La5t Game You Fini5hed And Your Thought5

Balladeer wrote:

Speaking of, I wish somebody had warned me off Arranger.  It's been getting a lot of good scores I just can't agree with.  The puzzles are of a decent quality, and they have an adequate amount of evolution through the 3-5h of the game, and if that was all of it (with maybe a bit more to them?  It feels like the game's missing a final-act evolution) I'd be more positive than I was.  I wasn't, because the dialogue is terrible stuff.  Sub-Tumblr-level "inspirational" guff about the importance of being different, explained in 20 different ways with 20 bad characters.  I also didn't like the art, which I appreciate is more of a personal thing but there's not much animation so bear in mind that what you see in statics is worse than you see in-game.  This is free if you have Netflix and in that case you may as well give it a shot, but don't spend too much time on it if you don't like the first bit: it doesn't get any better.  5/10

Aw, man - I think I'd heard similar, and am disappointed, as it looked like a great idea. It's difficult to relate to someone who feels out of place when they have some universe-bending superpower!

A few more, which do have vids on all three on my YT that have done okay and one video post State of Play now on over 500 views

Deep Beyond

Got this of the back of Games Asylum review, which admittedly they did only give a 6/10 but sounded interesting that I put in a review request myself which I didn't get. I got my Concord refund, bought Elden Ring still had some money left and saw DB was £6 that for that I'd buy, at worse do some content on it.

Yeah, from GA review it was some I enjoyed an hour-long narrative walking sim type game with a unique art-style like the ocean is orange with some good music, okay VO which was the ideal sort of game between Astro Bot and

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine II

Brothers for the glory of the emperor will you play this content rich but overall very samey game? Space Marine II has three modes, the campaign which is around 7hrs long over 5 operations that can be played in CO-OP if you wish. Just no matter how cool it is to rip Tyranids apart and blast everything to kingdom come, the mission structure is very much walk down a hallway get some story beats, press a button for an elevator, wait 10 mins for it fighting waves of enemies repeat. By the time, I got to the end, I wouldn't have wanted much more of it.

SMII also have a CO-OP mode which has six operations which are all tied to the main story, and around 30mins each of these operations, that are mostly the same structure as the main campaign which was fun enough playing with randoms, and you play as class in this, so I played a healer type class which made it a little different.

Then it has PvP, which is great, just after a while I can just see people going to COD or whatever for this type of thing. I sound rather down on the game, it's just an odd one like what it does it does very well and the perfect amount of it, like if the campaign was 3hrs that be too short but if it was 15 hrs then feel it would have got boring.

The Plucky Squire

I even got the platinum for this in the end, though has to play twice due to a big that even a patch didn't fix for me. Which from that you may have guessed I liked the game a lot, mostly in the 2D mode which it was a tad Zelda-like mixed with Lost Words due the word puzzles. However, the 3D portion which being outside the book didn't have like the word puzzles, it's more climb to the top of this tower fighting enemies along the way with light platforming which serviceable enough.

I'd hope the devs for their next game just expand on what was here in the 2D sections and make a decent Zelda-like game.

Interestingly, that sounds ideal for Space Marine - I like a game that just does its thing and does it well. I don't need every game to be everything!

You're the most positive person I've heard talk about TPS, but based on your history it being good because its like old Zeldas is a red flag . . .

Yeah Space Marine II does what it says on the tin.

Don't know anyone else who's played TPS part from the Save Slot 3 lot which Craig did like it. Only other person seen talk about is Balla, who's not playing due to performance on Switch.

Andy plays everything mind, so maybe see what he says though we know he can be odd.

Yep I was really excited for TPS, and then Nintendo Life shrugged its shoulders, and then frankly everybody else on other platforms apart from Mas shrugged their shoulders, and now I'm thinking I might not be missing out on much.

TPS was fine, but at no point did it decide to try and be anything more than a decent time. So much potential, but ultimately they didn't build anything to use any of it.

