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pentyne
Nov 7, 2012
Baldur's Gate 1 EE: 75/100

Like many cRPG games from the late 90s it has aged poorly, even with the vaunted EE upgrades. The quality of life and conveniences you from the EE making the game almost trivial, because every major battle is either a curbstomp or the mage gets off his spell and wipes the whole party. The "tab" to highlight containers breaks the early level/gold dynamic as there is a powerful magic item hidden in almost all of the maps in a tiny, tiny spot that was originally intended to require PC gamers to pixel hunt the entire map. So by the time you've spent 30 minutes in the game you have have some super powerful gear that you can either keep, or sell and buy magical weapons for the party giving you a huge advantage.

Everyone always remembers BG2 more fondly and adds it to the lists of greatest games ever, but BG1 was clearly a rough start. Many of the things you'd take to make the early game more viable end up being useless post level 5-7 and you're stuck with a lovely character build that sees diminishing returns. Add in to that characters and NPCs that they pretty much gave only a surface level concern to and you have a sense that you shouldn't really care too much about the characters and just replace them as needed. The feature of certain NPCs to attack each other after a certain point was nice, but the scripting usually meant you then lost a core component of the party and have to go find a new thief, mage, fighter etc. and without the ability to customize their leveling you'd get a level 4 thief with 20% all thief skills when you need lockpicking much more then the others.

Oh, also so many things in the game are still broken and glitched and require 3rd party mods to correct.

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cheetah7071
Oct 20, 2010

honk honk
College Slice
Posted about it in the general chat thread but I played Witch's House

Good 3 Fun 5 Anime 4 Cat 5

It's an RPGmaker horror game, but don't play it as a horror game, play it as a creepy atmospheric game, preferably with friends around chatting and laughing. Empirically speaking you will either love or hate the ending with nothing in between

lalaland
Nov 8, 2012
Eador: Imperium

Tactical turn based RPG with shitloads of content but horribly horribly optimized. They found a goddamn savant to do their soundtrack.

3 acoustic guitars out of 5

Dead in Bermuda

Manage your group of survivors to surivive on the island you crashed on. Lots of love went into the game: it has interesting characters, it has good art and music. But the basic gameplay has too much RNG for my taste.

3 depressed russians out of 5

Recettear: an item shop's tale

Anime is not really my jam but this game is gdamn adorable. The systems of managing your store and dungeon crawling are well explained and work well together. The translation is extremely well done.

5 yayifications out of 5

Fall of the Dungeon Guardians

Legend of Grimrock, with a more active combat system. Most skills/classes are straight from WoW.

2 shameless ripoffs out of 5

Guillermus
Dec 28, 2009



lalaland posted:

Recettear: an item shop's tale

Anime is not really my jam but this game is gdamn adorable. The systems of managing your store and dungeon crawling are well explained and work well together. The translation is extremely well done.

5 yayifications out of 5

Recettear is a good shop management sim with a dungeon crawler (not great but something that could come from the 90's) built-in. I've been playing it during last year and I give it 5 bacon out of 5 too.

Too Shy Guy
Jun 14, 2003


I have destroyed more of your kind than I can count.



They Are Billions - Real-time strategy game where you build a steampunk colony and defend it against thousands (not hyperbole) of zombies

Excellent - [Good] - Ok - Bad - Awful

Dab on 'em Haterz - Casual time-waster about clicking on YouTube comments, exactly as fun as it sounds

Excellent - Good - Ok - [Bad] - Awful

Samorost - An old Flash point-and-click adventure about helping a space gnome save his asteroid, super charming and also free

Excellent - [Good] - Ok - Bad - Awful

Vertiginous Golf - Dystopian steampunk mini-golf, which might sound neat on paper but turns the whole experience into a cold, over-complicated mess

Excellent - Good - Ok - [Bad] - Awful

Real hurthling!
Sep 11, 2001




Ori and the blind forest
G4F2

Ori is a drop dead beautiful game that completely mistakes surprise obstacles for challenge far too often. Its not actually hard once you learn which rocks are going to fall out of nowhere or where a laser is going to come from.

