Topic: Cursed Mountain

[decoyman]

Actually, Mr. Cure, I don't buy used games unless I can't find a new version, so there.

SO! Picked this up last night, actually, and fired it up as soon as I got home. Having a great time so far! It's moody and creepy and mysterious and strange. The characters are more memorable and have more personality than I figured they'd have, and the "still" flashback scenes aren't nearly as cheesy as I thought. The voice acting is also surprisingly good. The locales you travel through are also surprisinigly diverse. Overall, I'm pleasantly surprised (partially maybe because my bar wasn't set particularly high, honestly...). The graphics are nice, but I understand some of what others have complained about regarding stiff animations, dark settings (there was a foggy area that was really difficult to see much of anything, but that did create a pretty awesome atmosphere, as baddies would just emerge from the fog to try and whale on you (DENIED!)), and over-use of effects... But really, the draw distance is awesome, the level design and art direction are great, and every once in awhile, an effect really wows me (I'm particularly thinking of an icy cavern you fall into later in the game, where the ice is just glistening/sparkling... really pretty.

To me, the controls are the weak link so far. I hate Hate HATE the "thrust" gestures you use to get rid of ghosts (sort of a finishing move). They fail 4 out of 5 times, it seems, and when you have to do this 4 or 5 times each for some of the tougher enemies, that equals quite a lot of frustration. Two bits of good news regarding that, though: 1) You don't actually have to do this, though it's faster and there's a nice (small) health boost for getting rid of them that way, and 2) I read the manual (imagine that!), and I may have been doing the gestures wrong... the game tells you how to do them, but doesn't do a very good job of illustrating it. Besides the gestures, I find myself really wanting a quick-turn button. It's funny to me, clearly this game took a lot of inspiration from RE4 (quick-time events, the perspective behind the character, aiming/shooting, etc.), so why not include something that's so useful in Resident Evil, a quick-turn button? Eh, I have no clue.

So... that's what I think so far. Ooh, actually, there was a really cool part after you fall into this ice cavern, where you find a walkie-talkie, and another character guides you out of the cavern via the remote speaker... =o I particularly enjoyed that. Oh and also, I also meant to say that I'm impressed with the story so far too... lots of unpredictable twists and turns and "who do I trust???" moments, which I like a lot.

Anyways, I recommend anyone with a little patience for a slower, more deliberately-paced game, to check this one out. I'm having a surprising amount of fun so far.

[Flames_of_chaos]

I'm going to be the stand-in reviewer for Neal since something happened to his review document  so now I have the reins for the review. So far I'm really enjoying it. Oddly enough I am NOT having any issues with the gesture sequence attacks, I found it that broad and elegant swings work the best (and yes the dreaded nunchuk forward thrust works well for me) rather than fast and jerky swings since from my experience those tend to fail . I really love the atmosphere and the attention to detail with the graphics and the use of Buddhist and Tibetan lore properly.

I do have some issues with the pacing and that some areas in the game are way to dark. I also found it interesting that the controls are heavily inspired by RE 4 Wii Edition and yet there is no 180 degree spin which is horrible especially when a spirit ends up sneaking behind you and striking you while you are vulnerable.  I won't reveal what score I am leaning toward however at this pace my review will be a very positive one.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

On the motion gestures:  find the appropriate pace, do not rush thru them.  I think you have up to 3 seconds to input it correctly.  Be patient and deliberate, like the friendly bald monk people in the game...

Gently setup and move your hand into position, THEN swing the controller.  The Remote is particularly sensitive to speed, and all these quick-time "do this motion (and only this motion)" moments need time to recognize the direction.  What you want to avoid is setting up your starting position *too quickly*, as the game might read your setup motion as an incorrect motion, forcing you to retry several times while it waits for a good swing.  It's a mistake all gamers have made at least once (or all the time) in these direction-gesture Wii action games, including No More Heroes and Tenchu 4.  (in some ways it's the player's mistake; in many ways it's the developer's mistake for not including some visual demonstration/animation that shows the proper speed/context of the motion, rather than pasting some "DIRECTION" they expect the player to perform).

