Show Posts

This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.


Messages - Evan_B

Pages: [1] 2 3 ... 140
1
General Gaming / Re: 4th Annual NWR Four on Four
« on: April 14, 2024, 06:48:05 PM »
…Well, I’m going to have to revise my list a little bit.

Both Signalis and Frogun have been absolutely miserable experiences, and no surprise, because both rely heavily on absolutely terrible auto-aim systems as a core part of their gameplay. I tried Frogun first, beg cause I thought somewhere in my heart that I had nostalgia for old 3D platformers. If I did, they weren’t platformers like Frogun, which crams an insane amount of collectibles in every level and expects you to pick them all up in a single go in order to earn one of its meta-emblems. Stop this. I hate it. Also, the controls are bad! Yes, the Frogun has a bad aiming mechanic and in a very time-sensitive platformer, using a static “aim yourself system” to reposition and avoid the awful auto aim is not a suitable solution. The music is incredibly grating and it makes me not want to play the game.

Then, there’s Signalis. Visually, this game is stunning, and I can’t fault it for its atmosphere… until it becomes a rip off of Silent Hill in the later hours of the first playthrough. Actually, I really don’t have a lot of sympathy for the game’s mixture of cosmic horror and sci-fi elements in general, which become a bit ham-fisted and trope-y. I am not scared by Signalis. It doesn’t fill me with dread from a narrative standpoint, only a gameplay one, because holy ****, this game’s inventory management system is a hot mess. The amount of times I’ve had to backtrack for no reason other than “I don’t have enough space for the amount of resources and puzzle keys this game has thrown at me” is obscene. I mean. There’s a puzzle that requires six keys. SIX. I would have honestly respected the game a bit more if it had the balls to make me put all of them in at the same time, but no, it’s just a slow back and forth to get them all into the right slots. Also, Signalis has a number of really decent puzzles, but it also has a tendency to do the “here’s one key that leads to another room with another key” thing. And lastly, the enemy design, which makes sense to make uniform because you’re dealing with mass-produced robots, is also very inscrutable because of the low-res graphics, which makes the very unappealing decision to have certain enemies require getting burned to really bite it (which requires another resource that takes up another slot in your inventory) very annoying and disrespectful. Oh, and apparently I’m playing the improved version? With better inventory management?!

I can’t fault Signalis for its visuals, but I sure as hell think its world-building is bland, getting away with its obscurity because… well, we as a society tend to conflate ambiguity with depth or nuance. Anyway, I also really appreciate its scope and ambition, but Anno:Mutationem is a game with just as much visual style and inscrutable narrative, and it’s ultimately more fun to play.

…So now I’m trying Bleak Sword DX. We’ll see how that goes.

2
Hey! I’m in! Khush being alive is reason enough to get involved!

3
TalkBack / Re: Enclave Comes to GameCube
« on: April 10, 2024, 04:31:40 PM »
These bots are trawling dangerous waters…

4
Nintendo Gaming / Re: Boredom and Nintendo
« on: April 10, 2024, 12:25:53 PM »
Emulation is justifiable. Piracy is not.

5
General Gaming / Re: 4th Annual NWR Four on Four
« on: April 09, 2024, 05:57:07 PM »
Hey there forum denizens! It's April and you know what that means...time to reel in those Playdates,...

I'm obviously already chronicling my backlog odyssey in another thread, but my Four on Four for this April is as follows:

Oom on Playdate....

Please tell me Oom uses the crank so that you are actually "reeling in your Pladate"  :D

It does! You angle your movement and attack trajectory by rotating the crank. It’s pretty intuitive. I’ve played a number of Playdate games that over-emphasize/hyper fixate on the crank and some that don’t use it at all. Oom is the perfect balance of every single input on the Playdate- even docking the crank does something!

6
Week 28: Current Weighted Top Twenty (as of 4/8/2024):
VVVVVV (4.47)
Roller Coaster Tycoon 2 (4.42)
UNSIGHTED (4.41)
Crawl (4.36)
Paper Mario TTYD (4.35)
Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (4.3)
The Swapper (4.28)
Inscryption (4.25)
Donkey Kong (1994) (4.25)
Roller Coaster Tycoon (Deluxe) (4.23)
Crystal Project (4.23)
Dandara (4.21)
Mr. Driller Drill Land (4.21)
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (4.19)
ARMS (4.19)
Skwish (4.17)
Tetris Effect Connected (4.16)
Kirby's Air Ride (4.15)
Pick Pack Pup (4.12)
Toree 2 (4.12)

Small games... good?