The combat is bad. You have to just mash a button or yolo ground stomp, i guess cause they want you to focus on the jumping but i found it just lame. Should have made the attack autofire when the button is held if thats what they wanted so im not tapping like an idiot on these loud as gently caress xbox face buttons.

The art actually gets in the way of the gameplay a lot too with ori being so freaking tiny hes impossible to see especially when obscured by foreground elements or near bright light sources.

Most of the complex traversal centers on a freeze time and aim mechanic that lets you rebound off projectiles and enemies and its tedious as heck to constantly break the game flow like that.

Idk its a cool game but the sequel needs to be a lot more fun for me to give a poo poo

SuccinctAndPunchy
Mar 29, 2013

People are supposed to get hurt by things. It's fucked up to not. It's not good for you.
Iconoclasts

A very pretty game with a lot of heart put into its characters, aesthetic and storyline couched between a Action Puzzle Platformer that I found to be kind of surprisingly bland and uninteresting to play through. You slide the blocks, you move the blocks, blah blah. Bosses aren't up to much but are very flashy. Some enemies take just ever so slightly too many hits to kill and some just act like roadbumps with large amounts of HP for no reason I can divine. I find the most apt comparison to be Owlboy in basically all aspects, very pretty, interesting characters and story, took a gazillion years to actually release, not that much fun to actually play. I'm sad.

Disclosure: didn't finish, not going to

i warned y'all about my awful hot takes

Real hurthling!
Sep 11, 2001




Mario+rabbids

G4F3

A well made xcom game that kinda goes on too long for its pitifully small tech trees to keep it staying fresh.

Soldiered through to the end but it was hard to want to bother some days cause its just fatiguing to play turn based games sometimes when you are tired idk.

Im glad i got it on sale to spend time with switch during the current lull but im not wasting any money on the dlc thats for sure. I got enough of this game for a lifetime.

Suburban Dad
Jan 10, 2007


Well what's attached to a leash that it made itself?
The punchline is the way that you've been fuckin' yourself




Real hurthling! posted:

Mario+rabbids

G4F3

A well made xcom game that kinda goes on too long for its pitifully small tech trees to keep it staying fresh.

Soldiered through to the end but it was hard to want to bother some days cause its just fatiguing to play turn based games sometimes when you are tired idk.

Im glad i got it on sale to spend time with switch during the current lull but im not wasting any money on the dlc thats for sure. I got enough of this game for a lifetime.

Pretty much my thoughts exactly after just finishing it. The skill trees are weak, the gameplay just gets frustrating for the latter 1/3 or so of the game. Towards the end I just wanted to power through and finish it, because I knew I never wanted to come back to it. Would have rather bought Xcom during a steam sale to figure out that I don't really like these games. :v: If you buy this game, buy a physical copy so you can resell it at least. I wish I would have.

Another thing that annoyed me is that if you wanted to get all the collectible stuff you have to play through the entire game again pretty much since you don't get a few silly overworld mechanics unlocked until the very end. And things that require them are peppered in everywhere, even from the beginning. It wasn't that fun the first time, guys.

ChrisBTY
Mar 29, 2012

this glorious monument

lalaland posted:

Eador: Imperium

Tactical turn based RPG with shitloads of content but horribly horribly optimized. They found a goddamn savant to do their soundtrack.

3 acoustic guitars out of 5

Holy poo poo I love Eador.
I did not know a sequel came out...a YEAR ago?
Alright, how unoptimized can this be?
(developer literally appears in-game as an NPC and apologizes for how unoptimized the game is)
Well that's reassuring.

Real hurthling!
Sep 11, 2001




Dragonball fighterz (story mode)

G2F1

The computer cant handle the most basic and unsafe string in the game over and over again so get ready for 12-18 hours of 150-200 bad fights

If you love dbz the cutscenes are very fun though and unlocking the boss character for multiplayer (g5f5) is what its all about.

Terminally Bored
Oct 31, 2011

Twenty-five dollars and a six pack to my name

Real hurthling! posted:

Dragonball fighterz (story mode)

G2F1

The computer cant handle the most basic and unsafe string in the game over and over again so get ready for 12-18 hours of 150-200 bad fights

If you love dbz the cutscenes are very fun though and unlocking the boss character for multiplayer (g5f5) is what its all about.

