Author Topic: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?  (Read 505555 times)

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Offline Adrock

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Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
« Reply #1025 on: February 21, 2021, 04:06:12 PM »
Untitled Goose Game (Switch)



I snagged this on sale in December then just didn’t even boot it up as I’m wont to do. I haven’t been playing video games lately with a pretty big project at work just taking up a ton of time and brain energy so when I unwind, I’ve been opting for streaming video as opposed to anything I have to actively participate in.

That said, Untitled Goose Game was perfect for where I am mentally. It’s a very short game, only took about an hour and a half to complete everything on the to-do list except the time trial ones which I probably won’t go back and complete. There’s no reward and no game over. Just a nice, mostly stress-free puzzle/stealth game which quite honestly, was good for a change. Video games are supposed to be fun, and when I notice myself getting frustrated with a game, I often turn it off once I start feeling like I’m not getting the joy I wanted or expected.
« Last Edit: February 21, 2021, 05:01:55 PM by Adrock »

Offline MagicCow64

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Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
« Reply #1026 on: March 10, 2021, 08:25:28 PM »
The Outer Wilds (PC):

I first tried this game many moons ago, but dropped it pretty quickly after finding it overwhelming and kind of tactilely nauseating. But it's held in such high regard, I eventually went back to it and forced myself to get used to the physics and absorb the scope.

I have fairly mixed feelings. On paper, it's an extremely cool idea, creating a Groundhog's Day loop within a clockwork solar system. In reality, it kind of sucked to play a lot of the time and lacked a rewarding sense of interaction/progress.

I feel like, given the pretty strict constraints of the game, they tuned it way too hard in favor of dexterity-based challenges with the extremely touchy boosters. This is exacerbated by the varying gravity between different planetoids (or lack thereof), which keeps you from ever really getting a solid intuitive grip on what's going to happen when you have to make risky maneuvers.

There's also the additional bottleneck of stingy oxygen and fuel tanks, which is simply never fun. This is even an area where they could have introduced persistent progress into the game. Like, keep it possible to finish the run from the very beginning, but allow you to expand your tanks to make the game less frustrating as you go and reward non-critical exploration, of which there is a ton. You might say that this wouldn't work with the time-reset structure, but they already fudge that with the ship's computer somehow keeping track of all your notes, so I'm sure they could have just folded that in (alien knowledge allows your system to become more efficient, e.g.)

It was perhaps unavoidable given the nature of the game, but I also felt it did a not-great job of guiding your progress. It felt like things were either rubbed in your face or way too opaque, BUT with a healthy dose of "am I really supposed to do [thing] or am I just not getting it?"

I'll list some spoilered examples of points in the game where I consulted the internet out of annoyance:



-QUESTION: Can I land on the sun station or do I have to use the blocked teleporter somehow? ANSWER: You can land on the sun station but it's really hard, better to use the teleporter.

Great . . .

POINT AWARDED TO: Me. I got close to landing and could have done it. 


-Q: Is there a hidden entrance in the rocks around the sun station teleporter that can only be found as the sand drains at a certain point, or am I supposed to jet pack around the cactuses inside the top of the tower? A: You can jet pack through the cactuses, but it's much easier to walk through as the sand drains at a certain point.

Great . . .

POINT AWARDED TO: Me. I got close to jet packing through the cactuses and could have done it.


-Q: Am I missing something about how to get to the quantum cave, or do I really need to blunder through those catacombs like two minutes after the loop starts before the sand buries them? A: Blunder through those caves.

Great . . .

POINT AWARDED TO: Me. I watched a video of the correct path because I didn't want to waste more time restarting the loop and landing on the twin, but I could have done it.


-Q: Can I use the gravity well to slingshot up into the tower of quantum knowledge or do I have to sit inside of it waiting for it to fall into the blackhole? A: You have to shoot a probe in and then use that signal to find the tower in space after it falls through the black hole.

POINT AWARDED TO: Me. You can just sit inside of it as it falls into the black hole.


-Q: Do I have to navigate through that pack of anglerfish to get to the glowing orange orb inside the bramble meteor to find the missing explorer or am I missing something? A: You're supposed to use the music signal to find the explorer elsewhere in that space.

POINT AWARDED TO: Game. I forgot about the signal tracker. BUT you do have later navigate through those fucking fish, in a really critical context.


-Q: What the **** is going on on the quantum moon surface? I'm in the north pole placement of the shrine, but it's not warping me to the eye of the universe. A: That's not the north pole placement, the geography of the moon changes based on what planetoid it's orbiting.

POINT AWARDED TO: Game. Well goddamnit, I was pretty close to the north pole and I didn't bother going back outside to check the landscape because I had already landed on the moon twice on the same orbit and didn't realize it changed.


-Q: How do I get inside the giant storm on the water planet? Do I have to blitz it from space? A: You can blitz it from space or get up from the under the current layer in the ocean.

POINT AWARDED TO: Draw. I tried both methods and didn't think either was possible.


-Q: How the **** do I get into the Ash Twin project? Is there some secret entrance to a teleporter you can only find at a certain point of sand exchange on either of the two planetoids? A: You have to wait for the "eye of the storm" of the sand funnel to pass over that teleporter building and then run in.

POINT AWARDED TO: Game. Although this is bullshit. There's no reason to think that the sand funnel works by "tornado" rules rather than being a solid column. You can apparently fudge this by running over right as it moves past or by blasting down-thrusters, but I tried both methods and didn't think it was possible. Ultimately this is the only progress-related thing that I'm sure I wouldn't have futzed out on my own, but completely critical and egregiously poorly designed.



So, as you can see, the game fostered an unease in which I was reluctant to waste time "challenging" myself with the puzzle structure, because there was good odds it wasn't even a puzzle. But because I broke and looked these things up, it didn't feel like I had holistically overcome these hurdles, even though I would've figured it out/brute forced my way eventually (aside from the last example).

I spent a lot of time engaging with the game's logic and systems, and ultimately came away with a bit of bitter taste in my mouth, despite my deep inclination toward liking this type of project. Kind of a like a bad relationship! 



« Last Edit: March 10, 2021, 08:37:07 PM by MagicCow64 »

Offline Order.RSS

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Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
« Reply #1027 on: March 14, 2021, 12:42:02 PM »
Bummer about Outer Wilds, I've generally only seen positive things about it so this is a useful new perspective. Will still probably get it if the Switch port is okay, to see for myself. Like you say, I'm all-in on the concept, but yeah first person gameplay in a low-G environment does sound like a recipe for nausea.

Offline GK

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Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
« Reply #1028 on: March 15, 2021, 01:20:14 PM »
Assault Android Cactus(PC)

Finally took out the final boss after a year or so of trial, error, & procrastination. Easily one of my fav twin-shooters. Not sure if I'll commit myself to getting an S+ Rank on every single stage or even bother with the new campaign+, but I may chase a few achievements between making sure I stay on top of my friends leaderboard.

Now if only I can get Steam's Remote Play Together working so I can try co-op...
Mission...complete?

Offline Order.RSS

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Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
« Reply #1029 on: March 15, 2021, 03:44:20 PM »
Assault Android Cactus(PC)

Finally took out the final boss after a year or so of trial, error, & procrastination. Easily one of my fav twin-shooters. Not sure if I'll commit myself to getting an S+ Rank on every single stage or even bother with the new campaign+, but I may chase a few achievements between making sure I stay on top of my friends leaderboard.

Now if only I can get Steam's Remote Play Together working so I can try co-op...

Nice! The last boss is so difficult without the Shotgun character. Really cool game, I was best with Starch (laser + homing missiles) most of the game, but couldn't do the last boss with Starch. Wanna say Coral was the slow Shotgun class right?

Offline GK

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Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
« Reply #1030 on: March 16, 2021, 12:09:11 AM »
Assault Android Cactus(PC)

Finally took out the final boss after a year or so of trial, error, & procrastination. Easily one of my fav twin-shooters. Not sure if I'll commit myself to getting an S+ Rank on every single stage or even bother with the new campaign+, but I may chase a few achievements between making sure I stay on top of my friends leaderboard.

Now if only I can get Steam's Remote Play Together working so I can try co-op...

Nice! The last boss is so difficult without the Shotgun character. Really cool game, I was best with Starch (laser + homing missiles) most of the game, but couldn't do the last boss with Starch. Wanna say Coral was the slow Shotgun class right?