I'm really happy to have played a number of smaller titles that have allowed me to feel that I'm still progressing in my goals while also tackling larger projects. I have been working away at an "analysis" article that requires some scrutiny of a previously-played title, so in the meantime, ticking some games off of my backlog thanks to brief gameplay experiences has been a nice balancing act.

With that said, I guess I finally feel confident in saying "here for a good time, not a long time" is an adage that I can get behind, as I've found many of these shorter games to be highly impactful and memorable.

Donut County (3.82) - Loved
Entering into the top 100, Donut County is amazing. It's probably one of the easiest recommendations I could make to a potential game enthusiast of any age. Funny writing, great aesthetics, and novel little twists that keep the experience fresh in addition to brisk and lovely. A quickly digested experience, but absolutely worth it.

Paradise Killer (3.26) - Loved
This is a weird one, because as much as I really, really love the writing and world-building of this game, I think it's a bit of a mess from a design standpoint. If everything means something, this game is actually harmed by its excess- excess in collectibles, in dialogue options, in an open-world that has way too much stuffed inside it, yet still feels a bit too sterile and large for its own good. But man, what a ride. It's so satisfying... except for the one random missable secret that blows the entire plot wide open and is hidden behind heaps of alternative dialogue. Also, amazing soundtrack, but pretty terrible sound mixing, to the point where you're constantly being bombarded by irritating sound effects for doing nothing other than exploring. Such a mixed bag of good and bad, but the incredible amount of personality the game possesses helps it win out in the end.

Sonic Superstars (2.55) - Hated
Hell is playing a Sonic game in 2024.

Oom (3.91) - Loved
Another game entering into the top 100 with ease, this is proof that a simple concept and novel controls can a fun and engaging game make. Oom is rhythmic, but sometimes its exploratory. You don't always need the music in order to find success, but it can help. What also helps is the very granular control options provided by the crank, which is really the selling point of the game overall. It comes together very well even though some rooms feel a little bit redundant. Just a tiny bit.


7
General Gaming / Re: 4th Annual NWR Four on Four
« on: April 08, 2024, 08:01:34 PM »
I'm obviously already chronicling my backlog odyssey in another thread, but my Four on Four for this April is as follows:

Oom on Playdate. After a hearty recommendation on the NWR Discord and picking both it and Mars After Midnight up, I can say that this one grips me far more as a first impression- no hate on MAM, but as a game concept its a bit more laid back and abstract, and I can appreciate that, but it feels like more of a slow burn.

On Switch, I think I'm going to split the difference between Signalis and Frogun, the latter of which I already started and assume won't take me very long. Sginalis is a game I've been itching to play for a while, although the first game complete screen is apparently not the end of the full experience.

On SNES/Analogue, I'm going to set my sights on Dark Half, an obscure JRPG that received a translation patch for those unable to get their hands on its Japan-only release. It's known for having gameplay that covers both sides of a demonic conflict, with the unabashedly evil demon lord comprising half of the playable experience. It's fun consuming souls, trust me.

I'm going to end my selections with the 3DS, namely Bye Bye BoxBoy!. A simple puzzle platformer that can likely be easily completed within the month, and BoxBoy is generally fun, if not a bit one-note. Trying to stay realistic with what I can complete in the span of a month.

8
Nintendo Gaming / Re: Boredom and Nintendo
« on: April 08, 2024, 07:23:12 PM »
But if they’ll be fine, why worry?

9
Nintendo Gaming / Re: Boredom and Nintendo
« on: April 07, 2024, 02:48:11 PM »
I don't argue that we need Metroid Prime 4, but my reasons are more selfish than anything. I think, with the approaching midway point in the year, we'll get a more tangible look at what is in store for us for the Switch's final holiday season. Whether that's more ports or MP4 as a last hurrah (similar to the Wii U era, where Nintendo seemed committed to following through with their claims of "we're making a Zelda for this console, trust us") will be up to how much pressure Nintendo feels at this point to maintain momentum for Switch or keep their most loyal customers ravenous for the Switch successor.