Does it have a difficulty toggle?


Last 2 months or so, I'm a dad and only get like 4 or 5 hours of gaming a week:

Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies
I thought it can't be worse than Apollo Justice but welp. Had to finish it because I read good things about Spirit of Justice. Don't think I'll ever play through it ever again.

Pharaoh Rebirth+
Great, funny and concise metroidvania. Really easy tho. Little challenge.

SMT: Devil Survivor Overclocked
As with most SMT stuff I got tired of it at the endgame but still had a lot of fun. All the characters are severely crosseyed for some reason.

Battle Brothers
The kind of game that I will install on every computer I ever own and play it into infinity.

Steel Strider
Great, fun, cheap as pretty much every Astro Port game. The kb+mouse controls reminded me of Abuse a bit.

DCS World
Don't have any joysticks available atm so I just spent an hour and a half learning how to start the P-51D Mustang's engine by clicking all the levers in the cockpit. Really cool (and free).

Wild Guns Reloaded
Loved the SNES version and this is the same but better and whole lotta harder. Fantastic game.

Kero Blaster
Cave Story never really grabbed me but this one's a keeper. Was able to go through the overtime (hard) mode and started NG+. Those secret levels are probably way above my level tho.

Raiden V: Director's Cut
Complete poo poo.

Carmageddon Max Damage
People seem to hate it but it's Perfectly Fine. I really hate the music and the juvenile puns though.

Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen
Did not expect to like an old grindy jrpg but I really did. It's simple and has a surprisingly fun story.

Real hurthling!
Sep 11, 2001




No, thats arcade mode

CowboyAndy
Aug 7, 2012
Mega Man X [Snes]: After playing most of the classic mega man games, this is the first X game I've played. Overall, it was a lot of fun. Finding secret stat upgrades was fun, and levels were all great to play through. I really liked how playing, and beating, certain stages would change other stages.

4 out of 5 - it's got me excited to play the rest of the X series when the X collection comes out this year.

Donkey Kong Country 1 [Snes]: This is the first time I've played a Donkey Kong Country game, and it was also awesome. With the emphasis on momentum, this is feels like the closest thing to Sonic on the SNES.

4 out of 5 - I already started playing DKC2.

SuccinctAndPunchy
Mar 29, 2013

People are supposed to get hurt by things. It's fucked up to not. It's not good for you.
Celeste

Literally one of the best platformers I've ever played. The pacing is immaculate, the sound design is ace, the characters/story are likeable and entertaining, everything about it feels goddamn good to handle and it gets a completely incredible amount of mileage out of a simple, intuitive and elegant set of base mechanics and basically it's just so loving good you guys it's unfair to most other indie platformers out there

9/10 climb that goddamn mountain

alf_pogs
Feb 15, 2012


CowboyAndy posted:

Mega Man X [Snes]: After playing most of the classic mega man games, this is the first X game I've played. Overall, it was a lot of fun. Finding secret stat upgrades was fun, and levels were all great to play through. I really liked how playing, and beating, certain stages would change other stages.

4 out of 5 - it's got me excited to play the rest of the X series when the X collection comes out this year.

Donkey Kong Country 1 [Snes]: This is the first time I've played a Donkey Kong Country game, and it was also awesome. With the emphasis on momentum, this is feels like the closest thing to Sonic on the SNES.

4 out of 5 - I already started playing DKC2.

man i wish i was you, experiencing MMX and DKC for the first time. both great games although i truly believe DKC2 is as close to perfect as a snes game gets.

the snes classic really is just a GOOD GAME machine

clone on the phone
Aug 5, 2003

Can someone explain the GxFx system?

