Last Game You Finished And Your Four-ghts

I don't know what Matthew Castle has to say about the newest Ratchet, but for me there are too many invisible walls, too much incomplete geometry ("no you can't stand on that"), and too many places you can bug out or get stuck. By those measures even Balan comes out favourably!

Castle has said a few times Ratchet series isn't a platformer.

Interesting on all that about Rift apart, have seen some of it with people showing the bushes etc

I really consider Ratchet a shooter with platforming elements, but also, who cares?

Well the Masofdas award for best platformer 2021 is very prestigious.

Any game with a jump button is a platformer.

That's Balan out of the running.

Buskalilly wrote:

Any game with a jump button is a platformer.

I'm counting MH Rise's wirebugs as jumps then so I can call it a hunting platformer game.

The three games with the best platforming gamefeel are Mario Odyssey, Celeste, and Monster Hunter Rise

masofdas wrote:

Finished P2 last night, but today went for a few more achievements that I could get without turning the game into let's go collect all the things. P2 is a darn good game, that shame I missed the first and that for someone like Jim had to wait & back a sequel.

You're welcome. I hope you spotted my name in the credits.
Also - seriously - SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE IT'S FINALLY HERE! I've got it downloaded on the PS4, and will start as soon as I've got more free time after my overtime nonsense.

Muss wrote:

Outer wilds wasn't for me, but it's definitely the better game. Its loops are and it's just really nice exploring it. I just think I don't find 3d exploration that engaging, which is why I bounced off it before I found everything out. But I can't fault the game for that and I could easily watch or listen to someone showing or telling what secrets the game has. I don't think I ever felt like the game was doing something arbitrary,  I just didn't puzzle everything out.

I might try it again at some point.

Balladeer wrote:

Ah, I'm really nervous about trying Outer Wilds.  I love 3D exploration, so long as there are some good mechanics to go along with it; and I like solving puzzles and feeling clever; but I really hate time limits in games.  I'm still probably going to try it, I just worry that I won't 'get it'.

Speaking of

I think this game has given me confidence that I still like video games. Like, really, since Breath of the Wild, this has been the one that's restored the faith. If I wrote what I wanted to about this game, it'd be a post of Athrunian quantity, so from now on I'm going to get in the theme of the game and talk in little bullet points to beat the timer

• I really like the 3D exploration - one of my favourite things in games is to go poking around for secrets (Sorry Muss that wasn't for you)
  
• Unlike your generic fantasy/space station, each of the planets does something totally impossible in real life, therefore much more interesting
  
• Playing as aliens who are deciphering the work of another species of aliens means you can't rely on what you know outside of the game
  
• No boss battles or any shit like that - you proceed through the game by discovering and learning things
  
• @Balla it's very unlikely you actually hit your time limit halfway through something (although it does happen inevitably) - it's more a mechanic to make puzzles and events happen on a specific timer
  
• The timer and the restricted setting are a good thing, meaning you eke out so much of each location, and there's a familiarity not present in e.g. the most recent God of War
  
• One central thing that you discover about the physics is like nothing I've seen before in a game
  
• The characters don't hit you over the head with their back stories - a lot of indie games are a bit heavy handed with this, but in general everyone you meet is fun
  
• Very much like Ghost Trick, the story is really second fiddle to the puzzles...
  
• ...and very much like Ghost Trick

  ooh actually spoiler:

• I only wish there was more.
  
• [zoidberg]What? The 28th? Hooray![/zoidberg]
  

10/10/10/10/10/10/10/10/10/10/10/10/10/10/10/10/10/10/10/10/10/10/10/10/10/10/10/10/10/10/10/10/10/10/10/10

Friendly reminder that Balan Wonderworld was bollocks. Also, how long did The Outer Worlds take you to finish? You've made it sound really good.

I would be curious on your thoughts Cappa on Outer Wilds, as from what I know about the game very much not your thing. Maybe, and I might be wrong, didn't you have an idea of playing games we normally wouldn't play after you played Chrono Trigger?

Anyway I finished

Lake is very much a Mas indie game where you leave your job in the big city to move back home for two weeks to do your Dads job as a mail carrier in 1980s rural America. You go around delivering mail for 14 days and interact with the townsfolk, with quests like help the crazy cat lady, this all leads into a few choices at the end of the game.

Its not reviewed very well and even though I was playing it on Series X where it has smart delivery etc it is a tad buggy, one point mail I delivered was floating in the air instead of being in the mailbox.  

Maybe it should have had more development time, yet I think they wanted to get it out as it launched on September 1st and the game starts on September 1st. Even with the bugs, I enjoyed my time with Lake and even got footage of me playing.

Sorry to interrupt the Lake talke - to answer the question

The Cappuccino Kid wrote:

Also, how long did The Outer Worlds take you to finish? You've made it sound really good.