10
Reader Reviews / Hell is Playing a Sonic game in 2024
« on: April 02, 2024, 12:54:42 AM »
Why.

Why.

Why do I do this to myself? It's past the point of morbid curiosity at this point- it has to be putrefied curiosity, or perhaps, post-mortem curiosity. Or maybe I'm just a cheap sick loser who saw Sonic Superstars on sale for 25 bucks and, after hearing the mild response it received in the form of "uh, yeah, don't get it full price but it's okay I suppose," I decided to test fate once again and throw myself into the realm of kusoge masking as some legacy franchise.

But you see, in subjecting myself to yet another form of torture, I have come out stronger. I know that Sonic can no longer hurt me. Every attempt at a new innovative 3D platforming style has failed, spectacularly, but I still held out hope for 2D Sonic. Even though Sonic Mania was frankly just kind of okay, I believed in my heart of hearts that Sonic Team could take a good hard look at what people liked from that game and maybe implement it in a new Sonic title.

So what did people like in Sonic Mania?

  • Good Art Style?
  • Good Music?
  • Clearly Defined Level Gimmicks?
  • A Lack of Pinball Mechanics every two goddamn seconds?

Sonic Superstars has none of these things. And now I know that I will never play a Sonic the Hedgehog game again.

I'm so tired of bad Mega Drive synths being used for nostalgia bait. I'm so tired of 90s zigzags and primary color menu screens. I have never cared about Fang the Sniper, and after playing this game, I never will care about Fang the Sniper. But I just can't stand the idea of spectacle over control any more.

Sonic Superstars allows you to play as "the gang," which should baffle those of us old enough to remember when Sega made a big deal about Sonic being the only playable character in Sonic the Hedgehog 4. Hey, that was garbage too, but how is Sonic Superstars in comparison? Well, it's better. Sonic actually moves like he did in the old game, which isn't like, a huge feat considering some guy managed to do it several years ago. But There's tiny little changes to other members of the cast that make this game harder to control and enjoy, though. It's weird stuff that maybe only someone who is a psychopath that played Sonic 3 and Knuckles a lot. As a big Knuckles fan, I was disappointed.

There are a few things that piss me off about Sonic Superstars. First of all, the art style is plasticky in a similar vein to New Super Mario Bros., but those games had good level design. The revolutionary new zones are all pretty awful thematically, and arguably remixes of classic level themes. Like, Mania had a train. It had a newsprint garden. It had a funky 90's themed music city. This game has... an island. A jungle. An ice. A FUCKING PINBALL "Carnival" but it's just Casino Night- apparently this gets spooky in act 2 but since the graphics have no sense of personality, it was barely noticeable. The utter lack of effort in making inventive level themes is insane.

I mean, I'm just going to go off on the art style for a second, because I cannot believe Sonic Mania beats this game from a visual standpoint. How are we living in a world where Sonic's brand has multiple excellent cases of animation formats and this is the art style they choose for the latest 2D platformer? It's definitely indicative of the developer's previous works, but I had a section planned for a dramatic reveal later in this rant, so I'm not going to mention them here. Oh, and speaking of aesthetic inconsistency, how do you make a Sonic game WHERE NONE OF THE MUSIC IS GOOD?! Sound design as a whole is migraine-inducing.

The level gimmicks in this game are always annoying because they slow things down or are just poorly designed. Some are literally worse versions of gimmicks that have existed in older games- there's rocket sections that you can't control, there's drilling sections with rocks in the sand meant to... slow you down? There's slippy slides that make you... slippy slide. There's one gimmick in zone called Press Factory that felt unique- where the floor continuously bounces you in timed intervals- but these are the rare exception in a sea of just... bland ****. But for each new gimmick and idea, there's something that has already been done, and likely even better. Too many of these gimmicks result in auto-running sequences, which is the antithesis of fun- I like when I build up speed in classic Sonic games because launching myself off of a ramp whenever I wanted was a thrilling unknown- would I even end up in a part of the level that was functional? Old Sonic games actually accounted for this. Superstars does not.

