Last game you DIDN'T finish and your thoughts

I may checkout a let's play or some sort of story wrap-up video.

It's better than nothing I suppose, but so's Mighty No. 9 apparently.

I know something you can get to make you feel better, Balla.

Spoiler:

Can't believe I didn't see that coming before I opened the spoiler.

I'm sure some people will actually have that attitude (or the 'it's optional content for experts, you don't need to play it to see the ending' alternative), but for me it's disappointing that the game's now locking story content, not just great level design, behind the 'git vv gud' wall.

It's difficult to argue that they are locking story content behind gameplay considering how fair Celeste is with its Assist Mode. I'll give you level design as you perhaps won't get the same sense of satisfaction and appreciation for the level design, but it's not like they're holding anything back without a route to get to said content if you're struggling.

Quite disappointed to be putting The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge (PS2) back in it's box, uncompleted. I'd love to have stuck with it, as it absolutely nails the spirit of the classic 1993 film. It's very faithful to the source material for the most part, with many the characters and songs that you'll undoubtedly remember vividly if you've ever seen the film. There's parts of it that are reworked to compliment a story-driven action-adventure computer game better, but it retains the film's style fantastically well all the same. 

What a shame though that the combat is so jarringly dull. It lacks style and substance; it's a bog-standard mid-2000's Capcom hack n' slasher, yet with much less variety in it's moveset than you'd probably be wanting. Add in backtracking and a dodgy camera, I simply got bored with it before I'd had the chance to finish it. It's just too samey. This would be a great shout for Drunkalilly's 'Games They Played' thread, as I'd imagine that it would be much more fun to watch someone else play this than it is yourself.

JayMoyles wrote:

It's difficult to argue that they are locking story content behind gameplay considering how fair Celeste is with its Assist Mode. I'll give you level design as you perhaps won't get the same sense of satisfaction and appreciation for the level design, but it's not like they're holding anything back without a route to get to said content if you're struggling.

I recognise that this is mostly my problem rather than the game's. Still though. Another one for LGTP maybe.

Just use assist mode Balla! If the game has taught us anything, surely it's that using an assist mode is okay

but it's nooooooot

Nah of course it is, I'm just pretty sure I'd not get the same fun out of it. I reckon that, depending on how I tweak the AM settings, I'll either find the B-sides dull or too hard. I need that plot context, that feeling of progressing a story, to propel me through them.

I gave Child of Light a go - turn-based fighting is not my thing, but I thought I could see past it if everything else was interesting. Unfortunately, it hasn't held my interest. I feel quite guilty about this, as it's clearly a beautiful game, but it's a bit of a mess to play. I'm not sure the writing's good enough either; rhyming everything is "clever" in theory, but it just ends up with you waiting for more unnecessary text to appear.

Also

I got through Tecmo's other NES entry, Solomon's Key - but this is craptacular. It's full of old-school cryptic nonsense, surrounded by a platform game that had been eclipsed a couple of years previously by Super Mario Bros.

To quote Jimbob, ‘BOOOOOOOOO’

Nah I can completely get why CoL wouldn’t be everyone’s, and indeed your, cup of tea.  I maintain that the rhyming dialogue fell on the right side of charming, but - personal taste innit.

I might give it another go, as I haven't uninstalled it or anything. But I've had to drop one game somewhere, and that was at the bottom I'm afraid (*continues to play Breath of Fire and Adventures of Logo*)

Talking of rhyming dialogue, I've found it not particularly great in Milkmaid of the Milky Way which I just got on sale on Switch

I spent a good 5 or 6 hours trying to beat the arcade mode for this fighting game but the AI is just a big cheating bastard even when you set it to the lowest difficulty & have all the credits in the world.

Despite that as a fighting game it is great fun & would likely still hold up when playing against another player (sadly I don't have this option) & even though it shows its age a little bit by not having certain features (like defensive options) that are now a main stay in the genre the mechanics that are there are fun to figure out and play around with. Also after loving him as a fighter in Smash Bros Ultimate it was great playing one of Terry Bogard's earlier games and seeing how faithful they are to his fighting style, I've also bought Garou: Mark of the Wolves (the final installment of the Fatal Fury series) and I'm hoping I get on much better with that game being that it came out 6 years after FF Special.

Arise A Simple Story, I saw this in a State of Play I believe and it looked good.

Saw it reviewed well, and seemed like my sort of thing that I bought on Xbox One.

I've tried playing it a few times here and there, I don't know if I'm missing something but really not feeling it at all then today as I thought I'll try finishing it, the jumping mechanic just started to piss me off.

I'm not one to rage quit but really annoyed by the game, that I've even requested a refund for the first time ever as it wasn't that cheap for what it is and I'm never going to go back to it.

Death Stranding. No surprise to me this one, I was really curious about it and hopeful that my love for exploring Hyrule in BOTW would translate to wondering around this and just existing in its map. Sadly the gameplay is just too bare bones for me to get in to it and what gameplay there is felt repetitive.

I like the idea behind it though, the "Stranding" gameplay is something I could see being used elsewhere (although it's basically a more advanced version of Miiverse when you think about it). The graphics are gorgeous and the story as bonkers as it is, that's the main thing that made me want to continue, I could quite happily watch a shortened playthrough of it perhaps if I want to see what happens.

How far did you get? As Chapter 3 or 4 it really ramps up, with the missions being a tad different along with more of the story happening that it does become less game more movie though.

Was only on chapter 2, I had every intention of going on longer but no desire to actually play it, it's pretty much what I expected to be, which is fine, I can see the appeal for some but I can't bring myself to play until it gets good.

You've experienced the basic structure of the game in chapter 2, but not most of the extra mechanics/items/traversal options that build on it. Did you get caught by BTs and fight a catcher at least?

Sounds like one of the many JRPGs where they forget you're meant to include a hook at the beginning, to keep people playing through the shoddy bits.

Guess that would be the story in DS case but I found every mission great, by how am I going to get to the destination and what will I need to do it.

The thing is everyone is going to value their time differently, aren't they? We have all canned games earlier than folk suggest you should because no one likes slogging through something while thinking oh this is meant to get better. Also some times the pacing of a game is everything.

I don't think it gets better, but it continues to be different. If that makes sense?

Sure, but even then I think my previous post would still apply.

OrangeRakoon wrote:

You've experienced the basic structure of the game in chapter 2, but not most of the extra mechanics/items/traversal options that build on it. Did you get caught by BTs and fight a catcher at least?

Had a run in with BTs yeah and it felt very reminiscent of one of my least favourite sections of Phantom Pain so that didn't help. It's as Has said really, when I said to myself let's play it another part of me said play something else I know I'll enjoy.

I'll be the first to admit I can often bin off a game very early on but I wasn't seeing enough to keep me hooked other than curiosity for the story and some nice music, both of which I can experience without the bits in between that bored me.