Last game you DIDN'T finish and your thoughts

Shame it's not for you, as what I've played so far certainly scratch that Zelda/Okami/Starfox Adventures itch

Anyway I played Virtua Fighter 5 eSports thing which is bare-bones and some Guilty Gear Strive which plays well, looks fantastic, but story mode is a 4hr+ anime and arcade mode after one go seemed pointless.

Think I should have got Granblue Fantasy Versus instead, as that has a playable story mode and certainly would have given me more content.

The cartridge got stuck on my 3DS and it took me days to prise out. My arse almost collapsed, shiteing myself thinking I'd need to pay hundreds (or whatever they cost) for a new New 3DS XL. It's out now though. Am I buggery taking that chance again.

Can't believe I didn't at least respond with a laugh to Cappa's last post.  I appreciate it probably wasn't funny at the time!

RETURN OF THE OBRA DINN:

Missed Cappa post, but I'd go for a New 2DS XL if I needed a new 3DS machine.

I'm inclined to agree with Balla - the visual style deters me from trying Obra Dinn yet I know it's one of the selling points.

I don't often post in here as even though I do drop games, I do plan to come back to Scarlet Nexus or Kena for instance at somepoint. That when I do post here it's normally something like Animal Crossing or Football Manager, basically something I can't really finish.

However...

You may have seen this one coming from previous interacting with Andy and Muss, who both from what I remember positive on the game, amongst all the praise from games industry. Still, from the 700 trailers we saw, I wasn't conceived to buy and due to that, I was happy to wait for the Xbox version & it to be in Game Pass.

Then we come to Xmas where my Uncle said I had to have something, because of what people had been saying, and I really couldn't think of anything else (Smurf brought up Returnal today, which maybe now I should have asked for thinking about it) thought why not ask for Deathloop as kinda cheap as well due to Black Friday (No idea where my Uncle got it from).

Really that's the only thing that made me continue playing the 5hrs I did because I got it for Xmas, otherwise think I would have given up before that and have now decided to call it quits as I'm forcing myself to play a game I'm not enjoying, isn't good for anyone.

Now I did like the use of the DualSense and the aesthetics (what We Happy Few should or should be) along with the VO, just found playing it not fulfilling at all.

Mudrunner

I’ve given up on this. My initial thoughts on this sluggish battle against the environment were fairly positive. As a chilled experience where you’re navigating hefty lumps of machinery through swamps and roads you wouldn’t usually venture down, it works. My issue is that the game itself represents everything I don’t like about PC games. It’s got a clunky interface with too many menus. The levels feel empty and miserable. It’s buggy (my ten-ton truck flew into the air when using the winch). The premise and vehicles are great but I think the execution is lacking; it feels unfinished and it’s too far in the simulator category for me.

I'm not joking chaps.  I really don't have a clue what y'all see in FAR: Lone Sails.  I said about Dragon's Dogma in this thread that it's rare that a well-regarded game comes along in a genre I get on with where I can't see any positives in it, and here we are again.  Except, I guess FLS is more a resource management game than it is an adventure game or platformer?  Despite having elements of both of those.  And it's true, I don't like RMGs.  

Trouble is, I really don't see any other benefits either.  Most reviews seem to praise it for its clever environmental story telling, but I don't feel like sticking a bunch of washed-up ships in the background is terribly clever.  The way the character handles is bobbins when not dealing with the rustbucket.  The visuals didn't impress, the audio was there, the camera was zoomed out too far a lot of the time...  

What am I missing?  Does it only get good after the first hour?  Does it look much better on the telly than on handheld, like transform-the-game better? Am I underselling the washed-up ships?

Said elsewhere, you'll be confused that Andy bid $20 on the sequel.

Yep, I saw that - but I still don't know what y'all actually see in the thing! Genuinely curious!