Yeah, that's her. I used Lemon(spreader gun) for the majority of the game, including the final boss. I actually needed Coral to defeat that security boss, Judge.
Mission...complete?

Offline MagicCow64

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Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
« Reply #1031 on: May 20, 2021, 07:03:59 PM »
Paper Mario: The Origami King (Switch):

I am not a Paper Mario originalist who demands that Nintendo reiterate the 1,000-Year Door. In fact, my favorite game in the franchise is Super Paper Mario, and I'm perfectly happy to see what new approaches IS cooks up for each new entry. That said, I skipped Sticker Star based on poor reviews, as well as Color Splash, which didn't seem to deviate enough from that annoying-sounding formula.

But Origami King had a pretty warm response from what I saw, jettisoning the purely disposable combat item system, so I decided to dip back in.

It's . . . okay.

It looks great, it plays smoothly, if a touch on the pokey side. I enjoyed boinking around the environments in a mildly Luigi's Mansion-ish fashion, digging up toads and treasures. There's also a surprising amount of variety in the adventure gameplay department, though nothing too individually mindblowing.

Less successful is the meat-and-potatoes combat. I just don't really care for the brain-teaser format of the ring system, which always felt either completely obvious or impossible for me to figure out in the allotted time. It's telling that the game rewards you for solving the puzzles with one-round fights and punishes you for failing them by making you engage in this system for longer. Nor is there really any meaningful leveling up, equipment, or other standard RPG components that help keep the mook fights interesting. By the end of the game, I was doing my utmost to avoid non-mandatory encounters and would groan out loud when I tripped into one.

But, weirdly enough, the boss fights are generally really good, tense and engaging, always introducing new wrinkles into the formula that you have to learn on the fly (man, **** those scissors). I would have been perfectly happy if the only time the ring system came into play was during those boss fights and maybe the odd hand-crafted mook roadblock with non-randomized layouts.

Really, though, the game overall seems barely interested in its traditional RPG vestiges. Like, there's even a completely real-time category of enemies, including bosses. I wouldn't be surprised if the developers wanted to jettison the menu-based combat altogether, as they did with their best game, SPM. I hope the next title is freed to become a full-on gonzo Nintendo take on the adventure genre, though with the demise of the Mario and Luigi series that seems unlikely.

Finally, regarding story/character/writing junk, which I guess has more salience in an RPG, it's nothing to write home about. The core plot is perfunctory and the weird insistence on mostly generic toad characters definitely holds the game back from developing any particularly interesting scenarios or interactions. The tropishly naive origami gal is pretty dull, and the non-koopa companions are likewise fairly bland (though the game earns points for the end of "Bobby's" involvement). The odd line of random toad dialogue is funny, but otherwise little of the story's presentation or content is memorable. Not a big deal for me, but definitely room for improvement.

I'd say a solid 7.5/10 game, and a marked improvement on the last Mario RPG I played (Dream Team), even if it's barely an RPG.
« Last Edit: May 20, 2021, 07:32:01 PM by MagicCow64 »

Offline MagicCow64

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Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
« Reply #1032 on: July 03, 2021, 09:28:30 PM »
Metroid: Samus Returns (3DS):


I finally got curious enough after the Dread announcement to give this a shot, despite my misgivings about the studio and bouncing off Mirror of Fate.

On the front of things, I was impressed by the "game feel", which alleviates some of my concerns coming out of the Castlevania attempt. Samus feels very snappy and fluid and you can really fly through the environments as you accrue upgrades.

I also appreciate that they kept far more of the original Metroid II design bones than I was expecting. For the most part it sticks to the hivey ethos of the progenitor, where you're digging through discrete zones to root out the Metroids within, weird blotchy distribution of upgrades and all. The only significant deviation I noted was the digging machine stuff, which was pretty bad, but the extra stuff in AM2R I think is arguably worse and more bolted-on feeling. (Funny, though, that both approaches felt the need to insert an annoying robot boss.)

Well, also the final Ridley fight, which was actually challenging if a bit too protracted. Actually, now that I'm thinking about it, I think the final Metroid variant is also different from the original, and more obnoxious, but it was probably the right call to switch it up.

Visually it looks okay-ish; a bit bland as most 2.5d games like this tend to be, but Samus herself looks good. Definitely limited by the hardware, so I'm hopeful the final Dread product will benefit from higher fidelity.

BUT

Goddamn does the counter system suck, worse than I anticipated. It isn't just an optional thing that speeds up combat, it infects nearly every enemy interaction. Almost all the varmints have obnoxious charge moves that you can't ignore. You just have constant organic missiles firing at you at all times, and it sucks. The freeze beam is so weak and short-lived that it's equally annoying to freeze enemies and smash them with the counter as it is to just counter normally. Every beam strength upgrade you get is matched with redder variants of the same enemies that are just as spongy, and commonly even invincible without countering. And they do outrageous damage.

Like, in the context of this particular game, I can see the counter thing being welcome in terms of the Metroid fights and rewarding knowledge and skill to shorten the encounters, but as a blanket mechanic is absolutely blows, and I don't know why Nintendo okayed it.

I also do not at all care for the aether system, or whatever it's called. I did not want another meter to babysit in this context, and it seemed to directly contribute to the sponginess of many of the enemies. The shield ability is okay as a fallback when you're low on health, but the mapping ability in particular is baffling. You get it very early on and it just totally takes the wind out of exploration. You can just find everything automatically and there's no reason not to. Maybe this would have been okay as a late game thing, but as it is it totally neuters one of the core pleasures of this style of game. I really don't know what they were thinking with this, other than feeling like they needed to layer on a bunch of missile upgrades with lame lock-and-key solutions that would not be at all fun to discover organically only to realize that you just had to come back later lay a super bomb.

So overall, very mixed on this remake. I would probably prefer it over AM2R if it wasn't for the tedious combat. I think in the end the original Gameboy game is pound-for-pound better, more impressive and atmospheric. And, I think, absolutely playable.
« Last Edit: July 03, 2021, 09:32:45 PM by MagicCow64 »

Offline Adrock

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Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
« Reply #1033 on: July 18, 2021, 02:21:47 AM »
Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury (Switch)

I started with Bowser's Fury. It was really good and definitely helped justify double dipping (I was going to wait for a drop to $40 then settled for $45). I ran into a couple bugs. When I was at 48 Cat Shines, Fury Bowser wouldn't go away no matter what I did. I had to collect two more Cat Shines while Fury Boswer was raining fire then was forced into the "final" boss fight. The camera and controls during the Fury Bowser fights were pretty bad.

I finally beat the final two stages in Super Mario 3D World (Mystery Box Marathon and Champion's Road) and all I had to do was buy the game again after seven years. It's still good even if it feels a little dated. The limited camera mostly worked. When it didn't though...

Also, some of the Green Stars were infuriatingly difficult to obtain. I wanted 100% completion which is absolutely not going to happen because I forgot you need to clear each stage with every character. Will I replay every stage four more times including the aforementioned and obscenely difficult Mystery Box Marathon and Champion's Road?
« Last Edit: July 18, 2021, 01:59:41 PM by Adrock »

Offline Adrock

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Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
« Reply #1034 on: July 25, 2021, 12:19:21 AM »
No More Heroes (Switch)

I got the Limited Run Games physical release.

This game did not age gracefully. Much of the humor didn't hold up under a 2021 lens. Maybe I found it funny when I first played the game in my early-mid 20s. At 37, it was mostly intolerable. I remember liking Travis Touchdown as a character except he's kind of a ****. Additionally, models for the red shirts and NPCs walking around Santa Destroy are pretty bad even for a 2008 Wii game. The graphics in general are extremely dated despite the art style and everything seemed darker, particularly the shadows.

The story was nonsense. I don't know how much of it was intentionally nonsense or something Suda51 would claim was intended to be nonsense if anyone called him out on it. Travis' primary motivation was apparently to sleep with Sylvia (as she promised once he became the top assassin) but also revenge he didn't remember he wanted until the very end of the game. Also, he won his beam katana in an online auction yet somehow is a world class assassin who "lives for killing" except the entire United Assassins Association was merely an elaborate con cooked up by Sylvia so Travis could kill his half-sister, Jeane, for killing his parents (statute of limitations on spoilers has expired). Jeane's backstory was also weirdly dark. If it was a con, why would so many people act like the UAA was a thing and subsequently put themselves in a position to get murdered. No More Heroes doesn't commit to anything, and it was difficult to parse out what was even happening within its narrative. Maybe that was the point. I don't know. I guess it's better to simply ignore all of that.