Right - I gotta talk about

ANIMAL WELL
in case that image disappears in the future

When I was playing games as a very small lad, on the BBC Micro and the Amstrad, and there were puzzle adventures, where you could see a locked room in the corner of the screen with a shiny object in it, but hadn't any idea where the key for that door is, and any new place you got to was an exciting discovery... Animal Well is what those game would've become with the sensibility of modern game design, had they not disappeared.
This is exactly the sort of game I wish I made (and - for 20 years probably - have been gearing up to do, without the confidence or time to do so).
That's not to say there aren't some sticky points; early on, before you have your full range of tools, and there are some sections which are still a gauntlet, and you haven't got as many shortcuts, it can feel a bit daunting, and you bounce off it a bit (Balla, I suspect you were at that point, and I can understand completely) - reviewers of the completed game do forget that there is a barrier of sorts.
But eventually you get through this, and you realise that (sorry, spoilery a bit, but you can't avoid this if you read more than 2 sentences about the game elsewhere) your random set of power ups all have a hidden extra use, you discover more secrets, and you think your way through to the final "boss".

I cannot stress how much I would rather play a game like this, where the time has been spent on the things you do, regardless of the (complete lack of) story, than listen to some badly-written character talk for 20 minutes before you walk to the next arrow where another guy talks for 20 minutes.

Anyway, that's the end of my review, and it makes it onto the Jimbob top 500

BUT THEN:

I actually finished this a few days ago but continued on playing some more as it is a fun universal to be in with the cool bosses.

I feel I should go a bit into it a bit more but talked in the FROM thread, done a wee video on my YT and you all either played it or know you're not going to.

Maybe you're shocked that I did finish the game, played more after that and makes me again think about trying Demon's Remake as it's in Plus or Wo Long as I have on disc from when I got from GAME when selling off used games.

masofdas wrote:

you all either played it or know you're not going to.

Well, you say that, but you were someone I thought would never go and finish a FROM game.

This would actually be like my fourth FROM game, I've finished but who remembers Otogi.

Though I was originally referring to people on this site, and who's left that hasn't played Elden Ring, Balla? Even if we got a Switch 2 port, I just can't seem him playing the game.

Jimbob wrote:

Right - I gotta talk about

ANIMAL WELL
in case that image disappears in the future

When I was playing games as a very small lad, on the BBC Micro and the Amstrad, and there were puzzle adventures, where you could see a locked room in the corner of the screen with a shiny object in it, but hadn't any idea where the key for that door is, and any new place you got to was an exciting discovery... Animal Well is what those game would've become with the sensibility of modern game design, had they not disappeared.
This is exactly the sort of game I wish I made (and - for 20 years probably - have been gearing up to do, without the confidence or time to do so).
That's not to say there aren't some sticky points; early on, before you have your full range of tools, and there are some sections which are still a gauntlet, and you haven't got as many shortcuts, it can feel a bit daunting, and you bounce off it a bit (Balla, I suspect you were at that point, and I can understand completely) - reviewers of the completed game do forget that there is a barrier of sorts.
But eventually you get through this, and you realise that (sorry, spoilery a bit, but you can't avoid this if you read more than 2 sentences about the game elsewhere) your random set of power ups all have a hidden extra use, you discover more secrets, and you think your way through to the final "boss".

I cannot stress how much I would rather play a game like this, where the time has been spent on the things you do, regardless of the (complete lack of) story, than listen to some badly-written character talk for 20 minutes before you walk to the next arrow where another guy talks for 20 minutes.

Anyway, that's the end of my review, and it makes it onto the Jimbob top 500

BUT THEN:

Hell yes to all of this! But especially this:

Jimbob wrote:

I cannot stress how much I would rather play a game like this, where the time has been spent on the things you do, regardless of the (complete lack of) story, than listen to some badly-written character talk for 20 minutes before you walk to the next arrow where another guy talks for 20 minutes.

