very strong charge attack), he plays so much easier at the expense of harder to refill health.

My gripe with Isaac is I finally made it to the final final boss I think, anyway, The Beast with a crazy good build and got annihilated before I got them even half down. Watched that ending on youtube and may call it done.

 

[ArugulaZ]

I've been playing both 16-bit cartridge versions of Hook on my SNES Classic and Genesis Mini. Unfortunately, the Genesis game wasn't handled by the game's original designer Ukiyotei, but instead was farmed out to Core, creators of Chuck Rock and Tomb Raider. It's not an especially bad port... I've definitely seen worse on the Genesis, but it makes a lot of compromises to the audiovisuals, sometimes out of necessity and sometimes for inexplicable reasons. You know how the seasons change in the first stage of the Super NES game? Doesn't happen on Genesis. You know how water is transparent on the Super NES? On the Genesis, you get an ugly latticework draped over the character that's half blue and half empty, which was probably acceptable on a CRT but is ugly as hell on modern televisions.

My biggest bone to pick with Chuck Hook is the color palette. Now I realize you can only wring so many colors out of the Genesis, but there's an overabundance of dull yellows and oranges which extends to the lead character, who's clad in a yellowish-brown tunic. Peter Pan is green. He was green in the Disney cartoon, he's a (dark, dull) green in the Spielberg movie that inspired this game, and he's green in the Super NES version. Why the heck is he yellow on the Genesis? Some of the other omissions and changes I can forgive, but that yellow Pan is something you can't ignore... it's just straight up wrong, and it taunts you with its wrongness for the duration of the game. If Pyron or some other game hacker hasn't tackled this, they need to make it their top priority, because this paler Peter Pan is a constant annoyance.

"Why don't you just play the Super NES version?" Well sure, I could do that, but that'd be too easy, wouldn't it? Besides, Pan seems a little slower on that version, and he's no speed demon on the Genesis..

 

[lincolnic]

Zangyou Mode in Kero Blaster just exacerbates the shittiness of having to play an entire level from the beginning if you get a game over in a boss fight. Why no, I will not slog through this factory level for a third time to have another go at the truck boss. I'm just gonna stop playing!

If they'd just give you a damn checkpoint at the boss fights, I wouldn't have any issues with the game at all, but this feels so bad every time it happens I have to wonder why they made it this way.

 

[Positronic Brain]

I don't know who's more at fault h who's more at fault here - they for deciding we needed more game or me for agreeing with them. I had forgotten how long it was and I underestimated how much an extension would make it grow.

Persona 5 Royal keeps going, is what I'm saying.

I beat the final boss and got the platinum trophy *checks* 90 minutes ago. The game is still going.

 

[Octopus Prime]

Sentinels of the Multiverse is a really fun card game, and an exceptional way to whittle away long stretches of time when Istuck with nothing but my phone to keep me entertained.

HOWEVER, THIS THREAD ISN'T FOR COMPLIMENTS

The problem is that the base game really doesn't have a whole lot of content by itself, and the DLC (while presumably cheaper than buying the actual decks) is a LOT of nickel-and-diming. Or "Multi-dozen Dollar"-ing if you want a good chunk of new stuff

 

[Purple]

Are we talking about the PC version or the tabletop? Because I mean 10 characters 4 villains 4 environments is kind of a crazy bargain.