BeanpolePeckerwood
May 4, 2004

I MAY LOOK LIKE SHIT BUT IM ALSO DUMB AS FUCK



SuccinctAndPunchy posted:

Celeste

Literally one of the best platformers I've ever played. The pacing is immaculate, the sound design is ace, the characters/story are likeable and entertaining, everything about it feels goddamn good to handle and it gets a completely incredible amount of mileage out of a simple, intuitive and elegant set of base mechanics and basically it's just so loving good you guys it's unfair to most other indie platformers out there

9/10 climb that goddamn mountain

Yeah, Celeste is amazing from what I've played so far. I'll post a review when I play a bit more.

alf_pogs
Feb 15, 2012


clone on the phone posted:

Can someone explain the GxFx system?

i think its a VideoGames original system -

g = game, from a technical point of view. is it well designed, have good art direction, sound design etc
f = fun. is it actually fun to play aka the real measurement

VideoGames
Aug 18, 2003

clone on the phone posted:

Can someone explain the GxFx system?

alf_pogs posted:

i think its a VideoGames original system -

g = game, from a technical point of view. is it well designed, have good art direction, sound design etc
f = fun. is it actually fun to play aka the real measurement

It is exactly that! :D

I know there are some games that are terrible, but I love playing them. Alternately there are some games which I may not enjoy to the same level as other people, but I recognise it is really well made and that my fun may be skewed.

It was a way to sort of reconcile my biases with certain kinds of game and give one biased number and one objective number.

Speaking of Games:

Everybody's Golf G5F5
Goodness am I having an utter blast with this! I had no idea a golf game could be so much fun! I used to work at a Golfclub and it was not pleasant, so I have been wary of the sport in all incarnations. I am glad I took a chance on this.

The game is wonderfully simple to play, but I have a feeling that the more you do it the more you will get better reflexes and understand how to play better as well. (Last night I sunk my first 39 foot putt!)

It seems like a big game and for a quick round of 9 holes it is a great time sink. I also love how some courses will tell you the average length of a game based on the holes! Good for planning.

It sounds awesome, looks awesome, feels awesome and is wrapped up in a truly wonderful package. I think this may be a top 20 game of all time!!

alf_pogs
Feb 15, 2012


okay so i just finished the main game of Celeste - G5F5

a really, really great game. i am sure there's gonna be other people posting thoughts over the next month but for me this is the definitive masochist platformer, simply because that's not all it is.

whereas meat boy and others take a delight in "kicking you while you're down", celeste is ballbreakingly fair. every death is by your own hand and the game just keeps encouraging you. "you can do it!" it says, and suddenly some kaizo mario horseshit becomes totally feasible for klutzes like me.

music is great, but the real highlight are the incredible platforming mechanics. its weird that any 2D platform game could still pack a punch in 2018 but here we are. the controls are perfect, every motion has weight and grace in equal measure. technically this game is what platformers should aspire to be.

others have gushed about the story, and i enjoyed it at the start, but eventually i sort of just wanted to get to the summit. its fine if you want a story about mental illness and depression but my real life has enough of that so id rather just skip it and get to the game. thankfully theres more than enough game.

so all up its one of the best platforming games ive ever played and everyone should enioy it!!! GAMES!!!!!

CowboyAndy
Aug 7, 2012

alf_pogs posted:

man i wish i was you, experiencing MMX and DKC for the first time. both great games although i truly believe DKC2 is as close to perfect as a snes game gets.

the snes classic really is just a GOOD GAME machine

Awesome! DKC2 has been a lot of fun - I'm glad I was able to grab a snes classic, since I was a sega kid growing up. Lots of good games on the genesis, but now it's fun to dive into the SNES.

Are there any platformers or action platformers I should try for the SNES? Besides the Mario games.

BeanpolePeckerwood
May 4, 2004

I MAY LOOK LIKE SHIT BUT IM ALSO DUMB AS FUCK



Monster Hunter World - sp 84/100 mp 94/100

As is evident from my scoring, this game absolutely shines when you have a few friends to troll around with and figure systems out with in tandem. As a single player experience it's still an incredibly full package, with awesome, punchy presentation, beautiful landscapes, incredibly animated monsters and deep combat and crafting systems. But there are so many auxiliary systems in play and so many tutorials that I've had much more fun trading secrets and grinding out quests with friends, if only to relieve a little of the burden of absorbing info. The online hookup systems can be a bit obtuse and poorly explained in that old Japanese way, but once you actually get into a quest and start tooling around, collecting, tracking, and tackling dinos...everything is so incredibly fluid, intuitive and customizable. I absolutely loathe most open world games but I must say MHW has got me loving hooked. It's the real deal, folks.

