La5t Game You Fini5hed And Your Thought5

Balladeer wrote:

I'm not sure 'taking the bullet' is the term for 'encouraging bad devs to develop mediocre games with easy platinums with your wallet' I'd choose.  Sounds like a pretty blatant rip-off of viral game The Exit 8 as well.  

Right - Exit 8! Although to be honest to you and mas, I happened to see Exit 8 between the last time I was here and today, and I was like "oh that's what he means". But yeah, if we're just going to copy these, I'm going to start developing Service Station 11 (to be renamed Service Station 3 on release as I can't be arsed to think of any ideas)

The_Jaster wrote:

A David Szymanski games triple bill.

I don't know if I've heard of this chap before, but I admire his one-man gaming mission!

Like Jim I've never heard of this bloke, but you've got to admire that sheer level of imagination. That Chop Goblins theme is quality, for a specific meaning of the word, too. Good stuff, thanks for bringing him to the attention of the forum Jas!

The frame rate thing is a shame, but that seems to be happening more and more these days. The archetype for me is Melon Journey: Bittersweet Memories, a game that I moaned about a couple of times last year. It looks like this and yet stutters as you wander from screen to screen. I'd say that there's no excuse, but I suspect that indie devs simply target a higher level of baseline power these days and Switch falls below it. It doesn't feel like the natural home of indies in the way it did near launch.

Jimbob wrote:

I don't know if I've heard of this chap before, but I admire his one-man gaming mission!

Balla wrote:

Like Jim I've never heard of this bloke, but you've got to admire that sheer level of imagination. That Chop Goblins theme is quality, for a specific meaning of the word, too. Laughing Good stuff, thanks for bringing him to the attention of the forum Jas!

He's a dev at New Blood Interactive and was the lead designer of their biggest game DUSK, but they clearly let him release solo games too. On looking up more stuff about him apparently Squirrel stapler was part of a collection of indie games on steam called Dread X collection where they gathered 12 devs to make horror games in ten days which makes that one all the more impressive to me.

Balla wrote:

The frame rate thing is a shame, but that seems to be happening more and more these days. The archetype for me is Melon Journey: Bittersweet Memories, a game that I moaned about a couple of times last year. It looks like this and yet stutters as you wander from screen to screen. I'd say that there's no excuse, but I suspect that indie devs simply target a higher level of baseline power these days and Switch falls below it. It doesn't feel like the natural home of indies in the way it did near launch.

I think for Melon Journey & Chop Goblins (which looks like this) it's probably less of a hardware issue and more a lack of small or solo devs not being able to do much bug testing as they'd probably like to, then apparently Nintendo make patching stuff a complete ballache.

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Oh also don't think I mentioned all those games were the switch versions which I got for around £7.30p, worth 7 pounds? Yep.

Oh is it a "complete ballache"?  That's a real shame if so, it felt like Nintendo were turning a corner at the start of the generation with indie support.  Much thought I loathe "release now fix later" culture it does make more sense for smaller devs.

The flip side of those examples is something like Cassette Beasts, which went from unplayable to one of my top games of 2023 with a patch.  So it can be done!  It just... often isn't I guess.

I've wishlisted Goblins and Squirrels because they sound ruddy interesting, Iron Lung maybe a bit too much for me.

JayMoyles wrote:

I thought Sony were meant to be cracking down on these platinum-bait games that were infesting the store...?

Meant to be yeah, and we are seeing less of the press X to unlock platinum games. Yet I'm still not sure what they decide can & can't have a platinum as you got things like Foamstars & Season that don't have platinum, but The Street 10 does which is more of game than the press X games.

Anyway


What was good? The story though as I already know it, maybe I like it more than someone new to VII? The music again like story it's using great tracks already, like we all know how good One-Winged Angel is. VO and the world, it's just great.