I don't think I would TBH.  I like having a reason for my quest, even if it's obscure like it was in Tunic.  God damn it though you sell that game Jim, if I hadn't played it and not liked it that much that would be making me go and buy it.



God it's nice to have a Zelda game isn't it?  Or rather, a 2D Zelda game.  A 2D Zelda game that feels like the handheld Zelda games of yore, on a machine that was meant to embrace both but feels like it's let that side slide a bit sometimes.  And a new one at that, no re-heating of Game Boy titles here.  Yep, this feels nice.

That feel does a lot here, because I actually find it quite easy to criticise EoW.  The central Echoes system for one, where you end up with 100 different Echoes (including three types of pot) and struggle to use them all, or navigate to them all.  Why can't we have Favourite Echoes?  Or another button that lets me use them?  Oh I forgot, one interface button's dedicated to the slow breakable automata. The inclusion of a "become Link" button feels a teensy bit like an acknowledgement that the system isn't quite as immediate sometimes as would be ideal.  Speaking of lack of immediacy, there's the lack of quick restart in the minigames, the yapping on of Tri and the Zoras in particular, and not all the dungeons being super-clever.

Okay that last one's nothing to do with a lack of immediacy, but I wanted to wrap up the negatives there.

Because - it is nice to have a Zelda game, isn't it?  Complete with some very pleasant returning aspects.  Some old enemies, River Zoras, two of the species in the latter half of the game, dungeons... ah yes dungeons.  I've seen some complaints, and I think they do lack the focus of the "Mas' Golden Age Zelda" dungeons, but I think there are some really good ones and once again it's just nice to have them back.  It's nice to be able to ride a horse in a 2D Zelda too.  And of course it's nice to be able to crush foes under an avalanche of summoned beasties.

That's the whole game in a nutshell I think.  Flawed yes, but it has a polish and an attention to detail and world design and various features that are all classic Nintendo at a handheld gaming level.  It's just nice!




EDIT:


One for the weebs and Goemon fans, apparently - I only ever played the first Goemon on VC, so the much-lauded Mystical Ninja is a blind spot for me.  Luckily Bakeru holds up on its own merits.  You play a human-form tanuki with a drum who goes around beating up a bunch of "festival troops" that feel yokai-ish in design.  Quite often there's some platforming, and there's an exploration element too where you look for trophies and also trivia handed out by a talking poo.  Occasionally you'll pilot a ridiculous giant robot, and there are a variety of set-pieces with a cube dog.  If that hasn't already sold you on the game, reggiewhatswrongwithyou.gif

I was impressed by Bakeru's size - it looks like it's going to be quite a bite-sized game, as befitting its download-only nature (until February), but then opens up dramatically.  There are more than 60 levels if you include the boss fights, around 50 otherwise, based on the various prefectures of Japan.  I loved this bit!  It's really interesting (for the most part) to see a Japanese developer's take on their own regions.  Makes me wonder what the English equivalents would be.  Apple orchards and Roman baths in Somerset, trekking over mountains in Yorkshire/Lancashire, separationists and scones in Cornwall...  But I digress.  Nara and Miyazaki stood out here, but I'd be interested in Buska's views on the levels.  The bosses, based around Japanese folk heroes but given their own twists, are also pretty good.  

There's a decent amount of variety in Bakeru over those 50-odd levels.  There isn't quite enough to keep going through the game.  Those interesting enemies keep coming, but the variety dries up more than a bit later on; and a couple of themes are reused to the point of ennui.  I rolled my eyes when I reached the third tropical resort level.  Also, big point to note: it's easy.  Apart from a couple of enemy gamuts in the later game, Bakeru is easy from start to finish.  There's no real challenge here, especially if you use the full extent of the moveset, apart from some of the more irritating platforming bits.  You're more likely to be bored by combing another wide-open area for the turd chap than you are to be challenged.  Finally, the frame rate targets 60 but jumps back and forth.  A steady 30 in an easy game would have been fine.  This does my eyes in a tad.