In early 2019, OrangeRakoon wrote:

Balla, it sounds like you keep buying games in genres you don't enjoy and then only play the opening level of them

This is why.  Occasionally I find a game that breaks through the genre's stranglehold, that makes me glad I'd tried something new.  For choice-heavy games, it was West of Loathing.  For grim visual novels, it was The House in Fata Morgana.  And for roguelikes, it's Hades.

Let's be clear: this hasn't made me like roguelikes, or roguelites or whatever.  My main gripes about Hades are due to its sub-genre, and I'm not even talking about the procgen side of things here: it's all action no downtime, so the shuffling doesn't matter.  It's things like, finding a playstyle I get on with and not being able to get it again for the next several runs due to RNG; or getting through a tough boss by the skin of my teeth, only to have to fight the bastard again minutes later with a new set of moves next time; or being killed cheaply by poison, and having that set me back thirty sodding minutes.  In any other genre, we'd criticise a game for putting half an hour's busywork between you and every crack at the final boss.  In roguelikes it's not only allowed, it's encouraged.  It boggles my mind.

The thing is, basically everything that Hades does outside those annoyances is great.  It's great!  I imagine I'll be parroting every review from here to Christendom, but what the heck, I hate roguelikes and don't much care for pure action and yet I like what it does.  The fighting is for the most past really satisfying: Zagreus is a versatile gent with any one weapon, let alone a choice of six.  He feels fast and powerful and fun to use, and that counts for so much.  Even the weapons I got on with less well still had their moments in the early minutes of each run.  The art style is very nice, the enemies you fight are mostly well-designed (not sure about Literally Just A Pink Sphere), the writing and voice acting is impressive and surprisingly substantial in volume for a smaller game.  The music is the only aspect I find slightly nondescript, with only Charon's shop ever getting stuck in my head.

And yes, Supergiant have done their best to make the development from run to run enjoyable, via new voice lines or adding new things to your starting point and having a decent amount of ways you can improve Zag's numbers.  I would have liked to see more, natch, but they do a lot with the roguelike structure.  The best one is introducing fishing after a few runs.  Suddenly there's a whole other minigame introduced!  The one time I beat the big boss, it was because I got a boon that boosts fishing spot frequency right out of the gate.  I don't think that was a coincidence.  

I can well believe that this is the best roguelike out there.  I don't think there's much they could do to improve the basic recipe: the only thing that really sticks out is how many runs you need to make to get the credits.  It's an absurd number, and the reason I gave up: if it had been three, or even five, I probably wouldn't be writing this post and would have added another point to my score.  Still though, I didn't think I'd get this much out of a game that was only ever on my wishlist because everybody raved about it.  That encourages me to keep doing the same thing.

BONUS! Chicory, and an RPG starring drums:

Balladeer wrote:

Yep, I saw that - but I still don't know what y'all actually see in the thing!  Genuinely curious!

Umm it's just good, and the new one sounds better.

Chicory, soon as I see in a sale I'm going to pick up as you say a lot of praise even a 1st place on here (Smurf?) and does sound like a Mas game, just come out at the wrong time and not got to it since that a sale I would maybe jump on it right away.

Balladeer wrote:

Let's be clear: this hasn't made me like roguelikes, or roguelites or whatever.  My main gripes about Hades are due to its sub-genre, and I'm not even talking about the procgen side of things here: it's all action no downtime, so the shuffling doesn't matter.  It's things like, finding a playstyle I get on with and not being able to get it again for the next several runs due to RNG; or getting through a tough boss by the skin of my teeth, only to have to fight the bastard again minutes later with a new set of moves next time; or being killed cheaply by poison, and having that set me back thirty sodding minutes.  In any other genre, we'd criticise a game for putting half an hour's busywork between you and every crack at the final boss.  In roguelikes it's not only allowed, it's encouraged.  It boggles my mind.

I can't agree with the bold part. Play literally any score attack game, a Time Crisis, Star Fox, or even an F-Zero's Master difficulty. All of these involve losing all your progress and having to start again.

