[Mentalist]

Briar King, on 21 May 2021 - 12:52 AM, said:

Wtf is a metriodvannia? I recognize two titles in that. You always bring that up Ment and it eludes me.

Guess I can always bring up that glorious DuckDuckGo and look it up. Ha

it's an "industry" term, apparently, that refers to games that play like Symphony of the Night, which was a Castlevania game that adopted a bunch of mechanics from the Metroid series--hence the hybrid name.

Basically side-scrolling platformers with varying amounts of RPG elements that feature inter-connected maps and usually involve the player gaining additional abilities throughout the game (often by beating bosses) that allow them to backtrack and access new areas and find additional secrets. Cool thing about them is that they are usually somewhat non-linear, and you have several different ways you can go through the map, fighting bosses in different order, which makes it feel a lot more "open", while still being a 100% hand-crafted experience.

It's a genre I've recently fallen in love with, because I love mapping out levels, and also getting 100% completion, and these games usually indicate how much of a given area you've explored/collected all the hidden stuff, and those percentage marks drive my lizard brain bonkers.

This post has been edited by Mentalist: 21 May 2021 - 01:25 AM

[Malankazooie]

Yep, just had to learn his pattern. After that - easy peasy, lemon squeezy. When that little slug head squirts out and chopping at it refills your healing juice,well that was just maybe too kind. Got that spell that lets me blast through shell armour, so took a few of them out. There's a trick that needs to be learned in order to replenish juice so you can take them out though, because a full tank doesn't get the job done.

This post has been edited by Malankazooie: 21 May 2021 - 06:30 AM

[Mentalist]

Malankazooie, on 21 May 2021 - 06:28 AM, said:

Yep, just had to learn his pattern. After that - easy peasy, lemon squeezy. When that little slug head squirts out and chopping at it refills your healing juice,well that was just maybe too kind. Got that spell that lets me blast through shell armour, so took a few of them out. There's a trick that needs to be learned in order to replenish juice so you can take them out though, because a full tank doesn't get the job done.

I only got through 3 bosses before I stopped, so I won't be able to help you out much anytime soon.

In other news, Fearmonium is really pretty. And the plot is messed up. Fe first feels pretty linear RN, as I'm still collecting basic abilities- the first boss gave me the slide abiity, and I'm guessing the second one will unlock double-jump.

There's also at least 3 sets of collectible sub-systems I've discovered so far that should give extra upgrades, so I'm all about exploration right now; after 4 hours played, I've got about a quarter of the map done, and I'm facing the second boss. It's not going too well.

[Aptorian]

Forgot to mention I finished Watch Dogs Legion last week.

The longer I played that game the more disillusioned I felt. I guess that's more or less the experience you get with all of Ubisoft's titles now a days. What starts out as novel game mechanics and an exciting new world to explore becomes familiar and rote as the games fail to introduce new challenges and progress beyond filling out your uncreative tech tree, which turns to tedium and frustration as the game just goes on and on and on. Far longer than is necessary which eventually turns into resentment when all you want is to finish the game.

I think the really disappointing part of the game is how shallow the recruitment system is. You can recruit literally any character in the game to DedSec except the story's villains. Which is exciting to think about until you realize that 99.9% of the citizens are suboptimal to recruit because their abilities are pointless and there's very little flavor between them.

There's little attention to what kind of character you're playing. Playing as a spy your characters dialogue will be just as stupid when interacting with MI6 officers as when you're using a football hooligan.

I would love it if they made a Legion 2 where, instead of recruiting every citizen, there's a select cast of characters spread out across the city you can recruit and to upgrade these characters you target and recruit ordinary citizens with particular abilities that your main cast can then learn and utilise. Like speed hacking, recruit a data specialist, use this character to hack something twenty times and you unlock his special skills for all your characters, etc.

In the end Watch Dogs Legion is an okay game. Just okay. It starts out as a 4/5 game that feels like a 2/5 by the end because it's just feels like factory assembly.