Still, I'd recommend Bakeru.  It's a lot of slightly unhinged-feeling fun, with a feeling that GoodFeel threw a whole bunch of ideas at a game and used most of them.  Good final confrontation too.  Weebs and Goemon fans should give it a look.

BONUS? The Star Named Eos:

I reckon I'll have to give Bakeru a go.

I finished a game!



Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth

This was a weird little game. Whenever a Pokémon game is criticised for being rushed or low-budget, this is one of the games people point to as how it should be done. A more involved story with voice acting and anime cutscenes make it feel much more impressive, but very limited, repeating environments with static cameras make it feel much cheaper.

The Digimon themselves were treated oddly as well, with some cool ones in the story but my own party not feeling like characters at all. Combined with how freely they could be acquired, evolved, de-evolved, etc, there wasn't much connection with them at all, apart from when I used ones I alread recognised from elsewhere or when I finally put together my team of cunty 10-foot superwomen.

The game was pretty easy, especially as on Switch Digimon in the farms will keep levelling up while the game is in sleep mode. I had a full team of three powerful, complimentary Mega-levels way before the half-way point and only lost one battle in the entire run-time.

I don't think this is "better" than Pokémon Sword, or Scarlet, or any of them to be honest, but it can scratch different itches. That being said, I think those itches (storytelling, maturity) were much better scratched by Digimon Survive. I also felt that game delivered more on the Digimon concept as I like it - the Digimon were characters in themselves, the premise made Digimon feel more monster and less Digital, and it was a bit less up itself lore-wise.

One other weird thing - both Cyber Sleuth and Survive make up their own not-digimon bad guy things, presumably because the team didn't have their own free reign to design new Digimon for the final act.

I was one of those folks who, after playing the original Cyber Sleuth and Pokémon Shield, wished Pokémon would take some leaves out of CS' book.  I didn't think CS was better per se, and now I definitely wouldn't say that.  If the original felt like it was trying harder than Pokémon did at the time, Hacker's Memory felt like the epitome of a low-effort sequel, and tainted CS by association.  Bottom line: maybe don't play Hacker's Memory.  

Buskalilly wrote:

I reckon I'll have to give Bakeru a go.

Ah ace!  As I've said many a time I'd be keen for your views on that.



The final season of the remastered episode Telltale Sam & Max trilogy, and the only one that didn't originally come to Wii.  I thought the first season of Save the World was very good but a weak final act meant I soured on it each time I thought about it; meanwhile Beyond Time & Space was a bunch of stinkers, relatively speaking.  Its cases took place over too-large areas with too many things to explore and obscure solutions.  Also: lots of baby characters.  It was a real fall from grace.

Devil's Playhouse greatest trick is pretty simple: it has big cases divided up into small chunks.  These can be chunks you progress through in linear fashion, or... er, not.  (The second case is particularly clever with this.)  In doing so it keeps the epic scope befitting the final game in the trilogy without making things feel bloated like BT&S.  It also mothballs some previous characters (so long Soda Poppers, please never come back) to give fresh ones a chance to shine, and tones down Max's manic qualities to more bearable levels.  The third trick it plays is giving Max a set of consistent and reusable psychic powers, even if you don't always have access to the same set.   This and the character development make him feel like a solid protagonist in his own right, as opposed to just a sidekick for Sam.

If it's not clear, I'm a big fan of Devil's Playhouse.  I think it's a clear best in the trilogy, and one of the best traditional (i.e. non-Shu Takumi-inspired) point-and-clicks I've played.  There's still the occasional iffy puzzle solution or convoluted area, but that's kind of par for the genre's course.  The real criticism here is that the best part of the first game, the musical numbers, never returned.  Sniff.

