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 Environmental Station Alpha -- Released April 22, 2015, by Hempuli Oy    This indie title is an exploration and action platformer that has a lot in common with the older Metroid games. We play as a robot sent in to an abandoned space station to find out what went wrong. We start extremely bare-bones, but in the standard Metroidvania style, will locate new powerups to solve our problems. The pixel art aesthetic is really common in indie games these days, but once in a while it's done in a really eye-catching way and ESA hits that standard for me. In addition, the sound design and music are excellent and tie it together really well. The gameplay controls very tightly and it has to, because the difficulty gets rather high later on. There is a large, optional post-game section that I will avoid speaking about until we get there. But I will say that it morphs the game from being an action platformer to being more similar to La Mulana; riddles, puzzles and confusion rather than combat. I originally streamed this live, trying to solve the game with the help of 100-150 people in my audience. We collectively failed to do the puzzle section without a bit of hand-holding from the developer. There were no guides at that point in time to aid us. The zones were eventually patched to be a bit less cryptic. This is a 100% LP, but I have intentionally avoided playing it for over 8 months so that I can better represent the exploration attitude that this game was shooting for. I remember bits and pieces but the majority of the content won't be very fresh for me. In addition, Hempuli (dev) added new bosses and things that I haven't researched at all. Madithen will be guesting with me, and he is also in the dark on the new content. The developer and a few other folks join us along the way for some bonus discussion! Let's get started.   #1: Into the Station #2: Fastest way to Travel #3: Power-up Central #4: All Systems Online #5: Temple Excavation #6: Unlocking the Temple Gates #7: The Derelict Ship #8: A Collection of Upgrades #9: Overriding Security #10: Antivirus #11: The Missing Pieces #12: The Surface #13: The Outpost [with dev. commentary from this point on to episode 18] #14: The Restless Spirit #15: Secrets Round-up #16: The Keys & the Password #17: The Clock and the Signs #18: The Maze and the Ghost #19: Speedrunning Mechanics [with commentary from WR-Holder Jazzy] #20: For Completion's Sake #21: The Boss Rush [with commentary from Smash Daisaku, the one who cleared it!] Fan art by Fenfel  
Smite fucked around with this message at 17:12 on Apr 26, 2016 |
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Dec 29, 2015 21:51
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I remember watching you stream this live, and the collective puzzle solving from everyone in chat in a brand new game with no walkthroughs or FAQs might be the most fun I've ever had with a video game, definitely watching one. And having the dev on (and now a frequent visitor to your stream) was also incredible. Suffice to say I'm looking forward to more! Are you gonna try to get Hempuli on for any sort of developer commentary? Because that would be pretty cool too.
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Dec 29, 2015 22:54
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This was definitely one of the best games I've played this year. Excited to see it again!
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Dec 29, 2015 23:03
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Oh wow. Hempuli‽ made this game? I remember playing a puzzle-platformer flash game of theirs that made my brain melt. I loved it. For some reason, this didn't strike me as the type of game they would make, which is weird. I remember seeing development screenshots of this game a while ago, but I must've attributed it to someone else.
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Dec 29, 2015 23:16
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This game is fun. The whole end-game puzzle stuff is pretty loving tough. Also, there's even more content that was added back in October.
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Dec 29, 2015 23:19
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Well while its still on sale this holiday, you can grab the game for little under $6. I'd highly recommend it as well, good game.
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Dec 29, 2015 23:32
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Oh man, this game. I found it to be too damned hard for my tastes, which is a shame because I really wanted to like it. Most Metroid games make you really resilient and can thus only really kill you through a death of a thousand cuts. This game...does not do that. I'll be looking forward to seeing someone show the bits I didn't get to.
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Dec 29, 2015 23:39
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It seems like you got a lot of big mobility power-ups early for a Metroid-ish game. Is this a shorter game, or do they just frontload some of the more useful powers?
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Dec 29, 2015 23:50
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:Oh man, this game. I found it to be too damned hard for my tastes, which is a shame because I really wanted to like it. Most Metroid games make you really resilient and can thus only really kill you through a death of a thousand cuts. This game...does not do that. I'll be looking forward to seeing someone show the bits I didn't get to. This is pretty much my experience too. Got stone walled by something I just can't beat, but it's still a nice game. Really enjoyed seeing the game from Highwang and Smite's streams. 2015 was a nice year for Metroid-likes.
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Dec 29, 2015 23:55
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Smash Daisaku posted:It seems like you got a lot of big mobility power-ups early for a Metroid-ish game. Is this a shorter game, or do they just frontload some of the more useful powers? We are estimating around 8 hours for this. You get Double-Jump and Hookshot really early and it opens up a lot of doors but there is plenty left to explore.