Say the game asks for a "down and left (south-west)" motion.  I would gently raise the Remote up, ALMOST pause, then swing from upper right to lower left for a distance about 12-15 inches in a span of almost 1 second -- THAT isn't fast at all, and is a big change from the habits Wii Sports instills.  For the Forward Thrust motion, hold the Remote/Chuk vertically then push forward; again, careful with your setup, and move forward for ~1-foot for almost a second (3/4 of second?); it's not really a push/thrust when you feel it.  (people also had issue with Tenchu 4's thrust, and that game is more sensitive than CM, so avoiding the setup error is critical) NONE of the motions should have a significant force in them, just constant speed and time to register.

I LIKE the gesture chains in this game.  Makes me awesome like the Wizard in the two Conan movies.  I can do them reliably (i don't remember the last time I failed a chain), maybe 1 missed 1st-swing for every 30 gestures I do, and I use them to my advantage.  In combat I rely on the high-level enemies for MAJOR health refills with the single-shot weapon + gestures, and if I just want to eliminate any ghost quickly, I use that grappling claw weapon to trigger a finishing-gesture chain upon first contact, the only downside being it won't heal me.

These "finishing" gestures are acts of "compassion" in the context of the game, using ritual to send the malevolent spirit energy away, rather than destroy-kill-eat-my-Buddha-Buckshot; in exchange, you benefit via healing.  I don't know if it was intentional or not, but it makes too much sense to perform these gestures CALMLY and properly, as they are rituals after all.  Quite a different gimmick from stuffing your clothes with green herbs and first-aid cans.

After understanding how all these motion games work, and getting good results, I guess I've become the Master of Wii.

[BlackNMild2k1]

Aren't you required to make a blog post about this (in the staff blog area) instead of acknowledging an existing thread in the regular forum?

Either way I glad you are enjoying it. Any idea when your review will be up? But unfortunately I am either gonna borrow it from a friend, if I can convince one to buy it, or find it for cheap in the bargain bin one day.

Hey Pro, can I borrow Cursed Mountain now that you are done with it?
Not right now, since I don't have access to my Wii very often, but soon.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

Umm dunno, cuz I'll be lending it to a horror-gaming friend this weekend.  The price has dropped to $30 at some places, so it is cheapening faster than I expected.

[decoyman]

I'm guessing that my problem with the gesture controls is the initial position of the remote. Also, though, the arrows that they use to represent the thrusts don't make sense: they look more like a "swoop up" than a "push forward."

These "finishing" gestures are acts of "compassion" in the context of the game, using ritual to send the malevolent spirit energy away, rather than destroy-kill-eat-my-Buddha-Buckshot; in exchange, you benefit via healing.  I don't know if it was intentional or not, but it makes too much sense to perform these gestures CALMLY and properly, as they are rituals after all. 

I'm guessing "not intentional" because of how violent Erik looks when he does the actions in game. Though that is an interesting observation...

[Flames_of_chaos]

Aren't you required to make a blog post about this (in the staff blog area) instead of acknowledging an existing thread in the regular forum?

Either way I glad you are enjoying it. Any idea when your review will be up? But unfortunately I am either gonna borrow it from a friend, if I can convince one to buy it, or find it for cheap in the bargain bin one day.

Hey Pro, can I borrow Cursed Mountain now that you are done with it?
Not right now, since I don't have access to my Wii very often, but soon.

No I don't have to do that. And why would I do that if my input in general meshes well with the current discussion? I agree with Pro on what he says about the motion controls in the game. In fact I also think that the game does a decent job to tell you how to properly execute these motions. 

Also Best Buy has the game cheap at $29.99 which is already 40% off the retail price.

[GoldenPhoenix]

Aren't you required to make a blog post about this (in the staff blog area) instead of acknowledging an existing thread in the regular forum?

Either way I glad you are enjoying it. Any idea when your review will be up? But unfortunately I am either gonna borrow it from a friend, if I can convince one to buy it, or find it for cheap in the bargain bin one day.