What was less good? Has open world bloat of modern games of there's a tower climb it to show even more icons on the map blah blah

What was bobbins? We now have to wait what three or four years for part 3 which likely be a PS6 game.

Would I recommend it? Think most that would want to play it on here, already are and so is most of my friends list on PSN as it's just that darn good.

This of course the story finished, I still want to play some more of the game, I currently sit on 55hrs but sure to pass 60hrs maybe even beyond that.

Treesmurf wrote:

I've wishlisted Goblins and Squirrels because they sound ruddy interesting, Iron Lung maybe a bit too much for me.

Nice! I saw you are on FF7 rebirth at the minute so these would be the perfect palate cleanser type games after something long like that.

EDIT: Chop Goblins has had a patch so I played it for a bit again & honestly can't tell what it's done plus there's no patch notes anywhere. It could be placebo but it's seems a bit smoother in handheld mode than docked.

What was good? After finishing up with Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, which I put in a few more hours to get some more trophies and a bit of story, though what I saw came after doing all of ?????that was me done. Snuflin was a good wee palette cleanser of game to play after a rather big game and before another big one coming up soon.

Visually it looks like the 90s show, and just a simple adventure game playing as Snufkin, going around interacting with Moomins and the like, playing music and solving basic puzzles like move a rock to solve quests. Is some stealth sections as well, which the last one could see the younger audience struggling with.

What was less good? Maybe at £17 at around 3.5hrs might not be great, though the intended audience of Trees daughters that might be fine. I will say I paid £12 due to having gold on my Nintendo account

What was bobbins? Now I was playing FFVIIR in the 60fps mode, and I've not played my Switch for ages now, so it might just me going from the 60 to 30fps, but I have to say Snufkin ran terribly. The framerate would drop so low that you could see the game trying to catch back up with the frames, and then there's the load times which when you go to a new section of the map you'd get a load screen which felt like it was a minute long or more. Only thing with the load screens once you have been to a section it didn't need reloading that come the quest, you can all over the map fine, it's just the first time for it all took ages.

Again this might be a me thing, as I can't remember seeing this in reviews, just I can only tell you how I found the experience.

Would I recommend it? Yes and No as if you also get the performances like me then I could see it be pass as I know Balla has passed at the moment on Penny's Big Breakaway because of that. Yet I could see this being a good game for Trees daughters, and I did enjoy it myself as it worked well after Rebirth of the sort of game I'd want to play. Or wait for a port to PlayStation or Xbox I guess.

Who's interested in virtual novels?  Anybody?  No?  Alright, spoiler box it is.

A TALE OF TWO VIRTUAL NOVELS:

How can you call the language American but replace the word cookie with biscuit in cookie-cutter in the same post?

That's how you know it's proper British. Nobody in A;C would have the gumption to say "biscuit-cutter". And in Seventh Lair they'd probably misspell it or omit the hyphen or something.

What was good? Hanging out with Peach in her own game for like 20 years, with all these cool power ups to go on little adventures in the old Mario setup of this floor has multiple levels, do them take on a boss then unlock a new floor and so on.  

What was less good? Performance a tad, especially the transition between gameplay and cutscenes along with the load times. I just got to think now the Switch is seven years old, this is going to be the case. Though does make me think how big the ocean will be in Endless Ocean, if we're going to have load screens pop up, then BotW/TotK don't.

Maybe that's talked about on the cast, of Switch 2 to have a SSD, I need to check that out.

What was bobbins? Pretty short, I think my Switch just ticked over, played for 5hrs. Now I know I could get all the dresses, gems etc but that's not really for me, and I've enjoyed my time with the game. Another bobbins is I didn't play the demo, but from what I hear it wasn't great and has put people off the game, yet Peach I would say is better than the Yoshi and Kirby games we've had on Switch part from Forgotten Land.

Would I recommend it? Yes, it's an actual new Switch game this year, it stars Peach and like if this does well will we see Peach games like how we see Yoshi games, and it's better than most of those part from Forgotten Land.