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Dec 30, 2015 00:04
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One video and you got quite a lot further than I did. I got confused by the idea that you had to go through the damaging heat zone 
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Dec 30, 2015 03:26
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Ciaphas posted:One video and you got quite a lot further than I did. I got confused by the idea that you had to go through the damaging heat zone I did that until the map told me that was the direction and I didn't see anywhere else to go. Didn't really get stuck anywhere else until the real late game came up. They usually give you a heads-up about where you should be going.
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Dec 30, 2015 07:23
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I watched like 15 minutes of this and bought the game. This is definitely my jam and I want to play through first before I watch the LP.
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Dec 30, 2015 08:29
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Nice LP so far. I have one question, what are you using to play this game. A controller or keyboard, and which controller/keyboard are you using? I look forward to more updates/content. 
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Dec 30, 2015 09:31
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I never really got the nostalgia for Super Metroid, which I always found vastly overrated - that literally added one good thing to gaming, the huge map to explore (love 'vanias, though). This looks pretty interesting though, without all the "shoot completely random blocks to progress" bullshit. What I'm saying is better you than me and I'll be watching this. Especially since what little I've seen seemed pretty goddamn hard. anilEhilated fucked around with this message at 10:09 on Dec 30, 2015 |
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Dec 30, 2015 10:03
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anilEhilated posted:I never really got the nostalgia for Super Metroid, which I always found vastly overrated - that literally added one good thing to gaming, the huge map to explore (love 'vanias, though). This looks pretty interesting though, without all the "shoot completely random blocks to progress" bullshit. To me Super Metroid always felt very unsatisfying to play. The exploration aspect was very neat, but the controls never clicked with me, the bosses felt very eh... especially a late-game boss that is literally just a damage race.
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Dec 30, 2015 15:17
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This game looks too much like a Metroid game to me. I mean not just in a 'it's a Metroidvania' way, but the areas, the enemies, it just screams Metroid to me. It made me wonder if anyone ever took a Super Metroid ROMhack and rebuilt it as its own game so they can sell it.
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Dec 30, 2015 15:24
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Zanzibar Ham posted:This game looks too much like a Metroid game to me. I mean not just in a 'it's a Metroidvania' way, but the areas, the enemies, it just screams Metroid to me. Well, it's pretty clearly meant as an homage to the Metroid series; almost everything, from the aesthetics to the powerups, screams Metroid. I'm not even meaning this as a complaint; they seem to be doing something neat with it, so I'm looking forward to the ride.
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Dec 30, 2015 16:37
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Magnuslord posted:Nice LP so far. I have one question, what are you using to play this game. A controller or keyboard, and which controller/keyboard are you using? I look forward to more updates/content. I use a wired 360 controller for everything that I use a controller for, which includes this.
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Dec 30, 2015 16:59
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Zanzibar Ham posted:It made me wonder if anyone ever took a Super Metroid ROMhack and rebuilt it as its own game so they can sell it. There are absolutely Super Metroid ROM hacks that could stand on their own as games (albeit obviously as an "expansion pack" to Super Metroid, since they use the same engine and graphics). But selling a ROM hack of any game would be hilariously unwise as it contains the base game which is thoroughly copyrighted to Nintendo. If you rebuilt the engine and then re-implemented your hack's content within your new engine, then you could sell that, sure. Don't know of anyone who's done that though.
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Dec 30, 2015 18:31
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Super Metroid was honest about powerups. They scattered them about the world, with an obvious intended path, and didn't railroad anything beyond that. This is why speed runs of Super Metroid are such a joy to behold, especially since the wall jump and shine spark are such brilliant and empowering undocumented moves for skilled players.
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Dec 30, 2015 18:31
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:There are absolutely Super Metroid ROM hacks that could stand on their own as games (albeit obviously as an "expansion pack" to Super Metroid, since they use the same engine and graphics). But selling a ROM hack of any game would be hilariously unwise as it contains the base game which is thoroughly copyrighted to Nintendo. I kinda knew you couldn't sell the ROMhacks, which is why I wondered about the bolded part.
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Dec 30, 2015 18:37
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:There are absolutely Super Metroid ROM hacks that could stand on their own as games (albeit obviously as an "expansion pack" to Super Metroid, since they use the same engine and graphics). But selling a ROM hack of any game would be hilariously unwise as it contains the base game which is thoroughly copyrighted to Nintendo. That's pretty much what they did with Freedom Planet
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Dec 30, 2015 18:42
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Wanamingo posted:That's pretty much what they did with Freedom Planet Also the guy behind Sonic 2 The Sequel and Prequel and those games KS'd a game where Electro Jester not-Sonic beats robots.
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Dec 30, 2015 18:45
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ah neat, a good looking Metroidvania. Like has also been said in thread, between this and Axiom Verge, this was a good year for people who liked Metroid...I may also have to drop out of watching and just buy the game for myself, we'll see.