Hey Pro, can I borrow Cursed Mountain now that you are done with it?
Not right now, since I don't have access to my Wii very often, but soon.

No I don't have to do that. And why would I do that if my input in general meshes well with the current discussion? I agree with Pro on what he says about the motion controls in the game. In fact I also think that the game does a decent job to tell you how to properly execute these motions. 

Also Best Buy has the game cheap at $29.99 which is already 40% off the retail price.

I'll wait until it hits $15.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

I'm guessing that my problem with the gesture controls is the initial position of the remote. Also, though, the arrows that they use to represent the thrusts don't make sense: they look more like a "swoop up" than a "push forward."

These "finishing" gestures are acts of "compassion" in the context of the game, using ritual to send the malevolent spirit energy away, rather than destroy-kill-eat-my-Buddha-Buckshot; in exchange, you benefit via healing.  I don't know if it was intentional or not, but it makes too much sense to perform these gestures CALMLY and properly, as they are rituals after all. 

I'm guessing "not intentional" because of how violent Erik looks when he does the actions in game. Though that is an interesting observation...

Aren't you required to make a blog post about this (in the staff blog area) instead of acknowledging an existing thread in the regular forum?

Either way I glad you are enjoying it. Any idea when your review will be up? But unfortunately I am either gonna borrow it from a friend, if I can convince one to buy it, or find it for cheap in the bargain bin one day.

Hey Pro, can I borrow Cursed Mountain now that you are done with it?
Not right now, since I don't have access to my Wii very often, but soon.

No I don't have to do that. And why would I do that if my input in general meshes well with the current discussion? I agree with Pro on what he says about the motion controls in the game. In fact I also think that the game does a decent job to tell you how to properly execute these motions. 

Also Best Buy has the game cheap at $29.99 which is already 40% off the retail price.

That "push forward" icon really does look vague at first glance.  It's been weeks since starting the game, and I have trouble recalling if the game showed an animation demonstrating the gestures when you first learned them; what's wrong is you NEVER see these again, and there's no option to view these examples.  I figured out the "thrust" gesture after seeing Eric move in-game (plus trial and error), where he makes a pushing gesture while holding the Ice Pick up; that's where I thought the Remote/Chuck should be vertical, and not "stabbing" or swinging up, like Travis Touchdown.

[decoyman]

Nuh-uh, no slipping off the front page yet, you slippery Cursed Mountain thread, you!

Beat this game a few days ago, and wanted to post some final impressions. First up, my gripe with the "push forward" controls was remedied by holding the remote/nunchuk in a vertical orientation, then pushing directly forward. Hardly missed any at all after that. I'd been leaving the remote pointed at the screen, and "stabbing" forward that way before, which is NOT how they mean for you to do it. Something they could've done would be to add a "repeat" of the original instructions (don't even remember what they were; they might not even have helped...) if the game detected that you hadn't successfully executed a push in like 5 tries. Because, obviously if you've missed 5 times, you didn't understand how the game wanted you to do the gesture, you know? Oh well. At least the instruction booklet is clear about it.

This was clearly a conceptual sort of game for these guys. I mean, I can see someone in a meeting room being, "Hey guys, I've got this idea... what if the entire game world is an enemy, an environmental boss of sorts, that you're fighting for the entire game!" Then they take that idea and run with it, and make a pretty impressive, fleshed-out game around it. I mean through the whole game, you're falling off cliffs and down crevasses, getting pushed around and frost-bitten (physical damage) by cold wind, and being basically suffocated (you have to search for oxygen tanks) at the higher elevations.

Technical/gameplay quibbles aside—and yes, I consider most of the drawbacks people mention to be minor—this game is pretty amazing. For the cost ($30 at many places), there's a good amount of gameplay (I clocked in at ~10 hours after beating it, and I've thought about going back and playing it again to try and find all the notes/messages I missed). The story, atmosphere, lore, etc. are pretty awesome.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

"Oh well. At least the instruction booklet is clear about it."