Hmm. You're not the only person I've seen say something similar - that Showtime is something that'll appeal to fans of recent Yoshi games. And I did like Yoshi's Crafted World, but I liked it because it pulled off a very specific aesthetic really well. I'm not sure if Showtime has the same. I've also seen the point that the demo. doesn't really sell the game elsewhere (and not just on our Discord), which is what a demo. is meant to do. I'm conflicted, to the point where I'm probably not going to buy it myself but am keeping it in mind for the latter half of the year, when my birthday/anniversary/Christmas gifting triple whammy hits.

We do discuss the Switch 2 and SSDs on the podcast! You'll have to listen to find out what we say.

masofdas wrote:

Would I recommend it? Yes, it's an actual new Switch game this year

Brutal

I have no horse in this race, outside of interest in a potential Christmas present for my 8-year-old, but how is the difficulty? Is it easier than Luigi's Mansion 3?

A very rare double-post from yours truly.

Lara Croft and the Temple of Orisis (2014)



Finally completed this four-player co-op adventure (with four players too!) and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It's not the slickest, or smoothest example of gameplay in a puzzle-driven collectathon, but it is a brilliant example of how to do co-op gaming for two kids that still insist on plying hours into shite like Roblox, a woman that hasn't played much outside of SNES and Wii, and a tightwad infatuated with any game on sale below a fiver. Given this isn't called Tomb Raider, it's one of the most Tomb Raider-y games in the series, as you work your way through trap-infested temples in order to collect body parts of some old Greek God, so he can battle against some other god at the end (spoiler?). It's all a lot of nonsense, plot-wise, but I loved the journey. Puzzles aren't much more than moving giant balls on to switches, activating pillars to allow other players to go and pull a lever - you know the drill. It's not too different from the Lara Croft Go game, which I also enjoyed.

This game is frequently reduced to the price of a double cheeseburger, and you'll get at least ten hours of laughs if you play it with a few pals. Easy recommend - I just wish there were more of these types of games (we bounced off of Diablo 3).

8/10

Ah I'm glad that it worked out for you, I love couch co-op! Which presumably that is. But I haven't actually found many belters, and not many people seem to play much of it on here (largely due to lack of co-players), so I'm always happy to see other people's successful experiences of it. (Also to placate my 5-year-old mythology-obsessed self I'll say that Osiris was at least initially Egyptian, although the old religions often took over each other's gods upon subjugation.)

I liked those top-down multiplayer Tomb Raider Lara Croft games. The amount of puzzles in them make them feel like cleverer games than say, Gauntlet - the arcade original or its reboot a few years back - where it ends up just being "hey here's a room full of skeletons!" *sound of 4 A buttons repeatedly tapping*

Triple Bill

Was some chat on the discord around DD2 before its release, and Andy seemed down on the game because of the first. Which I think we all thought classic Andy and now well I come here a little bit after I finished DD2, to which I was going to say I agree with Andy then I see he platinumed DD2. That I have no idea if he didn't like the first but does the second or it's a classic Andy get the Platinum anyway.

I enjoyed the start of DD2 and the end where we get some story, just the middle part umm the core of game started to feel like a real slog to get through. Think Luke and Jas even Jay would still like the game, yet a Smurf or a EofGiz maybe not so much.


FREE Platinum, which as it's free not a bad ping pong block puzzle game.


This one might be kinda surprising as beforehand it was touted as a Soulslike and those & me haven't got on well. And yes RoR does have Souls elements like you lose karma when you die if not used at banner (like a campfire) then combat might look soulsy, though it is faster imo (I might be wrong) in what is more if a mix of an Ubisoft game (Do we need AC Japan now?) x Souls x Ghost in a game I really liked being a cool samurai in this historic setting.

Like if we're to do GOTY right now, this would be my number 2 game.