The gameplay mostly holds up, the driving simulator in the overworld and a few minigames notwithstanding. The fighting is a little mindless but I still liked it. I started the game using the Joy Cons. Despite barely using them, the left Joy Con began to drift. *lose horn* That said, I played most of the game using the Pro Controller, and it was... better. I lauded the original release for its motion controls yet I only went back to the Joy Cons for a couple missions that practically required it.

My main issue with this port is that Suda51/Grasshopper Manufacture made very few quality of life improvements besides 60 FPS and a resolution bump to 720p. The frame rate in the open world was absolutely horrendous.

No More Heroes' greatest sin was how little it respected the player's time, and the port, unfortunately, did not fix this. There are still no "Retry" and "Restart Mission" options. If you fail or know you are going to fail, you have to sit through the loading screens to leave the mission and reenter the Mission then click through the intro every time. And you can pass certain Assassination Gigs, but it's kind of not worth it unless you get a Gold rating because some are so difficult. If you do manage to pass, you have to drive all the way back to K-Entertainment, accept the gig again then drive back to the location actually play it. Y'all had 13 years and couldn't be bothered to fix that. Come on, man.

I don't think I'll play this game again though I don't regret revisiting it/double dipping. I'll probably play a palate cleanser game before jumping into the sequel. I would like to finish that as well as Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes before playing No More Heroes III.

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Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
« Reply #1035 on: July 29, 2021, 05:20:30 AM »
No More Heroes (Switch)

This game did not age gracefully. Much of the humor didn't hold up under a 2021 lens. Maybe I found it funny when I first played the game in my early-mid 20s. At 37, it was mostly intolerable. I remember liking Travis Touchdown as a character except he's kind of a ****.

The story was nonsense. I don't know how much of it was intentionally nonsense or something Suda51 would claim was intended to be nonsense if anyone called him out on it.

No More Heroes' greatest sin was how little it respected the player's time, and the port, unfortunately, did not fix this. There are still no "Retry" and "Restart Mission" options. If you fail or know you are going to fail, you have to sit through the loading screens to leave the mission and reenter the Mission then click through the intro every time.

Thanks for this write-up!
Having never played the series myself, I've seen some people say NMH1 "deliberately wastes players' time" with the mindless overworld chores, to make... Some sort of point about how a daily grind may be boring and slow, but is more profitable/useful for progressing than the move-fast-and-break-stuff approach of the assassination lifestyle? Did you get that impression at all, or nah?

Travis did always strike me as an arrogant idiot meant to represent the worst player impulses. The type of person who has been conditioned by anime and games to think the world revolves around them, sees women as targets/objectives to unlock, and sees violence as a natural conduit for conflict resolution. Always assumed that was the central idea behind the No More Heroes title, but maybe I'm wildly off the mark there?

Offline MagicCow64

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Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
« Reply #1036 on: September 08, 2021, 09:22:22 PM »
12 Minutes (PC):

I'd heard of this game in fits and snatches over the years and was very interested in the concept. I've thought for a long time that the adventure game genre could take a big leap forward with more contained and more interactive experiences. A time loop was a great opportunity to explore a new direction.

Unfortunately, it kind of sucks. This is probably the only game I'd rate a 5/10 and still recommend enthusiasts to check out. It's a kinda fascinating study of what could have been.

Given that this game was in the works for like five years, I have to assume that the gravity of the task, creating a 10-minute Groundhog's Day, was ultimately outside the scope of what they could achieve. That's either a troubling comment on the possibilities of interactive entertainment, or a big failure from the team.

It's easy to come up with possibilities on one hand that the game logically should have explored, but didn't or couldn't. Instead, the game feels very constricted within a constricted space. A few quality-of-life improvements, like a ZTD time map, or even a macro recording ability or a rewind, would have rendered the game absolutely trivial, which is probably why they didn't include them.

But someone should actually address this concept in a more compelling and articulated fashion! It's one of the unexplored possibilities of games!

Offline azeke

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Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
« Reply #1037 on: November 21, 2021, 12:49:26 PM »
Let's catch-up.

The Room Three: (Steam)

More of the same -- more boxes, more rooms, more elaborate puzzles and doohickeys to twist, turn and pull. But with expanded scale the series already pushing the limit with how much time you have to spend walking between rooms compared to actual puzzling.

Game goes further into horror element and now has several endings. Thankfully story branches out just at the end you only need to replay the very last part to see all endings.

Devil May Cry 5: (Xbox One, Steam)



DMC5 is probably my favourite game of the last 5 years. I rarely buy new games and those that i do buy i barely play (at least within that first year). DMC5 really is the only exception. I kept coming back to it and enjoyed the process of getting 100% on it so much i did it twice -- on Xbox and Steam.

5 improves on everything i wanted to be improved on. Side-dodges finally became viable for dodging with more fluid animation. New air-taunts are great for both style and movement. Swords moveset unified across Nero and Dante, Dante has lots of fun new weapons, Nero feels much better to play.

Nero's mechanical arms weren't not game-breakers i thought they might be. Because arms break as you use them, you will have to plan ahead which arms to equip if you're going for S-ranks or in the Bloody Palace because certain arms are way better for certain enemies. And Nero gets even more abilities after finishing the game, improving the mobility and combat further still.

Dante's new weapons are fun. Ice nunchucks from DMC3 are back and gained two new elementals powers. New gauntlets have their own dodging, parrying and even style switching mechanics. Dante can dual wield 2 rocket launchers or swing a bike like weapon, even a hat turns into a weapon in Dante's hands. But the biggest upgrade is a new sword which allows Dante to create and control sword shards around him and more importantly -- tap into Sin Devil Trigger. Sin Devil Trigger is the epitome of "stupidly overpowered but fun". At first i thought this turns DMC into something like MMO where you're just waiting until gauge for your ultra move fills up and then you just activate it destroying everyone, but then i learned about Quadruple SSS.

Quadruple SSS is now my favourite action game mechanic since Bayonetta's Dodge Offset. Not only it allows to turn into badass demon for a few seconds mid combo, it also cancels nearly everything. It is a fantastic option to get out of lengthy recovery animations like the one after shooting a huge laser from double rocket launchers.

The only bad thing in DMC5 is lock-on which is bafflingly bad and inconsistent, especially compared to previous entries. DMC4 had a setting to control how game locks-on to enemies -- they removed it in 5 for some reason and instead lock-on is completely random at times. Way too often i pressed lock-on expecting it to latch on to the enemy i was fighting but game instead locked-on to a random bat across the arena. It is really puzzling how bad it is -- they polished every other aspect of the combat to a mirror sheen but lock-on is not just busted -- it's the worst in entire series.

S-ranking all the levels was quite a challenge, especially on DMD. DMC5 has lots of overpowered weapons (Dante's hat and Sin Devil Trigger and Nero's arm breakers) so it's doable with some planning. "Hell and Hell" mode that kills you on in one hit was actually easier than i thought because you still have 3 retries to finish the level and you get S-rank automatically with "No damage" bonus.

Vergil is back too and fittingly -- is more overpowered than ever before. Stupid bullshit from DMC4SE is gone: Vergil can trick down normally again and character plays way better.

Completing 100 floors of Bloody Palace without dying took me a while. Specific floors are very dangerous, especially later ones and require planning and/or training, especially the ones with Fury enemy (red lizard that is intangible most of the time). Vergil's Bloody Palace alone took me more several months of retries but when i returned to DMC5 on PC all the training paid off and i finished his BP on first try.

Overall, despite busted lock-on -- DMC5 is easily the most accessible and fun game in the series. Everything bad from DMC4 is gone, everything good from DMC3 is back and better and more. I am nowhere near skilled enough to tap into this game mechanics fully (there are entire movesets and styles that i still ignore while playing) but it is still extremely fun to control with what i can handle. It decrowns DMC3 Switch port with style-switching as the most fun game in the series.