Instruction books, kickin' ass and taking names of digital in-game tutorials.  Glorious victory!

I gained a sense of satisfaction realizing that Eric's in-game progress and capabilities had a close context with the written adventure:  everything was geared toward preparing him to take on the Mountain both physically and symbolically.  Zelda games are classicaly known to bestow quirky fantasy abilities upon Link (HERE IS A BLUE TUNIC, YOUNG HERO.  WE JUST HAPPENED TO HAVE IT, SO TAKE IT), so it's nice to be given extra context to cement the pieces of the game world together; that is, we might learn a lot about the Master Sword, but hardly anything about the Megaton Hammer or the Mirror Shield.  In Eric's case, he acquires a new [something], and we're provided its practical/cultural significance within the game's world (aside from play mechanics); and they don't appear to be forced into the game without a fair amount of literary explanation, unlike THIS IS ZELDA SPINNER, GO SPIN ON RAILS!  BOSS IS CONVENIENTLY SURROUNDED BY RAILS!  WHAT-WHAT-WHAAAT!!!  (Metroid gets away with it by stating something called "magnetic rail technology" early on).  The Mountain represents multiple symbolic challenges, and Eric's experiences address each of them.

I was pleasantly surprised with the game length toward the end; the Mountain was a series of chapters by itself, whereas I thought everything would be over shortly after Base Camp.  Towards the the top, you got "intimate" with the Moutain and witnessed the game's talents in presenting the mountaintop environment.  Nice.

[Peachylala]

I need to play the game more.

I wonder if Nintendo's "hard-corez" are buying this game?

[GoldenPhoenix]

I need to play the game more.

I wonder if Nintendo's "hard-corez" are buying this game?

Probably not considering the price dropped so fast. I'm not buying it either because:

A) I am short on money

B) There are better quality games out there to get with my money, and I don't need to settle.

[ShyGuy]

I got this game last night. It reminds me of the PS1 survival horror games.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

Back when survival horror games were like survival horror, and not Rambo VS. Zombies, amirite?

[ShyGuy]

Exactly! It builds tension and focuses on the atmosphere.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

RE Zero Wii is coming out soon -- it offers the best in Survival Horror that the N64 almost offered.  Aren't you excited?

[Peachylala]

Shinji Mikami Horror without Shinji Mikami? SIGN ME UP!

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

Here's the last trailer I was too lazy to upload during September.  Too much animu and pr0grams lately.

>> Cursed Mountain
August 2009 launch trailer

[BeautifulShy]

Well I have some bad news. The developer that made the game has closed up shop. Deep Silver Viena I believe was the developer. This game was their first and they are no more. I was meaning to get this but I have had little money last year each month. Hope I can find this somewhere.

http://Http://gonintendo.com/viewstory.php?id=112685

[DAaaMan64]

Thats to bad. So Wii platform might be more dangerous than those HD ones after all. Everyone said games take to much to develop for on the other consoles, which I see. However, I see why we're a shitty audience to develop for too.

[mac<censored>]

Thats to bad. So Wii platform might be more dangerous than those HD ones after all. Everyone said games take to much to develop for on the other consoles, which I see. However, I see why we're a shitty audience to develop for too.

You got all that from the news that a single obscure developer went out of business?!

[Peachylala]

Cursed Mountain was not perfect, but that is sad to hear.

Thats to bad. So Wii platform might be more dangerous than those HD ones after all. Everyone said games take to much to develop for on the other consoles, which I see. However, I see why we're a shitty audience to develop for too.

Correction, the Wii is less dangerous. Nintendo's triple A games probably didn't cost as much, as say, Grin's Bionic Commando, which sunk Grin in one swift stroke.

[ShyGuy]

I bought the game, but I haven't finished it yet. This is too bad.

[Stratos]

Just placed an order for the game on Amazon.

They probably banked too much of their success on this one title. They spent well over a year working on it and developing tech to make it look nice. They should have followed High Voltage Software's model of making licensed and WiiWare games to support their true goals.