Balladeer wrote:

I was one of those folks who, after playing the original Cyber Sleuth and Pokémon Shield, wished Pokémon would take some leaves out of CS' book.  I didn't think CS was better per se, and now I definitely wouldn't say that.  If the original felt like it was trying harder than Pokémon did at the time, Hacker's Memory felt like the epitome of a low-effort sequel, and tainted CS by association.  Bottom line: maybe don't play Hacker's Memory.

I reckon Pokémon needs to take the voice acting and cutscene work on board, literal singing characters without voices are cringe.
The game was a little more solid - I didn't notice bugs or crashes - and the options for raising and breeding monsters in the background could work in Pokémon, like the Poké Pelago in Sun and Moon. Otherwise though, I think Pokémon on Switch is more ambitious and successful in every way.

Survive I liked more but it's harder to compare to Pokémon. I'll try World: Next Order eventually.

Triple Whammy


What was good? Still one of the best psychological horror games around, now made to look & control better in 2024.  

What was less good? Laura still annoying

What was bobbins? Pacing, it took me around 14hrs to finish the game and certain sections just seem to drag on and on, like one part back on the PS2 was one section now it's three. I kinda get as it was a 8hr game, which nowadays for £70rrp would be a lot, though is replay value with the 8 endings if you wish. I got the Maria ending on my playthrough.

Would I recommend it? Yep, as at the end of the day if you've not played SH2 or you don't want to go back to it and unlike let's say RE2 it isn't a completely different game, this is now the best way to play the game in 2024.


What was good? The art style, music, the kinda cosy nature of the game especially after SH2  

What was less good? I'd like to have some choices, know Balla would hate that but think in a game like this so more simple choices be good.

What was bobbins? Predictable story of Boy meets Girl etc just in a nice package

Would I recommend it? Already did Balla back in Scotland based on the game being from the same publisher as Coffee Talk and A Space for the Unbound, if you've also played them or a passing interest in them, you may like this at £15 for around 7hrs for doing everything.


What was good? More LiS, which is a series that I like a lot

What was less good? After True Colours found this one to be dissapointing, like did Deck Nine have to go back to Max

What was bobbins? Note sure bobbins but I don't like Max (if you remember I wasn't her biggest fan in LiS, as you think about it she wasn't a great friend to Chloe) that much, not huge on the cast of charcters (Moses my fav out of them) and some of the dialogue is pretty cringe. Though that last one might be me as 34 old white male but Max's inner monologue of hehehe sex joke and hey laugh & joke though my friend just died as I like the cute barmaid just comes off wrong.

Would I recommend it? I know Andy's played some it, and by now you know if you're going to play LiS and if you haven't then BtS, LiS have a remaster and True Colours are available.

I liked the first Life is Strange well enough but there are a bunch I haven't gotten around to at this point, so I reckon it'd be a while before I needed to play that one.

Although, from your description I'd probably like Max more than you do . . .

The biggest problem with Max from what I've played is that she has absolutely not matured even slightly since the original. At least she was a teenager in the original so her dumb shit could be written off as teenage bollocks, but now she's just a cunt.

I said cringe, but Andy is right, why I think maybe game written for teens still even though been a decade since the first.

masofdas wrote:

What was less good? I'd like to have some choices, know Balla would hate that but think in a game like this so more simple choices be good.

They have choices! I've had to make several and I've already been agonising over those! They probably don't mean anything in the long run, which is how you know it's a good game.

I totally disagree, your choices don't matter so what's the point of them.

masofdas wrote:

I totally disagree, your choices don't matter so what's the point of them.

In the case of LiS1 and ME3, I would argue that the choices inform my version of the character, helping me make my final decision.

That's the thing you've still got a final decision or even in Silent Hill 2 how I played meant I got the Maria ending, where Craig got the leave ending.

masofdas wrote:

I totally disagree, your choices don't matter so what's the point of them.

At least half antagonising you to be honest.  As for the other half, some small impacts are okay I think, changes in dialogue and such.  And from a pretentious academic point of view, don't the choices we make when nothing rides on them say the most about ourselves?