Metal Gear Revengeance: (Steam)



Inspired by 100%-ing DMC5, i went back to MGR. I mainly played the game back in 2015-2016. Looking at my screenshots i took at the time camera and lock on were really pissing me off. After S-ranking the game in 2016 i dropped it for a while. In 2017 i finished main batch of VR-missions -- some of them were extremely finicky to complete, as VR-missions in Metal Gear series tend to be. And finally this year i finished the last of VR-missions and completed special achievements for DLC-missions.

In general -- this is a middling (if not outright bad) action game. Fundamentals are broken -- lock-on is horrific (especially with enemies that LOVE to jump/fly around across the stage), camera is probably the worst in both Metal Gear series and for Platinum. Even such a basic thing as movement is bad because main character really likes to "slide" and jump around semi-randomly when attacking -- game overall has a very "squirrelly" feeling. It feels like Platinum tried to replicate combat from Batman games where character magnetically jumps towards the closest enemy automatically.

The balance is non-existing. Metal Gear games are always anti-fun on harder levels, but this game takes this to new levels. Because your weapons are upgradeable, you're supposed to upgrade them during the campaign. And not upgrading is not an option -- you have to do it. This basically destroys all balance turning even the basic enemies into bullet- slash-sponges if you don't do upgrades. New Game on blank files is impossible -- unupgraded slash does a fraction of % of boss' life gauge. You read it right -- a fraction of 1 percent, as in -- you need to do 100-1000 slashes to kill the boss.

It feels like Platinum knew this is untenable and they added gimmick to "Revengeance" difficulty mode where parrying slash always does 10-20% of fixed damage to enemies. Ironically this makes this mode easier than previous "Very hard" mode.

Characters' movesets feel so barren. Even Raiden -- the character with the most moves has maybe 3-5 good moves, while DLC characters even less so. No weapon-switching in real-time also feels awkward. The sole point of Metal Gear UI is that so player could quickly switch WITHOUT going into dedicated pause menu screen. But in MGR you still have to pause the game so it's the worst of both worlds -- dealing with somewhat quirky Metal Gear UI conventions AND not even being able to do it on the fly. And generally that's the way with all ties to Metal Gear they did -- nearly all of it harms the game instead of elevating it: stealth is pointless, grenade system is finicky and at odds with action part of the game, Kojima productions imposed blade mode QTEs feels forced, especially with bosses.

Bosses are fun enough to play casually and music is good though tho i can't discern screaming lyrics. S-ranking magnet boss on Revengeance difficulty took me SO long... Because of insane time requirement i had to learn almost speedrunning strats to skip bosses' phases to make it in time. Same with final boss -- exploding ground crack patterns were tricky to learn. Especially when boss started to combine attacks -- he can create a lava wall and jump at you right through it so you can't even see him starting the attack.

Additionally there are DLC levels where you play as robot dog and Jetstream Sam -- rival character for Raiden. Robot dog's combat is even more basic than main character's, and so robot dog's campaign shifts more to platforming and stealth. It is very short -- around 40 minutes if played normally, or 8 minutes as a speedrun.

Jetstream Sam's campaign is still short but character's is designed so well. It is kinda similar to Ninja Gaiden because how charging changes the entire moveset. Additionally Sam can double jump, taunt and his side rolling is way faster. You're gonna need side-rolling because the hardest achievement in the game is finishing final boss of his campaign without taking damage on hardest difficulty. When Sam parries an attack he still gets chip damage so you have to roll through attacks to avoid damage. Also you need to taunt because that doubles your damage -- but also makes incoming attacks faster. No-damaging the final boss took like hundreds of retries because it so easy mess up the input for side-rolling and the boss moves around the arena so swiftly already dysfunctional MGR camera can't keep up after him so you don't even see him and have to rely on sound cues. At least sound cues are done well so the only problem was my reaction and execution. Using Mike Kobe's speedrun as a guide i finally did this and finished the whole DLC in less than an hour completing all the achievements.

Overall MGR feels like a middling action game attached to "hype" cutscenes. Half baked mechanics completely fall apart when you play past the first playthrough. Jetstream Sam's combat and movement is the most fun and well designed part of the whole game and i wished he got a full game instead.

Metroid: Samus Returns: (3DS)

This was the game i was repairing my 3DS for. Analog nub is used for both movement and aiming so had to have it in working for this game. As i was playing i was hesitant to make movements too fast, like quickly tapping "down" twice for morph ball because tugging the nub too hard was how i broke it the first time. This hampered my exploration when i discovered places where i needed to morph mid-air to push myself into a hole or start spider-balling alongside the wall.

Game has a semi-hidden way to morph-ball instantly if you press on a map on a touch-pad but the placement is awkward to press for either thumbs, especially from the left side because you simultaneously still need to push in a direction on a nub to keep the momentum going. Watching other people playing this game, i see people doing morphball mid-jump all the time to save time and i still don't understand if they really just tap down twice that fast or use touchpad.

Similarly, later in the game i needed a way to get out of morph ball quickly for a certain segment (*cough* chase sequence *cough*) and wasn't too keen double tapping "up" too fast. But i discovered that doing parry was a great way to get out of morph ball instantly.

Speaking of parrying -- complaints about it are way overblown. If anything game doesn't use parry enough because some bosses have only one parriable attack, if that. For regular enemies counter is even less of a problem because it always easier to simply jump over them or chuck a rocket at them which is how you would deal with them in all other games in the series. You can't even say that enemies attack patterns have been redesigned to force player to parry because Metroid 2 enemies (and Metroid Fusion enemies that recreate them) were already charging at you in the same manner.

Parrying felt like developers were trying to evolve series combat from "just spam rockets at everything". However the combat is still not fun enough by itself because you need to stop and wait until enemy attacks you, and this kills the flow. Maybe the old "just spam rockets" approach wasn't too bad, after all?

New robot boss plays unlike anything in original Metroid 2 and is instead a puzzle boss that forces you to do very specific things to defeat it instead just shooting rockets at it.  But another "new" boss they added is the complete opposite and IS a rocket-sponge because it is supposed to be a fanservice boss in the style of earlier games -- though i really don't think Metroid fans liked it becaгse how redundant and canon-bending it felt.

Robot boss also exposes another weird game design decision -- everything in Samus Return kills you too fast. That robot in particular has attacks that can one-shot, two-shot you even if you have fully upgraded. Even regular enemies can destroy several HP bars with one attack. This really undermines the power fantasy you get by upgrading yourself in later game. Insta-kill attacks make it really annoying to learn dodging robot's attack patterns while you wait for the part where you even have the chance to harm it -- if you figured out what to do that is.

Level design felt a bit generic and somehow more generic than Gameboy game (how is that even possible?). They did try to add some memorable vistas -- once in a while there is some picturesque Chozo temple ruins, or a dam or a crystal cave, but it all kinda blends together. Area names not having discernable themes or even a memorable names doesn't help.

New patterns on Metroid Queen boss forced me to several moves because i thought there is no way not to take damage here unless i am able to do this. With these new moves i was finally able to get all the last upgrades on a map and 100% the game.

Overall it is an okay game, but i don't think it would leave lasting impression on a new player or satisfy long-time series fan. After finishing Metroid 1, 2 and Samus Returns on 3DS, i really didn't understand why the series (at least the 2d half) warrants such a fervor...


Super Metroid: (Wii U Virtual Console)

until playing Super Metroid.

It really does feel like Super Metroid came right at the right time allowing developers to reach a perfect balance of story, moment to moment gameplay and replayability. Even the map that they added for the first time in series they managed to get juuust right on the first attempt. Super Metroid's map shows all you need but doesn't hold your hand. And some secret corridors are still hidden so there are enough areas for you to explore on your own. And for things player can't figure out -- there is a still scan ray to outright show bombable/rocketable blocks. Interesting how scan ray evolved into visors of Metroid Prime and then later kinda became industry standard becoming Detective Vision of Batman Arkham Asylum and Eagle Vision of Assasin's Creed. And retroactively turning into a scan pulse in Samus Returns.

Because we're back on the same planet as Metroid 1 areas have names and more importantly clear themes. Level design is very varied and there are lots of unique memorable assets spread all over helping to memorize the map layout in player's mind.

Still, i got stuck occasionally, but i always felt like it was my own fault. Like the area where Super Metroid locked me up until i realized game has a run button. I should have paid more attention to controls in settings or read the manual to check what all the buttons do. In the same vein -- when i gained all weapons and switching between them started getting cumbersome, i similarly wondered if there is a function to switch to regular beam instantly and there was -- it was on Y this entire time.