Celeste - sp 90/100 mp N/A

Tight, difficult, and gorgeous 'splatformer' from the same team that made Towerfall. Lovely story and presentation, and despite the simple controls/premise the level design is constantly upping the ante and introducing novel challenges. This game may be too hard for some (even with assist mode turned on), but it really deserves to be experienced by everyone. It must be mentioned that a huge part of why this game works so well is because the music is downright phenomenal, so good I was almost in tears after several levels. The music for the crushingly difficult B-side levels is also loving solid, and I noticed more than a few familiar names on the roster, including Ben Prunty of FTL fame. Celeste is a masterpiece of 2D platforming, and 2D storytelling in general. Absolutely the best platformer to be released since Rayman: Origins. If only it had a 2-Player mode!

Real hurthling!
Sep 11, 2001




Little nightmares
G3F2

Ive seen it all before. Tired block pushing puzzle platforming combined with slow stealth sections.

Atmosphere is good, but its one of those games where they want you to make up a plot for their creepy world and i didnt care about anything happening.

The enemies are just fat people mostly so its not scary but there are a few great chase scenes

Controls are sluggish feeling and the near 2d perspective makes some movement in 3d space hard to judge like when you need to slide into cover but clip the edge of the hole and get stuck.

Its style over substance imho.

VideoGames
Aug 18, 2003
Uncharted G4F2

Uncharted I feel very curiously odd about and I am not sure why. I never played it originally for the PS3, so this is my experience with the remaster. I played on Easy and I was terrible but not in the normal way where I am terrible but still having fun.

For almost all of the combat I did not have fun. I did not enjoy any of it aside from a few instances where I got to use the sniper rifle to take out some other snipers who had been constantly picking me off and the little plinks from my hand gun were doing nothing.

For the story and plot, I had tremendous fun! It was a rollicking old Indiana Jones esque fun time. Nathan Drake is mega charismatic (Nolan North just exudes sex appeal on a daily basis I am sure!) and I completely bought his chemistry with Elena and friendship with Sully. Some of the beats are exactly what I would expect from a swashbuckling serial adventure and it did not disappoint!

Occasionally I would groan as I would walk through a passageway that had been undiscovered for centuries and suddenly find myself in a gun heavy combat situation yet again! "How were those guys here? I thought I was the first to open the passageway?!" I would ask myself and sigh and try to get on to the story again.

I think the best way to make this a F4 or maybe F5 would be to remove the guns completely. Have it like a Batman brawler. Indiana Jones barely every shot people, he was a fisticuffs guy through and through! I would like that. If the combat had been punching the heck out of everyone instead, I might have been able to handle it better.

I am glad I completed this and look forward to Uncharted 2!

BeanpolePeckerwood
May 4, 2004

I MAY LOOK LIKE SHIT BUT IM ALSO DUMB AS FUCK



VideoGames posted:

Uncharted G4F2

Uncharted I feel very curiously odd about and I am not sure why. I never played it originally for the PS3, so this is my experience with the remaster. I played on Easy and I was terrible but not in the normal way where I am terrible but still having fun.

For almost all of the combat I did not have fun. I did not enjoy any of it aside from a few instances where I got to use the sniper rifle to take out some other snipers who had been constantly picking me off and the little plinks from my hand gun were doing nothing.

For the story and plot, I had tremendous fun! It was a rollicking old Indiana Jones esque fun time. Nathan Drake is mega charismatic (Nolan North just exudes sex appeal on a daily basis I am sure!) and I completely bought his chemistry with Elena and friendship with Sully. Some of the beats are exactly what I would expect from a swashbuckling serial adventure and it did not disappoint!

Occasionally I would groan as I would walk through a passageway that had been undiscovered for centuries and suddenly find myself in a gun heavy combat situation yet again! "How were those guys here? I thought I was the first to open the passageway?!" I would ask myself and sigh and try to get on to the story again.

I think the best way to make this a F4 or maybe F5 would be to remove the guns completely. Have it like a Batman brawler. Indiana Jones barely every shot people, he was a fisticuffs guy through and through! I would like that. If the combat had been punching the heck out of everyone instead, I might have been able to handle it better.