Oh, the stages are also like, seven minutes long. I hate it.

Special/bonus stages! Hey, you want to stop playing a mediocre platformer and instead play some of the most aggravating special stages ever? Okay, let's reach into the old nostalgia bag and see which one we're- what's that? Everyone loves blue spheres? Everyone would gladly do more blue spheres? There's rarely a new special mode that's better than blue spheres? Oh, let's bring back the rotating mazes from Sonic 1 that sucked and give them more cheap gimmicks and then create a web-slinging emerald chase game that is never explained thoroughly in any way and is extremely frustrating! Whoo!

What's worse is that, if you fail the rotating mazes, you just keep doing the same one over and over. And you might say "well, that way you can practice them and get better!" They are not fun. They give you a bad in-game currency that you can use to by costumes, because apparently that's why people play Sonic games.

"But what about the Emerald Powers, Evan? I was promised Emerald Powers! I deserve Emerald Powers!" They too are also bad, and because the stage design is so bad, developer Arzest (of Yoshi's New Island fame!) decided to telegraph when exactly you should use them, because they also only recharge every time you hit a goalpost checkpoint so god forbid you want to experiment with them all over. Oh, also many of them are stupid and highly situational and once activated will help you complete a very simple challenge and then they will last entirely too long. Like, sometimes the telegraphed "use (x) Emerald Power here!" indicator pops up, you use the power, and you just... get a medal. The only challenge was actively selecting one of these tools. God, it sucks so bad.

I should mention that you get about 3-5 second of inactivity when you transition from a special/bonus stage, which is a minor inconvenience that really adds up.

The bosses. Dear god, where to begin? Some are painfully long, some have weaknesses that utilize mechanics that are never telegraphed throughout the entire fight, and some will just... kill you randomly for no reason. I'll be honest, the malice that fuels this rant was started by a mini-boss in Golden Capital, which is a giant rampaging piggy bank that... steals all of your rings at the start of the battle. I'm sorry, what? Why would you do that? How is that fun? Every obstacle it throws at you can just instantly kill you. Since so many bosses have brief periods of vulnerability, also, and the game is really bad at letting you know which bosses this applies to and which do not. See, Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze got away with having long, insane boss battles because it was a good game. Sonic Superstars is not.

I did not finish Sonic Frontiers because, at a certain point, I knew what the rest of the game would be, and my obsessive compulsive tendencies would not allow me to do anything less than clear each of the game's bad open-zones of all their collectibles. I frankly thought that would be a waste of my time. But I just stopped playing Sonic Superstars because I wasn't having fun. Like, I don't need to be good at a game in order to have fun- I beat the entirety of Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze and got my ass handed to me the entire time. I played Sonic Colors and was happy to return to stages because they were small and short and offered easily telegraphed goals.

I just gave up. I have no will to continue. If Sega refuses to put any effort into Sonic games, why should I?

It's funny that Sonic Superstars came out the same year as Super Mario Bros. Wonder, because I have done everything in my power to avoid playing both of them because I wasn't sure I could justify a 60 dollar platformer. But I know deep in my soul that I would probably feel better after playing Wonder at full price much more than Superstars at 25 bucks. But that's just a theory- a game etc. etc.

I gotta end this review on a banger zinger like last year's review. Dear god, I can't believe I did this same thing last year. Uh, okay, here it goes:

Play Toree 3D, Toree 2, Toree Genesis, or the upcoming Toree Saturn. They understand Sonic the Hedgehog better than anything Sega has put out in the last decade.

**** this.

11
Nintendo Gaming / Re: Boredom and Nintendo
« on: March 31, 2024, 10:41:46 AM »
Maybe it’s just me, but industry trends are so depressing and Nintendo’s technical issues on the Switch are so baffling that I find myself defaulting to indie titles instead. It’s why my library has ballooned (well, many review copies, too) and honestly so much more enjoyable. Not every game needs to be a 60-70 dollar 500-hour nightmare with bad industry practices baked in, and indie releases usually put some degree of effort into optimizing for platforms in the hopes of making a good impression.