While i am on controls -- i was using SNES controller i got with SNES Mini and it was kinda awesome to play SNES game with the controller it was designed in mind with. I really liked the feel of that controller even if that whole Wii U setup was kinda clunky because i was using SNES controller plugged into a wiimote, and often used Gamepad as a screen while i was using my main TV for youtube watching or for podcast listening.

However, game's actual controls are really not ergonomic. The most obvious one that Y button and Select need to be swapped -- it really makes no sense to keep weapon switching that you need so often away from a face button. Run button also has no business being on face button -- it needs to be on a shoulder so bad so you can press it while you jump and shoot. Even jumping and shooting buttons are placed a bit weirdly. Good thing game has customizeable controls but it takes too much mental rewiring to relearn a game away from default so i kinda gave up and stayed on default button layout.

Another time i got stuck in my first playthrough was when i reached that glass tube connecting two zones. I knew of that place because i've seen that screenshot many times before:



I knew of this room enough to recognise when it is being referenced in other games, like in both La-Mulana games but i still never understood why exactly that place was so memorable to so many, outside of unique visual of a giant glass tube.

When i got stuck in that underwater zone i gave up after wandering around there -- and it doesn't help that this zone is extremely annoying to traverse. So i gave up and looked up the solution and it was totally fair -- i should have put 2 and 2 together to realize what the game was trying to tell me.

Bosses are mostly "just spam rockets at them", indicative to boss design in all games in the series released so far. Except for that angry shrimp boss which i managed to kill completely randomly just by trashing about and randomly button mashing when it grabbed me. I had to look it up to understand what even happened. Apparently i somehow stumbled upon a trick to kill this boss instanly. Energy bar showing that this hurts Samus as much as the boss is actually badass in retrospect.

And game continues to use UI like that to show main character's emotions: desperation, fear of death, sense of relief, even righteous anger (similar to how Ace Attorney explodes energy bar to show character's frustration). Telling a story like that with just an HP gauge and few character sprites is so much more effective than cutscenes and voice-overs to spell character's thoughts out loud they'd do today.

I knew wall jumps exist from Samus Returns so when i saw that frame of animation where Samus tries to lean against the wall, it gave me a hint i can do something there. Then i spent almost an hour just learning and practicing wall jumps. This didn't help me much to sequence break or anything but it was still satisfying to learn by myself and use ocasionally for better mobility.

Apparently you're supposed to learn wall-jumping from "animals" later in the game but i never found them until my second playthrough when i specifically was looking for them -- and despite already knowing the trick -- these guys still taught me something. There are three of these monkey like critters and they do wall jumps to teach you how it's done. After you follow them, two of them jump down and do it all over again but the third one jumps into the small hole in the wall showing me that i can and should do that too. So i spent another half an hour trying to jump and turn into morph ball to cram myself in there. Because there is no button for instant morphball in this game i had to learn to do very fast sequence of right-down-down-right inputs. This could have been elementary if i had spiderball jump but i didn't even knew it exists despite that i was on a second playthrough already.

My first playthrough was around 8 hours with 54% completion. For 2nd playthrough i went faster with ~2:30 with 66% completion (and with animals saved).

Level design, art, sound effects, pacing the unlocks, hiding secrets everywhere, and still hiding even more secrets under those secrets, even secret moves. The game is filled to the brim with content and first playthrough barely even scratches the surface because game is awesome at hiding abilities and secrets. After you finish the game, demo video on title screen even changes to cheekily tease the player more hidden moves like special beam combinations. Even now, many months after finishing the game and having watched lots of videos about it, i still keep learning new things like a simple way to get to wrecked ship without grapple beam. I learned that speedrunners use technique called ocean fly to glide over that whole sequence but that is way beyond normal player's ability. But when watching some random video just this week i found out it's possible to do it in a much simpler way, it is astonishingly easy in fact. Now it really feels like grapple beam here is almost like a ruse because of how brain dead easy it to pass through there without it.

Super Metroid music is memorable and matches the mood of the levels it plays on perfectly. It is so good, all other entries hardly even bother competing with it -- because as i realize now Samus Returns music is almost entirely made of Super Metroid remixes. Even Metroid Prime can't help but remix Super. It feels like Super Metroid's towering shadow is so long it can't help but diminish all later games in the series, at least in terms of music.

And then there are mods -- how awesome is that game's design is both robust and flexible enough to stay perfectly playable while hacked left, right and centre. There are mods that rotate, flip or turn the map upside down -- and game still stays playable all the way to 100% completion. And these are just "simple" mods -- there are mods that have entirely new map and story.

Creative prowess of such magnitude, polished craft from the beginning all the way to the end is truly awe-inspiring. I now understand completely how this game turns people into rabid fanatics of the series and creates disappointment everytime when newer games in the series can't quite measure up -- but what CAN?

Simply because how games are made now -- it is hard to imagine any modern game better than this -- even and especially from Sakamoto. Made today, the game would have too many cutscenes breaking "show don't tell" approach. Super Metroid's insane polish and detail is due to grueling development cycle -- yet another thing hardly possible today.

Modern Super Metroid just couldn't be such a rich and fruitful target for speedrunning and rom-hacking, simply because glitches, let alone hacks would be squashed within days. Super Metroid from 1994 is beatable without most of the suit upgrades, but today's dev team (justly -- from their perspective) feeling their hard work was wasted by players circumventing entire areas and aspects of the game would find ways to "fix" that (just look at latest patch for Metroid Dread where they do exactly that). Especially with perception of "shorter game is bad" which can lead to material damage of less sales.
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Offline ThePerm

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Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
« Reply #1038 on: November 21, 2021, 02:18:18 PM »
i don't necessarily agree that the run button must be a shoulder button. Mario games use B for everything and still work.
« Last Edit: November 21, 2021, 02:20:22 PM by ThePerm »
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Offline Daniellason

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Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
« Reply #1039 on: November 22, 2021, 02:52:14 AM »
I used to play Mario and racing, I've been playing it since I was a kid, and I still love playing it with my son today.

Offline azeke

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Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
« Reply #1040 on: November 23, 2021, 01:50:20 AM »
i don't necessarily agree that the run button must be a shoulder button. Mario games use B for everything and still work.
Mario's B doubles as both fire and run. In Metroid games you might need to press/mash/charge fire while holding or releasing run indepedently. Also while during platforming and switching weapons. It is better to put often used functions on face buttons, but not when buttons you will need to press and hold simultaneously are on the opposing sides of diamond button layout.

Modern platformers like Rayman Origins and Ori map run on a shoulder/trigger. I have problems with their design otherwise but they got at least that part right.
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Offline ThePerm

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Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
« Reply #1041 on: November 23, 2021, 03:47:58 AM »
I thought about that, but I can imagine Ryu Hayabusa running through Super Metroid with NES controls just fine. More button combinations make a game more accessible, but you could do most things with less buttons using button combinations and timing. It would fundamentally change the game though.
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Offline azeke

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Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
« Reply #1042 on: December 06, 2021, 02:39:25 PM »
I bought a pack of 4 Nintendo vouchers a year ago, hoping that Nintendo surely will release some games that would interest me. I tried to use these vouchers to preorder Warioware and Metroid Dread but their release date was after vouchers' expiration date. So i had to buy some games to justify these vouchers. That's how i ended up buying Super Mario 3D World for the third time just for

Super Mario 3D World: Bowser Fury (Switch):

Great DLC? expansion? Bowser interruptions got a bit old by the end and the way you have to replay that boss battle, going through same motions was a bit annoying.

Still great 2 hours, and it really showed what original 3D World movement and controls are capable of in a more open world. And no, 3D World movement was never restricted to 8-directions -- it's the same here as in original game.

I think i enjoyed it more than Odyssey despite rather formulaic structure. For one it's an actual platformer which Odyssey doesn't even try to be one.

Yoku Island Express (Switch):

Ð fun puzzle Metroidvania, similar in design to Toki Tori 2. Finished game last year and overall enjoyed it. I think i remember being annoyed at some boss because i couldn't understand what was i supposed to do.

Metroid Fusion: (GBA cart on DS Lite)

I spent too much time tinkering with that Metroid Fusion cart and DS Lite itself to make them work so i felt motivated to finish this game on this DS Lite, come hell or high water.