Balladeer wrote:

I'm not sure 'taking the bullet' is the term for 'encouraging bad devs to develop mediocre games with easy platinums with your wallet' I'd choose.  Sounds like a pretty blatant rip-off of viral game The Exit 8 as well.  

Just saw the Japanese Indie show which Exit 8 was in, yeah Street 10 is a copy but not sure if Exit 8 looks any better. You know why it was a viral hit? As Suika game, was at least fun to play.

Japan also had some other cool looking games, Bō: Path of the Teal Lotus for instance.

No idea. I presume some screamer streamer played it and went 'AAAAAAAA! AAAAAAAA! AAAAAAAAA' whenever one of the more major anomalies happened, but then I hate all young people.

masofdas wrote:

I enjoyed the start of DD2 and the end where we get some story, just the middle part umm the core of game started to feel like a real slog to get through. Think Luke and Jas even Jay would still like the game, yet a Smurf or a EofGiz maybe not so much.

I'm very much up for Dragon's Dogma from what I've heard about it, sounds like the kind of thing I'd sink a lot of hours in to which is part of the problem, I just can't do that at the minute, I don't think I'm even a quarter through FF7 Rebirth at this point.

Certainly be interested in your thoughts if you do as I say it felt like a slog to get through, and only did it to basically post here to say I did otherwise think I would have given it up.

A throuple of miniature reviews for the good people of this parish (and the others), including one game that's currently 80% off:

BOTANY MANOR:

LAIR OF THE CLOCKWORK GOD:

CHICO AND THE MAGIC ORCHARDS DX:

I enjoyed your little write-ups there Balla, but they all told me I would not enjoy those games.

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Although I've been busy and knackered lately as I commute between cities until I can move, I've managed to finish some games!

Princess Peach Showtime!


This is quite a difficult game for me to write about. Firstly, it's a Princess Peach game primarily about seeing her in cute outfits doing cool stuff. That just appeals to me in a way I'm sure it doesn't for everyone. Secondly, it isn't really one big game but ten separate games with three levels each, plus a little extra for the final boss. And lastly, it's a light and breezy little game which I actually put a lot of time and effort into 100%ing because there are additional costumes to unlock and of course I was going to.

As a Peach game, I think this nails it. The various outfits are cute, beautiful and regal in good measures. She's a boss throughout, but without it feeling like cringe, 90s girl power stuff. She's competent and cool while still having elements of femininity in what she's doing and wearing. I think this would genuinely be a good role model for little girls - she's tough without it being a thing, and girlish without it being a weakness.

The 10 different costumes and game modes vary a lot. Cowgirl, Swordfighter and Ninja were really fun little action / platformer things. Phantom Thief, Ice Skater and Mermaid are decent little puzzle-platformers. Kung Fu and Mighty are engaging enough button bashers. Detective is a sort of point and click thing that moves too slowly and has puzzles a slug could solve. Patissier is a pair of minigames which are harmless to complete, actually a little challenging to get perfect.

These minor challenges would be one thing if they were easy to restart, but sometimes I would get to the end, realise I didn't do well enough to get one of the stars (or missed a secret) and then could only try again by restarting the level, which would involve some slow dialogue scenes and a whole other minigame first. Not a problem if you're neurotypical, but for someone insistent on unlocking everything . . .

I don't know if I can recommend this game. It was a must-play for me, and I really did adore it at times, but y'all knew that from the title.

Devil May Cry


As a big Bayonetta/ Platinum Games/ Hideki Kamiya fan, it was kind of ridiculous how little experience I had with this series. I played a bit of 4 because we got code for a Gintendo Review, and . . . that's it, I think? Other than that, I knew about Dante, I knew this was the origin of Character Action as we know it, and I knew it was born out of a Resi 4 prototype.