I am glad I completed this and look forward to Uncharted 2!

Yeah, it can be a bit of a slog when played today, but if the character chemistry and scenery is your main draw for the series you'll thank yourself later for playing UC1. Youtubing the cutscenes just isn't the same and it doesn't invest you in Nate, Sully, Elena like playing it does. Have fun with UC2!

Real hurthling!
Sep 11, 2001




Uncharted is only a good game in a world without cinematic action platformers

That jetski section is one of the worst tuned vehicle sections in game history

The sequel is 4000x improved

Real hurthling!
Sep 11, 2001




Rime
G3f1

Rime is so far up its rear end and is incredibly padded and boring.

Long corridors of slow jogging connect the set pieces of forgettable puzzles. The game chugs like hell on ps4 in some sections too. If you play uncharted and skip all the fun parts and just did the boring linear ledge climbing thats this game.

The ending goes balls in on what might be the worst attempt at a heartbreaking twist ive ever seen.

Its not surprising that the game only lasted 9 months on the store before going ps plus i would not have bought this for more either.

WaltherFeng
May 15, 2013

50 thousand people used to live here. Now, it's the Mushroom Kingdom.
Nier: Automata 89/100

A game that lets you fully customize your controls in the menu, remove HUD for additional benefits among other things.

Anyone in the business of making games should play Nier.

GreatGreen
Jul 3, 2007
That's not what gaslighting means you hyperbolic dipshit.
I played the first Uncharted and stopped liking the combat after I shot like my third street thug directly in the eyes and mouth about four times with an AK-47 and he just shrugged it off and kept on firing at me like it was nothing.

The scenery is gorgeous, but bullet sponge enemies in an action shooter is unforgivable.

GreatGreen fucked around with this message at 08:54 on Feb 7, 2018

impure flutter
May 31, 2014

Skyrim: Special Edition is my first Elder Scrolls game and so far it's the nicest thing I've played in awhile. I'm definitely very invested and can't put it down.

A few gripes for me is that it's difficult to stay driven enough to do one questline or quests specific to the kind of character you want to run with. I have an Argonian mage and he's very overpowered, and I wanted to do the mage college questline and but since I'm bombarded with a new optional unrelated quest about every ten minutes, I've gone about ten levels without doing anything for the mage questline. In terms of freedom it's great but too much freedom has actually dampened my experience in the plot overall. It's like the game had ADHD and wants to be very immersive, but can't focus long enough to complete a sentence.

Random drops are also a little too generous. Like i said, my character is a mage with little allocated to Stamina and Health and most everything allocated to Magicka, but around level 15 I found an enchanted hammer that was stronger than any of my spells (even being a little overleveled), and since then that hammer has usurped my entire library of spells in terms of deadliness, so there's some dissonance (maybe on my part of keeping the hammer, but why sell it for 600 gold pieces when it's so useful?). Mages are by principle not supposed to tank but my mage is breaking the rules in a big way.

We here at X-Play give the game a solid 4 out of 5

Real hurthling!
Sep 11, 2001




The Sexy brutale
G3F3

A really cool idea for a game that probably needed more polish
Character animations bug out constantly, everything feels clunky, the story is hard to follow, etc but these flaws are pretty easy to overlook cause solving the murders is fun.

Real hurthling!
Sep 11, 2001




Ys8 lacrimosa of dana
G3F5

Ys games are awesome. Great boss fights fun leveling up and cool maps with lots of shortcuts and interconnectivity.

8 is as good as the others in the series despite obviously being an uprez'd vita game.

I didnt watch a single cutscene or read a single conversation though because its loving ys and you can just sub in any bad anime metaphysical plot you want. So maybe you wont like the game if you care about story idk.

A blast to play and as always the music is killer.

precision
May 7, 2006

by VideoGames
Monster Hunter World: 10/10

Once you get into the relaxing zen state of monster hunting and figure out it's not a hectic button mash fest (unless you want it to be, a couple of the weapons turn it into a Platinum game). It has cute cats all over the place one of which follows you around and tanks giant dinosaurs for you while bonking them on the head. Strong dressup game as well.