It would be so easy to stay in Super Metroid's monumental shadow -- just like hundreds of games do. Even actual Metroid games after-Super, sometimes chase that Super Metroid high.

Metroid Fusion soundly rejects nostalgia and changes EVERYTHING: old yellow gunship is unceremonously destroyed and replaced with new purple one, main character's look is changed completely, ALL weapons and ALL controls are revamped. If anything, this earns mad respect for Sakamoto and team.

To justify why Samus lost all abilities again, Fusion goes to most extreme -- basically killing and rebuilding main character from ground up. All abilities are now reconceptualised as biological-genetic mutation powers instead of mechanical suit upgrades. The horror element appropriately moves on from Alien to The Thing with X-parasites shape-shifting and body horror.

Just like Metroid 2 on Gameboy, Fusion on GBA was designed around short gameplay bursts so map is divided into smaller sectors. Computer constantly briefs on what you're have to do and places targets on a map, probably to reduce frustration for players getting lost.

But how effective is that really if the game is never a walk from point A to point B? More often than not, goal will be locked behind something so you need to go around the map. Navigation panels reveal some of the map, but most of it will be hidden until you reveal it.

Fusion is not necessarily linear and signature Metroid exploration is still there but the game does feel restrictive sometimes. I wished i could skip briefing cutscenes but game doesn't allow that even on subsequent playthroughs. Which is weird because there are some QoL changes for New Game+ on completed save file, but cutscenes are still forced on you.

Near the end game straight up locks you up, shutting down all exploration, only allowing to finish the game. I had to look up where and when exactly does that happen so i don't get trapped down like that on next playthroughs. There are special passages between sectors and i discovered some of them but not the one from final sector. These passages are also hidden very deviously, so even if you know there must be one it is hard to find them, like one of these passages is placed so it is always obscured by mini-map UI.

Fusion streamlines controls and abilities to adjust to GBA's two face buttons. To eliminate weapons switching they removed scan ray, grapple beam and dedicated super rockets (super rockets are now just ugprades over regular rockets). There is no run button so Samus goes into boosted run automatically if you walk long enough. Diagonal aiming is on shoulder button and defaults to up aiming because most enemies fly and attack from above.

Most bosses are (again) rocket sponges you need to press down right shoulder button constantly. It became a problem for me because when i held DS Lite, it's right lower corner pressed too hard into my palm. I also had trouble sticking to the walls and ceiling which was especially annoying during tense boss fights. Not sure if it was my problem or controls' but half of the time Samus just refused to cling to the wall.

Also wall jumping was made easier to do, but for some reason it gets disabled after you get space jump?..

Some of the bosses were annoying like spider who can grab you, throw you on the ground and then grab you again. Similarly floating toaster boss was even more annoying because how hard it was to avoid getting hit. Compared to them, yet another Ridley fight felt refreshing because it was just a regular "shoot a bunch of rockets" deal but with wackier sound effects.

First playthrough was 5:15 with 59%. I tried to go fast on 2nd playthrough but apparently still took too much time collecting stuff with just 2:40. I then went for another playthrough with the goal of 100% but i didn't know i could restart over finished save file (marked with Metroid symbol) to see area completion marks. So i never finished it fully, just getting 93% but i enjoyed it still.

One shinespark puzzle room was especially fun to figure out and execute. It also forced me to learn how exactly shinespark works and helped to solve another puzzle that i spent several hours on previously. Space jump room wasn't as fun to do, but it was ingenious in it's own way -- like some kinda extremely annoying Flappy Bird level. Still, scouring around all sectors looking for passages and items was fun however endgame music became too repetitive because it was constantly blaring, never changing regardless in which sector i was.

Overall game is fun enough on first playthrough, but the way game traps you into endgame was disappointing. On second playthroughs i wished game would allow to skip cutscenes and opened up passages between sectors earlier. Still, a good game.

Oh, and i forgot about SA-X. I didn't think SA-X encounters made too much of an impact, it only happens like 3 times and on first playthrough it is just "hide and wait it out" scripted sequence or "run away or die in one hit". Also during endgame if you explore the game to collect items you're running all over the station but never meet SA-X, further breaking the illusion of being hunted.

Onto Zero Mission!
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Offline GK

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Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
« Reply #1043 on: December 07, 2021, 12:24:51 AM »
The Deadly Tower of Monsters PC

Decided to dip into my Steam backlog & finish this one up. Decent isometric action game once you get used to the controls. My main gripe might be that the platforming can feel excessive at times, but there's a teleport button, so missing moving platforms isn't too punishing.

The director's commentary never stops cracking me up.




Mission...complete?

Offline MagicCow64

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Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
« Reply #1044 on: December 19, 2021, 10:03:33 PM »
Game Pass (PC):

I impulsively jumped on a Game Pass cheap sub scheme without really thinking it through, and realized shortly afterward that there wasn't much on there I actually wanted to play that I could run on my computer. But then I noticed the new "Cloud" tab and was absolutely gobsmacked at the feature. It runs perfectly, far better than Stadia, and has a ton of content that I would only touch in this exact circumstance.

Kameo:

Despite owning a 360 at several points, I never tried the post-betrayal Rare games despite being curious about them. Thanks, cloud! The concept of a Zelda-type game with full Majora's Mask type transformations to approach exploration and combat is a good one, and the game is surprisingly ambitious on a technical level. But boy, the controls for the most part absolutely suck and the level design is extremely basic. And goddamn, so much bad combat. I sincerely doubt Nintendo ever would have let this thing out the door in its published state. Really the only positive I can drum up is the Metroid Prime-esque roly poly gameplay, which actually feels good.

Banjo and Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts:


I've been kind of fascinated from a distance by Rare's weird implosion post-Nintendo, and I finally have the chance to give the red-headed step-child a spin. And boy is it weird. It's extremely in your face about game trends from the outset, stating that people only want shooters in the 360 era . . . and then it reformulates itself as a quasi-platformer revolving around Lego vehicle construction, which absolutely no one was asking for. Despite that, it's kind of weirdly compelling in its commitment to an awkward, left-field idea. The actual levels are messy and disorienting and the objectives range from trivial to controller-throwingly frustrating, but I nonetheless kind of respect it. But Jesus Christ, the physics/collision model in no way supports the racing/combat challenges, and the mere notion of going for the bonus trophies is stomach-turning.

Blinx the Time Cat:


In retrospect it's hilarious that anyone was trying to champion this as a Mario-killer type game. I made it about 30 minutes in. It's basically unplayable. The weird arcade-y game structure is also completely incompatible with the headline gameplay hook, which, insanely, you can't even use freely.

Gears of War 4:

I never bothered with this in non-cloud form given its reputation, but with the cloud? Why the hell not. It's worse than 5 in every way and has an extremely depressing vibe to the whole thing, given that it just resurrects the Locust in mostly the same form and makes the entire previous trilogy feel totally pointless. But it does introduce a set of annoying, spongey monsters and robots. The amount of time I spent inside of a stupid critter waiting for the AI teammates to shoot me out . . .

Halo Infinite:

The real test of the magic cloud, a day-and-date debut of a high-stakes Halo refresh. It looks great, plays seamlessly. The gameplay itself is very snappy and smooth and the new grappling hook really gives the experience a much-needed kick in the ass. I'm so far liking the open-world take on the franchise, which elevates the original sandboxy-ness while providing an appealing progress structure that was previously lacking. There is a bit of a loss in terms of the old "just make it to the next checkpoint" ethos of the first games, but that was already deployed a number of times, so why not toss a map at it and see what happens.

Overall, it's insane to me that I'm paying like $5 a month for access to this technology.






Offline azeke

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Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
« Reply #1045 on: April 06, 2022, 05:07:28 AM »
Metroid Zero Mission (Wii U Virtual Console):

I want to reiterate how much i like SNES controller i got from SNES mini. Because Wii U still treats it as Pro Controllers i was able to play Super Metroid, Zero Mission and Fusion with it. The whole setup wiring Wiimote to SNES controller and then playing on Wii U gamepad was kinda awkward but i really liked it.

In general, i like Zero Mission, but not as much as Super. Because it's less moody maybe?.. The most enjoyable part for me was when Zero Mission veered from remaking Metroid 1 and added an original segment with unknown items and power grip. That segment really came out of nowhere and was kinda creepy.