Obviously it's totally fair to dislike roguelikes. But at their core what I think they really emulate is that arcade cabinet experience infused with a hefty dose of RnG to give you a bunch of mutations on the standard formula each time you fire it up. You can still master the game, it's just that the mastery doesn't come from understanding the order of each tile, it comes from your own adaptability in tandem with whatever weapons you are using. I can understand the scale of roguelike or permadeath games being a turn off, but that's all they are really, a bigger scale than an arcade machine.

The other thing is that as a player, your progression isn't marked linearly as it often is in traditional adventure/platforming/action games, or even the arcade cabinets, whereby you complete a level or quest or get X percent through the run. It's marked by your tendency towards succeeding at a greater rate, or by your ability to crank up the difficulty once you've got to a certain level. Most games aren't designed around your ability to do everything in one sweet run, but that's what roguelikes are designed around. So like, yeah I'm sure it's disappointing to die to some 'cheap' poison, but you dying to that poison is actually the legacy of all the damage and decisions you made prior to that last bit of HP being sapped away. Most games don't care about that legacy, but roguelikes are built entirely around them so I'm not really sure I'd agree that it's cheap. Not as glamorous as dying to the big man himself, sure, but not cheap.

And also to be fair Hades gives players loads of tools to tailor the difficulty. God mode, the ability to buy a bunch of extra lives, to equip trinkets that buff your damage or give you an extra life. I'm pretty sure you avoided God Mode right? If you enjoy the gameplay but not so much defeats then that's literally what it was put into the game for, to take the edge off without declawing the beast.

That arcade description is bang on and a big reason why I like the genre, it brings games back to the basics of how skilled can you get at the game within its rules it has set.

Interesting about the arcade thing, as I'm also not keen on roguelite/likes but do like a Time Crisis which I would just play for a little bit get my score and move on or a extra £1 in the machine to continue.

I'm glad you had a pop, Balla, and I'm glad some of what the rest of us liked shined through for you.

Ultimately it is literally down to taste; many of the things you bring up as cons, I think of as pros, so we're never going to see eye to eye. A perfect example of why a metacritic score is not informative

I too am glad you gave it a play Balla - and found things to like!

The one point I'd make about the number of wins you need to finish the game is that it might sound daunting at first, but you really do accelerate in capability. There's a pivot point in combination of skill//familiarity/permanent upgrades where you become more likely to beat a run than lose it, and then you go on to be completing dozen long win streaks. What were near insurmountable achievements become routine.

I'm not on board with this positivity bullshit. Lets beat him up for not giving it a 10.

Buskalilly wrote:

I'm glad you had a pop, Balla, and I'm glad some of what the rest of us liked shined through for you.

Ultimately it is literally down to taste; many of the things you bring up as cons, I think of as pros, so we're never going to see eye to eye. A perfect example of why a metacritic score is not informative

It isn't but would he or anyone have given it a bash if the game didn't score high and won numerous awards? If it had scored a 6/10 instead for instance.

I can't speak for Balla, but I'm interested if a game gets good reviews/ scores/ discussions from particular people or outlets I'm into. A game scoring well on metacritic means nothing to me.

I did mean that more then a collective score, still I know Balla listens to Back Page podcast (I believe) where a Hades could be talked up.

You can still get games most would say bad such as Balan Wonderworld which I believe Scully likes, and would give some sort of praise on his podcast, which then Balla might give a go.

masofdas wrote:

You can still get games most would say bad such as Balan Wonderworld which I believe Scully likes, and would give some sort of praise on his podcast, which then Balla might give a go.

. . . I think you're agreeing with me?

Yeah and No, think all has a place as using my Balan example then Balla buys as Scully says is good, it isn't good, then Balla sees yeah everyone thinks it's bad.

Having all the information to make the choice of buying a game.

For me if a game has universal praise then I'm more likely to try it. That's one of the reasons I picked up Disco Elysium and Hades. However there are plenty of examples, GTA, Red Dead Redemption 2 (God I loath that game!), or the Uncharted series, where I really don't think the games are even that good. So on that basis, I do require further reading, or watching, before I buy.