It’s likely why I’m not qualified to participate in this discussion, but also why I find these takes on the Switch so baffling. I mean, yes, the hardware construction/design and overall UI is embarrassing and it will take some considered effort on Nintendo’s part to convince me of an upgrade if they’re going to use the same design philosophy as the Switch, but aside from the toppest of tiers in Nintendo’s library (and not even that sometimes), I’ve found the system to be best for portable, reasonably-sized games.

12
General Chat / Re: Faceball 2000 Part 3: Faceball 2024 in Milwaukee
« on: March 24, 2024, 11:48:33 PM »
Incredible.

13
Nintendo Gaming / Re: Boredom and Nintendo
« on: March 24, 2024, 07:24:11 PM »
It sounds like you have very particular tastes in games, and while Nintendo satisfies your proclivities for some, you don't always feel that your tastes are satisfied on a yearly basis.

No platform is wholly represented by its first-party releases, though it might have seemed as such during the N64 and GCN years. The Switch has had an incredibly healthy third party and indie scene, with many games filling the void left by your Fire Emblems and Pokemons and Metroids and whatever. And we're not just talking about old ports to new systems, either.

Asking for recommendations might result in some hidden gems that you may have overlooked.

14
Nintendo Gaming / Re: Gods Will Fall - Buyer Beware
« on: March 19, 2024, 01:39:22 PM »
THAT’S GETTIN’ A “honk!” FROM ME

15
Nintendo Gaming / Re: What will Nintendo release in 2024?
« on: March 14, 2024, 10:35:58 AM »
Oh and this right here.  It's funny how in every previous gen people bitched non-stop about the lack of third party support on Nintendo systems, but now when the Switch has had great third party support, many Nintendo fans seem to completely ignore it.  The third party support the Switch had in the first half of this year alone, is already better than the support we'd have in entire years in the past.  Just look at the Nintendo Direct reaction on some of the more Nintendo centric forums last September when a lot of these great third party titles were first announced.  Some people were literally saying it was the worst Direct ever, worse then even the ones from the 3DS and Wii U era that literally had only a handful of games shown and Nintendo having to talk about other **** just to fill up time.

This gen has really shown that a lot of the Nintendo hardcore really don't care about anything that isn't the big Nintendo guns like Mario Platformer, Zelda, Pokemon, Smash Bros, because so many great games get completely ignored by them.  Hell, some still ignore Splatoon despite the fact Splatoon 2 and 3 are both 10 million plus sellers.

It's like anything that's not directly related to the N64 and Gamecube era of Nintendo doesn't count, since that's when so many of them first came online to talk about Nintendo games and are permanently stuck in the early 2000's.
Go off, go off.

16
Nintendo Gaming / Re: What will Nintendo release in 2024?
« on: March 13, 2024, 08:52:52 AM »
2024 feeling dry asf already. If we don't get a general nintendo direct in april like the rumors said then that's going be sooo bad.
Oh no! The software lineup of a seven year old console is lower in the year before its successor is released!

17
Week 24: Current Weighted Top Twenty (as of 3/12/2024):
VVVVVV (4.47)
Roller Coaster Tycoon 2 (4.42)
UNSIGHTED (4.41)
Crawl (4.36)
Paper Mario TTYD (4.35)
Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (4.3)
The Swapper (4.28)
Inscryption (4.25)
Donkey Kong (1994) (4.25)
Roller Coaster Tycoon (Deluxe) (4.23)
Crystal Project (4.23)
Dandara (4.21)
Mr. Driller Drill Land (4.21)
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (4.19)
ARMS (4.19)
Skwish (4.17)
Tetris Effect Connected (4.16)
Kirby's Air Ride (4.15)
Pick Pack Pup (4.12)
Toree 2 (4.12)

Another month, another slow step of progress. I feel like I need to do better than a game a week. This batch of additions has me pondering at what point I can really rank a game- I think it depends on how confident I am in having experienced its "loop," especially since some games long overstay their welcome for the sake of justifying their price. In any case, with no changes on the top 20 list, here's an overview of what I've played:

Firewatch (3.45) - Meh
Wow, with such a strong start and really compelling gameplay, I'm honestly surprised how quickly this game fizzles out in its conclusion. This is a game I'm very curious to replay, as I want to see how changes in behavior affect the dialogue, but knowing the truths behind the narrative, I find it hard to muster any enthusiasm.