Otherwise ZM follows the pacing of all Metroid games where you keep upgrading as you play, eventually becoming a powerhouse by the end. But the ending breaks that pacing so after peaking at the original ending you're dragged back and stripped down to nothing. Emotionally going from the high of killing Mother Brain and then having to scurry in air vents hiding from everything is too constrasting and destroys pacing. I kinda stopped caring at that point and didn't play the game for several weeks because of that.

Level design in Space Pirate ship also becomes kinda bad, with prolonged sections that are meant just to slow you down and annoy. Tunnels with dozens of bomb blocks for no other reason just to be a hassle, robots that just stands there blocking your way and gates closing if enemy sees you.

Even the final final ending annoyed me because i thought i was supposed to somehow get into the area where escape pods were so i was looking all around not realizing there will be yet another, final boss. And even after that i couldn't understand how to get into the escape pod so i died some more on final escape sequence because i didn't understand i was supposed to jump in there.

Another annoyance was defeating Mother Brain the first time and i also got kinda lost in Ridley's Lair because i was supposed to go back and forth between Norfair and Ridley on a detour through some caves to kill a wasp boss.

Once you actively start optimizing your gameplay and going for completion game becomes better. Even Mother Brain becomes easy once you understand the "secret" trick of "don't shoot the brain when it flashes".

Only then true design of Zero Mission is revealed and players realizes how the map is riddled with shortcuts like swiss cheese. First playthrough only pretends to be linear and guided by Chozo statues, but there are skips and fake walls to circumvent almost everything. Pointlessly long corridors can be zoomed right through and even seemingly random slopes can be used to chain sparkshines.

My first playthrough was 5:55:40 with 76%. First run feels weaker than in Super Metroid but second playthrough is more enjoyable due to Quality of life changes like showing area item completion percentage and map showing the presence of items.

On second playthrough i tried to "speedrun" it and got 1:41:03 with 70%. I arrived at the last area when it was already 1:30 and didn't want to spend too much time risking going over 2 hour mark, so i got less items.

Third playthrough was my 100% attempt. It took me 5:38:55. Because the game shows most items on the map, the remainder are hidden in secret rooms behind fake walls and these are the most tricky ones, including notorious puzzle rooms.

Since Fusion, shinespark puzzles became my favourite part of the series because they push the movement system to the fullest. I liked shinespark puzzles in ZM too, but overall they weren't as ingenious as the ones from Fusion. The hardest puzzle rooms in Zero Mission are the ones about Power Grip and precise twitch jumping. Adding shinespark in ball form is pretty fun but doesn't really change much.

To date i only 100%-ed Samus Returns and Zero Mission and this time i knew that final boss will be way harder than usual because of this. Back when i played Samus Returns i was really frustrated how tanky the final boss turned out to be, not realizing it was because i fully completed the game.

So far, Super is still easily the best Metroid game while Zero Mission would be #2. Onto AM2R and Metroid Prime!
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Offline pokepal148

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Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
« Reply #1046 on: April 13, 2022, 03:59:44 AM »
I hit 100% on Ty 3: Night of the Quinkin on PC. It's an interesting, charming, and deeply flawed game and I had fun revisiting it for the first time in more than 15 years. Many of the game's issues come from it being rushed with only half of the develpment time the previous two games had but there are also some issues that come from just questionable design decisions that bog down the whole thing.

- The level design for the game's remarkably few traditional on foot missions is pretty solid. Although it is let down by the melee mechanic (we'll get to that) the more linear design works well for Ty. I haven't played the second game to completion in a while so I don't want to make any comparisons there but compared to the first game's more open design this game feels much more focused while still leaving plenty of room for collectables to be hidden.

- The melee mechanic is annoying and unnecessary but by the time it starts to become a problem because you start facing more advanced enemies in the on foot levels you can use the new boomerang customization mechanic to make yourself a pair of exploding boomerangs and start Michael Bay-ing everything instead. In what is a rather baffling move for a freaking Ty the Tasmanian Tiger game, most of the enemies are immune to having boomerangs thrown at them in order to incentivise the melee combat system. The only way past this that I am aware of is to make those boomerangs explode so if you decide to play this game for yourself, exploding boomerangs are absolutely your friends.

 For anyone who has played a game called "The Hex", I'm pretty sure the tacked on melee combat that gets added to the second Super Weasel Kid segment is a shot at this game specifically. For anyone who hasn't played The Hex you should really stop what you're doing and play that game instead.

- The boomerang customization mechanic is an interesting addition but because they tried to make combat an actual thing in this game and failed miserably you are kind of incentivized to just use it to create boomerangs that can quickly cut through enemies. In the previous games exploding boomerangs and the megarangs which would bounce between enemies were extremely overpowered. The boomerang customization mechanic allows you to create a boomerang that bounces between enemies and creates explosions upon contact which is a really good way to negate the game's shitty melee combat. There's even a turret section later in the game you can just completely bypass this way.

It is a completely different beast if you go for 100% though. At that point you are incentivized to build different types of boomerangs for different objectives. I had one boomerang that I built to be able to locate hidden objects for example while another one was built so I could use it to bring certain collectables to me, which is mandatory for a few of the game's collectables.

- The Crabmersible which is used in what is essentially this game's overworld is borderline uncontrollable with how slippery it is and takes a bit of getting used to but it is way more fun than it should be. You basically run around on a crab mech launching homing missiles at everything in your path. It is just stupid, mindless fun and even trying to force it to do basic platforming challenges for collectables when this thing isn't particularly well suited for platforming is fun in its own way, which I get the feeling was the intention.

- I would find the mech or "bunyip" missions much more favorable if they didn't have you go through the same levels twice, once with each mech, and usually with similar objectives. The levels themselves are also extremely similar to eachother thematically since one of the Mechs, the Thermal Extreme bunyip, has the ability to swim through lava so most of the mech stages has a bunch of lava to swim through and they are also all snow areas because I guess whoever designed these stages really liked that contrast. It results in a bunch of similar looking stages and the Shadow Bunyip and Thermal Extreme Bunyip don't feel distinct enough from eachother for it to feel like you are really playing the same stages in different ways. By the end of the game their abilities are similar enough that the only differences really are that the Shadow Bunyip has the ability to activate certain moving platforms with its grenades and is generally more satisfying to use in combat while the Thermal Extreme Bunyip has the aforementioned ability to swim through lava and a grappling hook.

- The Go Kart stages are kind of hit and miss and in what appears to be an attempt to pad the game out are now mandatory for story completion instead of just being a thing for 100%. Some of them have interesting objectives like having you pick up some collectables during the race before finishing in first but the demolition derby missions feel extremely luck based, especially since some of the items are difficult to use and this game's red shell equivalent is kind of inconsistent when you use it.

- The Gunyip Stages are generally more enjoyable than the helicopter and submarine stages from Ty 2 but that is not a particularly high bar and they are easily the weakest part of the game. They are however mercifully infrequent. There is a dogfighting minigame that is kind of fun, although it is quite shallow.

- The story is weird. When I was young I appreciated how dark and edgy it was but coming back to it as an adult what I've noticed is that the game kind of just stops taking itself seriously once you get out of the tutorial. It feels like some higher up at Krome decided they wanted the series to go in a grimdark direction but everyone else in the team realized it was an awful idea and did what they could to retain the series's more humorous and goofy side. While you lose the series's vibrant and colorful Australian landscapes in favor of a post apocalyptic and weirdly alien hellscape you still get the series's generally fun and charming writing.

Unlike other 3d platformers that went in a similar direction around this time, Ty feels self aware enough to be essentially in on the joke and while this anachronistic element can be jarring it definitely feels like the lesser of two evils compared to actually going serious like a certain hedgehog game with guns and mild swearing that came out a month after this one originally did.

There are people who criticise the fact that there's a new character who exists because they needed someone who wouldn't recognize Ty for a story segment and is completely forgotten about afterwards but the fact that this character introduced the line "Zombie Frills, meet Mr. Boomerang!" into my life more than makes up for it. The game's dialogue is camp and stupid in the best way and there are some absolute banger moments that you'll have to see for yourself.