That's a good question - my play time is so sporadic, and I also crashed my spaceship a lot. If you were really good you could probably go and read everything in about 5 hours, but really it was between 10 and 15. And just as long thinking about it when I wasn't playing it.

Outer Wilds is another game that constantly reminds me I need to play more games and not devote so much time to stuff I've already played. Another game that made me feel that way until recently was:



Chicory: A Colorful Tale

I've never watched one of those Wholesome Directs but the bits I see of it always have me thinking "ooh that looks nice" but then I forget about them as they fade in to the background. Chicory managed to break the mould, it's one of the best reviewed games of the year and this is for very good reasons.

I'm not gonna go too much in to this one as I believe it's something you should lose yourself in, you play as an unnamed character who has found themselves the new wielder of a magic paintbrush, the brush can paint anything and just as well because all of the world's colour has suddenly vanished. From there on you set off to find out why and how, colouring in the world as you go along. Gameplay is basically like a top down Zelda but combat is limited to boss battles and all puzzles are based around the brush and its powers, said puzzles are never too taxing but still satisfying to complete, probably because your paint will fill the map as you do so.

My favourite part though comes via the interactions you have with each character, it's not all sickly sweet that's for sure but I couldn't help but come away feeling happy from most conversations. It has a lot of messages to share and in my probably not so informed opinion it nails them as a number characters go through their own journey. Add in a great soundtrack from Lena Raine of Celeste fame and you've got yourself one heck of an enjoyable experience, it's a sheer joy from start to finish and you'll feel better having spent your time with it.

10/10 a mastahpiece

The whole "restoring colour to the world" gimmick seemed so cool when I first heard about it but every time I see another game doing it now it just sounds more and more unimaginative. Like I read that and just think okay, cool, I guess I could go play Epic Mickey or De Blob. Which I'm sure is me being unfair, but I just can't get excited about the mechanic!

Let's be honest, that picture of a dog looks better than anything Epic Mickey or De Blob ever showed off. Chicory feels like a really good fit for Switch and I don't know why it hasn't made the leap yet. There's no way it's too much for the machine.

Jimbob wrote:

@Balla it's very unlikely you actually hit your time limit halfway through something (although it does happen inevitably) - it's more a mechanic to make puzzles and events happen on a specific timer

IT CAN SOD OFF THEN nah it sounds great, very much up for it. I'll suffer through the time limit.

Colouring in the world isn't really the main focus anyway, I didn't even bother doing it till about halfway through the game and that was by choice, you're never pushed to, it just makes the game more pleasant if you give it some colour. The main reason to play it is the story and how various characters handle the responsibility of being the Wielder of the brush.

I fully expect it to come to Switch eventually, the audience will likely be much bigger there and it'd probably look gorgeous on the handheld screen.

Balladeer wrote:

Let's be honest, that picture of a dog looks better than anything Epic Mickey...ever showed off.

Of all the games to go for, Epic Mickey was the wrong one:

Best Promo Art Ever?:

@treesmurf I thought Chicory sounded class, but that part where you've said that it's basically top-down Zelda has put me right off

The best "paint the world" game is Splatoon, anyway.

Treesmurf wrote:

a great soundtrack from Lena Raine of Celeste fame

No that has got me interested.

The Cappuccino Kid wrote:

Of all the games to go for, Epic Mickey was the wrong one:

Best Promo Art Ever?:

Now you've gone for the wrong one - Balla will hate that because it's dark.

Chicory is on my PSN wishlist, just it's when I can get to it. Maybe Balla, could play it on his Mac, get some money back on that.

I'll have to give Chicory a go as I think it looks lovely. I normally skip over these sorts of games too but this one looks too good to miss.

Buskalilly wrote:

The best "paint the world" game is Splatoon, anyway.

Treesmurf wrote:

a great soundtrack from Lena Raine of Celeste fame

No that has got me interested.

I have the Lena Raine Celeste: Farewell vinyl so that is very good to hear.

Finally managed to play Astro and its darn good showing of the DualSense much the way Wii Sport showed of the Wiimote, mixed in with a decent platformer which jokingly about platformer of the year if this was a 2021 game think it certainly be in the running.

Will look to get the Platinum in it at some point as well, and hope we see more of Astro on PS5.

Astro's Playroom is fantastic, it's still the best PS5 exclusive

Buskalilly wrote:

Treesmurf wrote:

a great soundtrack from Lena Raine of Celeste fame

No that has got me interested.

That was originally what got me interested too.

Buskalilly wrote:

The Cappuccino Kid wrote:

Of all the games to go for, Epic Mickey was the wrong one:

Now you've gone for the wrong one - Balla will hate that because it's dark.

...well haven't I become predictable. (Also that promo art is still better than anything else I'd seen from Epic Mickey prior.)