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Dec 30, 2015 21:12
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Yeah, now that I know the way forward is indeed to tromp through the damage zone I might just try to burn through this over the long weekend before I watch the other videos. That or I'll replay Axiom Verge again. drat, this HAS been a good year for Metroids hasn't it 
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Dec 30, 2015 23:03
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That Hookshot looks so ridiculously fun to use. Just how far up can it launch you if you get a fast enough swing?
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Dec 31, 2015 12:21
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Just bought an xbox1 controller to play along with you. Hope you enjoy making future episodes. And I love Arcade Pit.
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Dec 31, 2015 13:11
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Huh. I heard from someone on this site that it was bad, so I avoided it. Though this thread convinced me to pick it up. The hookshot is definitely fun.
Araxxor fucked around with this message at 04:37 on Jan 2, 2016 |
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Jan 2, 2016 04:23
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this looks a lot closer to what I'd want in a metroidvania game than most in the genre get
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Jan 2, 2016 04:48
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Manatee Cannon posted:this looks a lot closer to what I'd want in a metroidvania game than most in the genre get Curious: what are your objections with most such games?
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Jan 2, 2016 04:56
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George posted:Super Metroid was honest about powerups. They scattered them about the world, with an obvious intended path, and didn't railroad anything beyond that. This is why speed runs of Super Metroid are such a joy to behold, especially since the wall jump and shine spark are such brilliant and empowering undocumented moves for skilled players. The sheer ability to explore and have stuff off the beaten path is what makes Super Metroid tick. Even if a bunch of my playthroughs had to be restarted because the Wall Jump/Hyper Boots Jump tutorial one stumped me as a kid (what are these things why are they jumping around how do I get out of here I don't get it/I don't have the hyper boots yet!) It combined the Metroid's series 'there is a somewhat obvious path but no real direction' layout with incredible mobility. Plus it hid some things REALLY well.
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Jan 2, 2016 05:16
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One major issue I have with this game is that you can go through some tough sections only to get brick walled at the very end because you don't have the right power up to get past a specific obstacle. Which happened a lot in my experience and got very annoying. Also sometimes it's hard to tell what is a platform and what isn't.
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Jan 2, 2016 05:26
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DoubleNegative posted:That Hookshot looks so ridiculously fun to use. Just how far up can it launch you if you get a fast enough swing? Depends on angle and downward momentum, but my extremely scientific conclusion is "really loving far"
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Jan 2, 2016 05:45
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KingEffingFrost posted:Depends on angle and downward momentum, but my extremely scientific conclusion is "really loving far" I mainlined the game over the last couple days and "really loving far" is rather like saying "universes are pretty big" I finished the game (not to 100%) and mostly really enjoyed it, with one specific and rage-inducing grievance that won't come up for a couple videos. I'm looking forward to seeing the stuff I missed!
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Jan 2, 2016 06:45
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Game looks really cool so far.
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Jan 2, 2016 15:59
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:Curious: what are your objections with most such games? I'm not saying they're bad, so objections is maybe the wrong word. they just don't usually capture that same feeling of exploration that a good metroid or castlevania game has and usually have a smaller and less complex map
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Jan 2, 2016 16:06
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EponymousMrYar posted:Plus it hid some things REALLY well. Also, powerups start feeling pointless after a certain threshold and that threshold gets lower as you get better at the game.
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Jan 2, 2016 18:08
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anilEhilated posted:You say well, I say bullshit. I don't think I can ever get over all the "this block looks exactly like any other block but can be shot/bombed/passed through every full moon". I love 2D exploratory games but I'm really glad we moved away from that. I won't try to defend "shoot this random block and it happens to have a powerup in it", but I really don't have a problem with pointless powerups. They serve a similar purpose as grinding for experience in an RPG: if you're having trouble with the basic gameplay then you can go hunt down powerups that give you more of a buffer against mistakes, but if you're good at the basic gameplay then you can skip them. In other words, it's a form of player-guided dynamic difficulty. It only becomes problematic if you're one of those players who insists on always getting 100% of the items when you play, in which case you're too practiced at the game for the quantity of items you're collecting to result in an enjoyable experience. Mind you, there have always been too many power bomb expansions.
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Jan 2, 2016 18:13
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It becomes problematic if looking for them is all the game has to offer. Sidequests work because they are just that - side activities you can or can't take on in addition to the main storyline. Now, you probably can play through Super Metroid "linearly", getting just the progress upgrades, but that's a tiny portion of it and not a very strong one - everyone is praising the thing for exploration, and that's rewarded by getting missile no.238. Modern 'vanias expanded on it: there are different functioning weapons, there's lore, easter eggs, stuff building upon the gameplay instead of not adding anything or even reducing it. I basically just don't think the Metroid games aged well.
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Jan 2, 2016 18:30
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