The story does feel extremely rushed towards the end though. It feels like there's a cutscene that just didn't make it into the final game that would have revealed that at some point the series's usual villain Boss Cass was possessed by the Quinkin so there's a jarring moment right before the final boss fight where Ty walks up to the suddenly posessed Boss Cass completely unphased by this new development. Since Boss Cass's voice actor passed away a few years ago idk if this is something that they could fix whenever this game inevitably gets brought to the Switch with new enhancements unless they recast him and that would be extremely unfortunate in and of itself because Boss Cass has some of the best voice work in the series.

But honestly the story in Ty games is only worth paying attention to because of the fun dialogue and corny Australian accents anyways and Ty 3 has both in spades.

- The Steam version added a hardcore mode where if you die the game erases your save data which I'm not touching with an eleven foot pole. The Steam version has achievements for completing and 100%-ing the game in hardcore mode which is kind of shitty because this game really was not remotely designed around that. It is really easy to die during the gunyip and crabmersible segments so I'm going to recommend you not do hardcore mode.

Although I haven't finished the second game in a while I would probably recommend it over this one just because of how much of a stronger overall package Ty 2 is but if you liked that game and what I've said interests you than go for it.

Offline NWR_insanolord

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Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
« Reply #1047 on: May 07, 2022, 01:16:05 AM »
I took a couple breaks in the middle, but tonight I finished off Pikmin 3 Deluxe on hard mode, with all the fruit. This was my third time through the game between Wii U and Switch, and the first on hard mode. I was a huge fan of the first two, and this is the best one yet.
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Offline azeke

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Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
« Reply #1048 on: July 20, 2022, 01:41:22 PM »
Metroid Dread (Switch):

Ranking highly replayable games is two-fold: on the first playthrough you just go through story and and on consequent runs (fast or 100%) you truly start digging into level-design and combat design. Sometimes one harms another. Fusion puts so much emphasis on it's story it removes exploration and reduces next playthrough to just retreading the exact same path. On the other side -- Zero Mission's first playthough is kinda messy due to uneven last part, but next playthroughs are great revealing the true brillance of design that was completely obscured on first run.

Metroid Dread has a very good first playthough, probably the smoothest series ever had. It's linear as Fusion but isn't as restrictive and reaches  the highs of Super Metroid -- and then some.

You are being led along "golden path" with items spread like crumbs. Usually as soon you get a new unlock -- there is an item just lying nearby that you can now pick up and it always leads you further down the story.

Game doesn't lock you in as completely as Fusion does and you're usually free to go eplore somewhat. Adam still occasionally requires to be activated to progress further but you're never locked down and forced to finish the game like in Fusion, even Super Metroid does this on the last save room.

Pacing and level design felt great during the first run. All the bosses were fun to figure out and the final boss was challenging, capping a fantastic first playthrough.

In-game time for my first run was 9:46. Then i went for 100% on the same file and it only took me just 4 additional hours. That's on the low side because Dread doesn't have as many collectibles. QoL features also help save time: map marks if there are secret items in each room and shows competion percentages for each area. Also when you reach final area, game additionally unlocks all teleports so fast travel is even easier.

During 100% collecting it was kinda hard reading map UI, it's functional but probably should have been more schematic and less detailed to make it more readable. As it is now, it is kinda busy and makes things hard to find occasionally.

As usual, most time during 100% item hunt was spent doing shinespark puzzles. Shinepark mechanic keeps evolving: Fusion introduced shinepark stop and restart on slopes, Zero Mission added ballspark, and in Dread Samus can keep shinepark while sliding and bouncing off walls. You can even spark down and combat is designed so you can use shinespark offensively to kill some bosses faster.

Game has fantastic movement, best in the series. Samus Returns had great controls and MercurySteam evolved them even further in Dread. One of my favourite tricks in Samus Returns was using touchpad to instantly morphball and now it's a separate button. I also used counter button to stand up from morphball quickly. Dread's morphball button does both and it is a great option when you need duck/uncurl in the air or during action moments.

New abilities are great introduction. Flash shift is mandatory to dodge fast bosses and for traversal. Grapple beam also speeds up moving around levels because you can pull yourself towards any blue surface on a wall or ceiling -- especially useful underwater and in EMMI sequences.

Parries are even better than in Samus Returns and new dash parries feels good. Special cutscenes on parrying bosses' attacks are great even if they stay the same same on repeat.

Cutscenes have even more "Samus is badass" moments than in Samus Returns. Action direction and camera work is brilliant.

Areas don't stay cold, metallic and soon enough into the game you will be exploring new environments. Game makes great use of parallax and background details. Walls and blank spaces in 2d projection are pitch black and create nice contrast on my OLED tv, and i'm guessing on OLED model too. Moments when game plays with darkness and foreground shadows look stunning.

After doing 100%, i started a run for speed and it was surprising how much i got lost at first. Game still allows the player to get lost when you veer off polished "golden path" or look for speedrun shortcuts, like i did. Most i could find was long corridors you can zoom through with shinespark and it seems like it was intentionally designed that way. You even get special cutscenes for shinesparking in special spots. But apparently there are a several fully intended sequence breaks and the game is a great watch for speedrunning.

Zero Mission and Fusion had a run timer if the run was on New Game+. For some reason Dread doesn't have it, so the only way to check the time is to save and exit into main menu. In fact, there isn't much of a New Game+ at all, all you retain on save file is mark of completion and unlockable gallery art.

My "fast" playthrough was 3:41 and after that i immediately restarted on Hard. Hard mode made surprisingly little difference: just like in Samus Returns enemies and bosses hit very hard destroying several energy bars in one hit even on Normal, so it depending on the mode you will be dying in 2 or 3 hits, which doesn't matter as much. Enemies and bosses also drop lots of items and health so you will be replenishing constantly. Also while speedrunning you will be constantly running around with low health so damage numbers matter even less.

Hard fast run took me 3:21 and with that, save file was completed. Unlockable art was great but my favourite piece was Metroid Fusion-themed wallpaper.

Overall -- Metroid Dread looks great, plays well, has great level design, fantastic movement options and satisfying combat, fun bosses. Only the music feels somewhat generic and too ambient for it's own good. The best musical moment was Super Metroid remix.

If ranked within the series, Dread is better than Zero Mission and Fusion both for first/one playthrough or for repeated playthroughs. Just last year after playing Super Metroid for the first time, i couldn't believe a modern game can be as good and Dread isn't, but it's a very sold #2 and a great game in it's own right.
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Offline lolmonade

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Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?
« Reply #1049 on: July 22, 2022, 10:26:10 AM »
Last game I beat is Norco (it's free on Xbox gamepass, but also on PC).

It's a point and click adventure game set in a bleak Southern Louisiana dying town overtaken by an oil rig operation called Shield.  You're a woman returning home after the death of her mother, and find an abandoned home with your brother missing.  The feeling of returning home after a long way away is depicted perfectly here - your character will run across several people they knew from growing up.  Some of them are worse for the wear and will bristle you, some will know your brother and your family.  There's a history that informs the characters relationship with you.  There's dialogue options, but in most cases there's an option that the NPCs see as the truthful one, and one which your character might have a rosy view of, and their responses to you reflect that.  It's a neat wrinkle and shows how people can have different recollections about what took place.

The gameplay mostly is standard faire - click at the background where there's icons, glean information from it, sometimes pick-up items that can be used to solve puzzles or unlock additional dialogue options from NPCs.  A few neat wrinkles - there are sections of actual turn-based battles.  Your party members each have different attacks - one might be a QTE sequence, another might have to complete a game of Simon for a successful attack.  It's simple enough to be unchallenging while being a nice break-up to diversify the gameplay.  They also add some interesting layers on top of solving puzzles that work well to flesh things out that I won't share since they were a neat surprise.  As you gather more information, there's actually a separate screen that has different icons representing key characters/location which'll be tied together by threads in how they're connected.  You're able to click on them as new info is gathered, and the depth of detail is impressive.

I won't expand on the story itself other than to say I was satisfied with it.  There are unanswered threads or questions that I wish would have been resolved, but even if they didn't, they inform or flesh out the world in a way which I think makes it better off than if they didn't create them at all.  The broader thrust of the story gets abstract/escalates beyond the original framework, but it's bread-crummed in a way which makes logical sense. 

Overall, I'm pretty satisfied with the experience.  I'm not a big point-and-click adventure player, but this game was approachable while still offering some challenge.  Highly recommend.