Real hurthling!
Sep 11, 2001




Theres a lot of bad decisions to hate about the game but when you get in there its very fun

Real hurthling!
Sep 11, 2001




Monster hunter world
G3f5

Finally beat it. Its really fun to play with friends but id never play it solo. Highly recommend if you got a crew.

I enjoyed hammer and light bow gun as my weapons. Both are kinda annoying to do real damage with on open ground but have super satisfying big damage bullshit you can do in the right circumstances.

Kinda disappointed that a lot of the ui and systems remain backwards as hell but i gotta give them credit for the steps they took getting this far.
The monster and map selection feels small in hindsight but thats always to be expected for a reboot of a game like this.

Provably gonna shelf it until dlc rolls out.

precision
May 7, 2006

by VideoGames
Celeste C1G5F4 (C is Chill)

Ridiculously well thought-out level design that will make you want to throw your controller, though the critical path through the game is not really that hard. But, as they say, the real Celeste begins with the fact that it comes with essentially 2 harder versions of every level, plus optional challenges to boot. It's also real cute and Theo is Best Hipster.

Real hurthling!
Sep 11, 2001




Shadow of the colossus ps4
G5f2

A beautiful monumental game that is epic and amazing but at times the most frustrating garbagefire of badly aged play control that the remake does little to help.

Pretty sure i never want to play it again.

8-Bit Scholar
Jan 23, 2016

by FactsAreUseless
The Aquatic Adventure of the Last Human

I played it on the PS4.

A very curious and kind of under-the-radar indie title that came to PSN, it's a pseudo-Metroidvania that takes place underwater and you play as a submarine. The premise is sort of Planet of the Apes-esque, a mission to space ends up traveling you through time and you crash into an earth covered in a frozen ocean.

There you explore the post apocalyptic ruins of mankind, subsumed by the sea, and fight a series of really hard boss fights against gigantic sea creatures. If you love the ocean and ocean life, there's a lot of appeal here -- you fight enemies like enormous angler fish, an octopus, and an entire school of sharks. There's a sort of Dark Souls-esque grimdark quality to it all, the bosses have names like "the Chain Gang" and "The Tranquil" and this is accompanied by some log entries that unlock as you defeat enemies, giving you a little bit of lore but mostly showcasing a somewhat unfortunately stilted translation job on the English dialogue. I feel like a few pieces of poetry probably sound better in their native German.

The gameplay is a mixed bag, ultimately, because the game really leans on being very hard and there's very little to do besides explore and fight bosses. In a way, I really like this -- the atmosphere is really punctuated by you just drifting through a murky ocean, braving dark depths without a lantern, avoiding mines, and discovering new locations. There's a good variety of zones, the visuals are pretty good, pixel graphics and an eerie soundtrack doing a lot to create a sense of a murky ocean.

Unfortunately, "murky" is the best way to describe visuals in combat, where multiple bosses actually rely on you having a physical difficulty seeing them or their attacks, because they blend into the background. One enemy explicitly utilizes this, but ironically is the easiest to actually face because it has the decency to telegraph its attacks -- some bosses are beyond frustrating with how quickly they'll kill you without you being able to see them coming. There's definitely an appeal to super masochists who love dying a bunch, but the bosses are poorly balanced in a lot of places and the limited armory and relative openness of the game means you can drift into a boss fight designed for certain upgrades and not know it.

I'd say it is pretentious and poorly balanced, the ending is a bit weak (but better than it could have been) and it leans hard on atmosphere because it's fairly shallow everywhere else...but I enjoyed it for the $15, and would certainly recommend it on sale for less than that. This is one of those games where it's got more flaws than strengths, but seems earnest and does something kind of cool. If you've binged every ocean documentary on Netflix and still hunger for more monsters of the deep, go and give this a try -- though, I'd maybe suggest playing it with a mouse instead of a controller.

6/10

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precision
May 7, 2006

by VideoGames

8-Bit Scholar posted:

The Aquatic Adventure of the Last Human

i'd never even heard of this or saw it on the PStore and i usually dig like hell for indie games

makes me think there should be a "general indie games that get no hype" thread

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