Alba: A Wildlife Adventure (3.54) - Liked
Now this is a charming adventure. I love the proliferation of short, open-world games with strong narrative theming, and although Alba's controls sometimes get in the way, its environmentalist theming and infectious do-gooder attitude are more than enough to sell the whole experience. Not a great deal of complexity, but a satisfying, short title on the whole.

No Man's Sky (2.83) - Meh
Well, I definitely didn't complete an entire run of this game, but I did get pretty deep into an expedition before I realized that, while this game is addictive and contemplative, the moment-to-moment gameplay is better served in something like Minecraft, and no amount of alien lore breadcrumbing or retro sci-fi aesthetic can mask the relatively shallow mechanics. This is also an example of a game being lower ranked thanks to the Switch, which really can't handle the graphics and complexity of this game with any degree of grace. I'd love to give this a more earnest try on better hardware, but I can't imagine that happening.

Tenderfoot Tactics (3.33) - Loved
This game is equal parts bite-sized tactics skirmishes and contemplative, transportive exploration, and it's a great example of a game I love that isn't necessarily highly ranked. I fully acknowledge that this game is a bit bloated and not all that elegant, but honestly, walking through its surreal landscapes and situating myself with the weird in-game maps is more than enough to satisfy me. Do I think it could be done better? Yeah, but I'm not complaining.

Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince (3.22) - Liked
I have a great deal of nostalgia for the Dragon Quest Monsters games on the Game Boy. So when I picked this up, I was hoping it would update that experience for modern hardware and sensibilities. It does that in the way that Dragon Quest always seems to do things. Take that as a compliment or an insult.


18
Atlus gonna Atlus, sadly.

19
I was not really sure what this was. Is it DLC for SMT5?
Looks like an enhanced/complete version akin to Persona 5 Royal, or more directly: Shin Megami Tensei IV Apocalypse.

New content, rebalanced mechanics, etc.

20
Nintendo Gaming / Re: What will Nintendo release in 2024?
« on: February 21, 2024, 12:07:00 PM »
Either Madness Khush was aware of the rumored Endless Ocean announcement or he’s just that damn good.

Kind of embarrassed about the lack of Hi Fi Rush today. One game we all know is making it isn’t even mentioned.

EDIT: Further embarrassed by the Xbox press release that deconfirms Hi Fi Rush on Switch. DAMN! I’m stupid.

21
TalkBack / Re: A Message from Miyamoto
« on: February 20, 2024, 09:07:25 AM »
Damn, this really takes me back.

22
Nintendo Gaming / Re: What will Nintendo release in 2024?
« on: February 19, 2024, 09:16:54 PM »
…Does a partner showcase still count as a direct? Otherwise my Hi Fi Rush prediction isn’t gonna net me full points…

23
Nintendo Gaming / Re: What will Nintendo release in 2024?
« on: February 18, 2024, 04:05:11 PM »
To be fair, some of the best selling games on the switch are wii u ports, so there's some logic to nintendo not bringing back backwards compatibility so that people double dip. Not saying it's likely to happen but it still could.
Yeah, but that’s because nobody got those games on Wii U.

24
Nintendo Gaming / Re: Not a hater but... (future prediction)
« on: February 15, 2024, 06:02:53 PM »
Plus, the 3DS had an insanely miserable launch and still managed to be a success overall. I find that wild, but it’s pretty cool.

25
Nintendo Gaming / Re: The OFFICIAL Big N rumor thread *bring your own salt*
« on: February 12, 2024, 10:05:25 AM »
This says that Switch 2 will have physical and digital backwards compatibility
and that Devs can "enhance" Switch 1 games on the Switch 2
https://universonintendo.com/rumor-proximo-hardware-da-nintendo-tera-retrocompatibilidade-fisica-e-digital-com-jogos-do-switch/

I'm assuming that will be higher frame rates, cleaner textures, higher rez output?
The backwards compatibility would be lovely, if true. But I find the backwards enhancements a bit suspect. It has to be a dev-side thing, right? Like, the system can’t possibly perform such actions itself.

Pages: [1] 2 3 ... 140