Games I played that I enjoyed, but didn't finish because either I'm not good at the genre or certain aspects frustrated me too much to bother finishing them
Lumines Remastered
I also hit a wall with Lumines. It is really tough to complete, but I continue to peck away at the puzzle mode.
Lumines, baby! It's the 2021 game for Switch it would seem. Started getting into last year and have also been getting rebuffed by its difficulty. *fist pump* Boo-yah!
I little while ago I was talking about it with the Pietriots and this is what I said at the time:
Khushrenada
I was so close to finally starting and trying out Hollow Knight and the Metroid Dread came out and it was like, well, guess I got my Metroidvania fill.
Now I’m playing the PSP killer app Lumines
You had your chance Hollow Knight and Nintendo stabbed you in the back
Redacted
lumines is basically the metroidvania of falling block puzzle games to be fair
Khushrenada
I’m really impressed with Lumines. It’s pretty difficult though and I’m not a big “falling block” type gamer. Have only really gotten into Tetris and trying to get better at that in the past couple years because of Tetris 99.
However, Lumines seems to be the best puzzle game since Tetris.
Redacted
yeah it's a tricky game to start with, especially timing when to match the blocks
Khushrenada
Better than Puyo Puyo or Planet Puzzle League (or Yoshi ) as far as I’m concerned
Redacted
(i've never been able to figure out puyo puyo lol)
Khushrenada
Or Meteos, one of the other few puzzle games I actually spent a lot of time playing
Just a bit better than Zoo Keeper DS as well.
Redacted
zoo keeper!!
the secret best DS launch game
Khushrenada
I mainly played Puyo Puyo via Kirby’s Avalanche on SNES. Actually made it to the final of Dedede. Didn’t defeat him. Gave up. Needed the rewind function but it didn’t exist at that time.
Now it's the killer app of the Switch, I suppose. Way back when the PSP and DS first came out, a friend of mine got the PSP soon after it launched (and felt pretty sure it would beat the DS
) and he had Lumines for it. I got to briefly see it in action and might have even played it for 5 minutes or so. Can't really recall know but the he described it as being a bit hypnotic with its blend of music and falling puzzle action and I did like the look and sound of it from what I saw though that was just the first and maybe second skins I saw in action. A falling puzzle games with techno beats did seem like it could be a fun thing but that alone wasn't going to make me get a PSP.
Unclebob had a forum thread some time ago asking what game you most associate with a system. For instance, if someone said NES perhaps you immediately think of Duck Hunt or Super Mario Bros. or some other game. For me, when I think of the PSP, Lumines is the first game I think of. I can think of a couple other games for the system that seemed alright but that brief experience with it and seeing Lumines basically has entwined the two together since I had very little other exposure to the system in the years after. When I saw it on the eShop, it got put on my wishlist and when I sale came along I finally dove in but still didn't get around to playing it out until this year.
I must say, I don't find it hypnotic. More frantic instead. Like you all seem to be posting. I also have been hitting a bit of a wall early on and having a hard time making more progress in it. I've been stymed in the Mission section by one Hard Mission in which I need to clear 150 blocks in 3 minutes. I was playing it again last night and got to 144. Urghhh! So close. Best I've done so far. A few days ago, it was 125 that was my best. So, there is some slight improvement there. I'm around 55% or 56% done the Puzzles and that mode has been alright. I'd like to unlock all the skins from the Challenge mode but I haven't been able to get past 45% for awhile now. Last night, I played it and bombed out at the skin just before the last one I've been able to get to. Played another round of Basic Challenge and was doing so much better. I was getting a bunch of one color left Bonuses and even cleared out all the blocks at one point around the 7 or 8 skin. It was the best early game management I'd done so far. And then it just started falling apart on me. The subtle jump in speed is still too much right now and I ended up defeated at the same lousy grey and purple skin that has been my furthest reach so far.
I know I need to be looking more at what's coming to already have an idea or start planning where I want to drop some of these blocks instead of reacting as they start falling but still need more practice there. Yet, the speed they start dropping makes difficult already to get them where I want in time even when I have an idea or know what's coming. Then there's the slider which can also have an effect on plans. Sometimes I have a block drop and split thinking this will now create a chain reaction only for that reaction to not happen because the slider was there and removed part of the blocks that had started to merge and ruined the expected chain reaction. I was expecting chill action not frustrating madness. Can't imagine what the speed would be like further into the challenge unless it just stays that way and it is about just being able to manage at that speed for a long time.
As well, I'd say that so far I've liked 40% or so of the skins I've encountered. Lot of stinkers in there which is also a bit disappointing. I guess they can't all be bangers like Shake Your Body or even the first skin. For now, I'll keep booting up the game from time to time and seeing if I can't slowly improve and chip away at it. Again, the base gameplay of mixing and matching squares is really well done and if that part wasn't as good and was more like Puyo-Puyo then I'd likely be writing off the game at this point.
Topic: Games Beaten, Completed, or Played in 2021 (Read 2156 times)