This post has been edited by Aptorian: 21 May 2021 - 07:30 AM

[Bapop]

Malankazooie, on 20 May 2021 - 03:37 PM, said:

Forgot I downloaded Hollow Knight for monthly games from PS +. Decided to jump in. Nice break from what I have been playing. I have the Voidheart Edition. What does that mean?

Having fun. The dying and losing all your currency (not sure what it is called in the game) and landing back at the last bench can be frustrating. There is a travel system though, but I'm just barely into it, so not sure how extensive that is. I've found the second bench, so that has been encouraging.

There obviously are upgrades to allow you access to parts that are currently impossible to get to/through, right? Like the worm child in the glass up on a ledge that my jump can''t reach, and the spikes/thorns that prevent me from jumping on platforms to another little trapped guy.

Really enjoy the visual style, and simple game mechanics.

Many of the initially unreachable places open up quite quickly. I just randomly discovered an ability that reminded me of a place I had previously thought unreachable. I appreciate how much it is like the first Dark souls in that, with time, you can walk from one part of the map to another. It's connected in a way that makes it feel more alive.

[Malankazooie]

I'm in the position now of figuring out some items I've picked up. I got one, city crest I think, that suggests it is used in the slot of that door early on, on the first map, but it doesn't seem to work. Not sure if I'm doing something wrong or I have to collect more items. I checked to see if it was an item that needs to be equipped, but no, it just sits in your inventory.

Was also informed by map guy, well a tape recording because he went to the surface I think (not sure), that a new map is in the store. Went there but I only see the same items that have been there from the start.

<sigh> bath-a-nada

[Mentalist]

2 more bosses down in Fearmonium. Got a double-jump, and super-long jump item (a scooter). Also found a lighter that lets me take down some of the barriers.

50% of the map down. After the second boss I found a "gallery" that's supposed to be my trophy room?

Way more slots there than what I've expected tbh. but that's good!

This combat is fairly basic, and the platforming isn't particularly hard. Gotta say, I'm digging the music, and, as mentioned before, the game's quite a looker.

[Aptorian]

Started up Gears of War 4.

This feels like how I remember GOW and I'm not sure that's a good thing. The character movement is so slow and cumbersome. The environment is designed around cover and high points, making the levels feel artificial. Everything about the design feels very 2010'ish.

Shooting is fun though. I imagine it's just about getting back into the groove.

[Aptorian]

Played some more and the game picks up in act 2 when a certain character from the older series shows up. Hearing lines like "My tomatoes!" while everything explodes around you was hilarious.

Some really cool action sequences. And the dreaded Enemy Helicopter makes it's return from the 2010s to star as the persistent mini-boss chasing you.

[Aptorian]

Finished Gears 4. This turned out to be a really solid third person shooter. Perhaps missing a bit in terms of creativity and variation but very entertaining.

What's less cool is a paper thin plot and an ending that's just confusing and unsatisfying. It's kinda a cliffhanger that mostly based on not explaining anything and leaving it up to the player to guess what the hell is going on.

Thankfully I've got Gears 5 lined up so I didn't have to wait four years to get more info.

[Mentalist]

72% of the map explored, 4/12 bosses down. Game's getting harder, enemy patterns are generally getting a bit trickier. Maybe it was the fact that I started this new area at around 3 AM though;


Not as much backtracking with these new powers so far; makes the later game feel more linear. That being said, I've only got like 4 out of the 21 collectables so far; I'm guessing most are tucked away behind false walls. There's an item I'm yet to find that'll make those more manageable.

Thinking I should be able to wrap this one up before the Biomutant reviews hit; that game's getting a bit of positive buzz going, so I'm pretty hopeful.

[Aptorian]

Put around 60-90 minutes into Sunset Overdrive today. Iiiiim not sure I'll continue playing this. From the coverage when it came out, I knew it had issues but after playing Crackdown 3 it just feels overly designed and slow. And that slowness is the biggest frustration.