Dante, and the characters and stories generally, are extremely cheesy in a very of-their-time, PS2-era, long coats and bullet time way. This is as 2001 as it gets, but luckily I'm right in the pocket to have a semi-ironic and very nostalgic affection for that particular genre of cool. I was also surprised how earnest Dante is - he has cool guy lines here and there, but he's quite a pure good guy here.

As a character action game, it does show its age. It has a lives system with a pretty rare collectible you otherwise have to buy, which lead to me early on playing levels through multiple times to get through them without dying, which actually honed my skills and saved a bunch of currency and items so I could brute force some obnoxiously tough sections later. The biggest thing which I think starkly differentiates earlier action games like this and No More Heroes from the games I really love like Bayonetta or From's stuff is that dodging is not a simple command - it involves holding a shoulder button, hitting the jump button and pushing a context sensitive direction. I was doing it eventually, but it never felt at my fingertips the way it does in those other games I mentioned.

The other thing that made action a little janky by modern standards was the fixed camera angles. I was actually surprised how easy it was to see the Resident Evil DNA here. There are horror elements, the whole games takes place around one castle (and then through a portal to hell), and the pacing and exploring initially feels similar. As the action ramps up, its closer to the games it spawned than the game that spawned it.

I can see the seeds of the games I love here - even down to Kamiya's habit of switching to a little Space Harrier level unexpectedly, or the specific aesthetic of Bayonetta's statuesque angels revealing gross flesh underneath when damaged.

I don't know that I'll replay this over and over like Bayonetta, but as a history piece it was essential to me and as an actual game, it was a good time for the most part. That nightmare boss can fuck off though - big weird blob that has to be fought three times almost in a row.

Hey, if they're entertaining and helped you make up your mind on a game then that's all I can ask for really!  Speaking of which, you've helped me make my mind up on Peach with that.  If I ever got it (as a birthday gift or whatever) I'd definitely be trying for all the collectables.  For somebody who's not a big Peach head, that doesn't sound very appealing at all.

That DMC .gif.


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You know how certain reviews start with, "If you don't love x genre/series this won't change your mind"?  This isn't one of those.  Paranormasight would be enjoyed by a fair few people who aren't fans of visual novels.  It's got a bit more player engagement than some in the genre (a bit mark you), including some more point-and-click-like sections.  It's got high production values, a well-written cast, and a complete lack of anime fanservice.

When Square Enix isn't busy peddling blockchain guff, it occasionally puts out mid-budget Matthew Castle-pleasing reading games.  Last year it was the decidedly average and overpriced Centennial Case: this year it's this much better game.  It's based around the real-life Seven Wonders of Honjo, of which there are more than seven; but it turns the mostly innocuous set of stories (e.g. a tree that doesn't lose its leaves) into a set of decidedly less innocuous curses, and constructs a game of death around them.  The first few hours of this, at night while the curses rampage, are properly terrifying stuff (bear in mind that I'm a big wuss) filled with "bad ends".

My main criticism of Paranormasight is that it doesn't keep this up.  Dawn eventually breaks, and the game becomes a multi-part detective game with less emphasis on horror.  This is still strong: the game's multiple protagonists feed into each others' stories, and they're very well written.  My favourite is the housewife, a genuinely deranged lady who's all out of fucks to give, but they're all good.  Well portrayed too: the art is pretty dynamic for a VN, and dynamically pretty to boot.  It's just... I quite enjoyed the spooks of the initial stages, and the Battle Royale sense of it all.  The game feels like it pulls a bit of a bait-and-switch by sidelining that stuff.

Despite that and some arguable pacing issues in the later stages, this remains a high watermark for the genre - ironic because you'll certainly see plenty of water marks at the beginning of the game.  (Lethal ones.)  It's perfect on Switch too, playing it in handheld for the most part like any good VN but blowing it up onto the TV screen for the bigger narrative swings.  I know Andy's played and loved this and I'd imagine Mas would too, but anybody who doesn't mind a lot of reading in their games would enjoy a tourism board-sponsored trip around haunted Honjo.