Everything about the gameplay revolves around staying on the move. Jumping, grinding, bouncing and circling around enemies. And yet the characters movement, at least at the start of the game feels so unwieldy. There's no double jump or air dash and it would really improve the feelings of the traversal.

Think I'm going to jump into Gears 5 instead.

[Mentalist]

wrapped up Fearmonium. Took abut 30 hours in the end, because after the 5th boss in the last big area, you're basically given a boss gauntlet- "beat these 3 bosses to get the key to the next big story segment. Then use the power to access the last last hidden bits of the map before finishing the game"- type affair. The bosses are... not great. Too many rely on flooding the screen with projectiles, and while the art is totally gorgeous, and it's mind-blowing that all the artwork, writing and programming was done by a single dev (someone else did the sound and music), the downside of this rubber-hose animation style are the ridiculous hitboxes; and a lot of enemies have a tendency to drift toward you as you're hitting them, and there's no knockback effect (for them), which means you can take a lot of unnecessary hits. Also, the bosses' HP bars can get pretty long.

The story really goes places, though. Did not expect it to be this impactful.

Now downloading Biomutant, gonna give it a shot tomorrow probably.

[Morgoth]

the reviews I've read made it a clear no go for me. Bland open world, poor storytelling and shoddy writing in general. Lots of cool systems, but also lots and lots of glitches.

[Morgoth]

Subnautica though, I've taken it up on the Switch, and it's great! I really like it.

[Aptorian]

I've been thinking of jumping into subnautica as well. Not really into survival games but supposedly this is a really good one and it's free on Gamepass.

[Serenity]

As The Geofront released their English translation patch for Trails to Azure last weekend I have finally, finally, started Trails from Zero. I've been waiting to play these games for so long as they're regarded as the best in the Legend of Heroes series. They make up the Crossbell arc, which takes place about a year after the Trails in the Sky trilogy, and concurrently with Trails of Cold Steel I and II. I wanted to play them immediately after finishing the Sky trilogy, but the translations available at that point weren't so good, so I dived into Cold Steel in the hope that The Geofront would come through by the time I finished Cold Steel II and, happily, that's how it's worked out.

I'm a few hours into Trails from Zero and the job they have done is remarkable. It's every bit as good as the translations in the official releases of the Sky and Cold Steel games, if not better.

This post has been edited by Serenity: 26 May 2021 - 11:06 AM

[Morgoth]

Aptorian, on 26 May 2021 - 07:37 AM, said:

I've been thinking of jumping into subnautica as well. Not really into survival games but supposedly this is a really good one and it's free on Gamepass.

I'm also not into survival much, but to be honest the food and drink portion of this game becomes trivial very quick. Especially as swimming around hunting fish in my local reef biome is a colourful pleasure. Finding wrecks and crash sites and scanning for new schematics is fun, and building up my base is very satisfying. I shouldn't spend my titanium and glass on windows and chairs and flower pots, but I do it all the same.

[Mentalist]

Briar King, on 26 May 2021 - 04:31 AM, said:

Why are you buying it? Thought you were waiting for reviews?

I read a bunch of reviews on Monday.
None compared about it being broken on PC. And I'm ok with a mostly empty but weird open world.

The game's base price in Canada is cheaper than the US, and I tend to like games that try to do too much and end up doing no one thing really well,


Besides, I don't play that many open-world games back to back, so I'm unlikely to be struck by "open world fatigue", which is what I suspect is influencing a lot of these reviewers.

[Aptorian]

Any of you guys checked out Resident Evil Village yet? I'm too much of a coward to play scary games but I'm watching the Scary Games Squad let's play.



It's really good. Great mix of action and horror with some really cool story sequences. I was almost going to quit the playthrough after the Squad finished the first segment of the game and start it up myself. And then they started up the second game area and the game went full fucked up psychological horror and I'm definitely never going to play this by myself. Yeah, nope.

This post has been edited by Aptorian: 27 May 2021 - 09:13 AM