Last game you DIDN'T finish and your thoughts

Balladeer wrote:

This isn't quite in the doghouse yet, but I've firmly backlogged Taiko no Tatsujin: Rhythmic Adventure Pack and I don't know if it'll come out again.  Squeaky child-voiced drums telling a low-effort story is one thing, but the (random) battles repeating the same songs over and over, and not letting you finish them (because when you win the song's cut off, and if the song ends you draw), is quite another.  Essentially what we have is a rhythm game that's only passable without its giant drum arcade cabinet, stretched awkwardly over an RPG structure to the point of tearing.  

Rum: your sig says you're playing this.  What are you getting out of it that I'm not?  Is it the silly story?  It's the silly story, isn't it?

This very much reads like I'm a simpleton who can't appreciate a proper story! I do find it quite funny because of the poor translation and heavy-handed characters (e.g. immediately bumping into Marie Antoinette who joins you on your adventure) but I appreciate high art too you bitch.

I haven't played it for a few days but I don't mind it. I have played TnT before so I knew about the voices (that's on you for not looking at any gameplay or trailers, I'd argue!), and it's very brainless - so it's not super compelling but I find it reasonably pleasant to blitz through. I think it's an RPG for kids, and not for fancy financial boys in their 30s. Also, there is the single player music mode which is quite fun, and clearly has Donkey Konga DNA.

Okay I'm going to come back to that in the bottom of this post, because clearly I got my tone there massively wrong.


I have bought one game, ever, using Metacritic as the primary source of information.  That was The House in Fata Morgana, and I only bought it because the consensus was so extreme.  It worked out well for me, of course: I think 'even if I don't like dark VNs, I should try Fata Morgana' is the real key point of my previous post. But usually if I'm not buying the game anyway (because e.g. it's in a series I like), the things that will convince me to give it a look would be super-high scores in Nintendo Life, or super-high enthusiasm about it on here.  Metacritic is a tool in the arsenal of deciding whether I'd buy something, but as an aggregate of opinions I don't know about, it comes pretty low down.

Anyway, I'm glad that people got the enthusiasm I felt about Hades, rather than the frustration - that's what I was aiming for, so good to know I didn't get the tone massively wrong there!  That I didn't get on with roguelike-ish aspects of a roguelike is, I don't think, a surprise to anyone.  (Here's a hot take from me: arcades were the biggest grift in gaming until lootboxes became a thing, but we've forgotten that because of nostalgia and cultural reverence.  Many/most arcade games were designed to eke out coins at a high priority than being entertaining, and as such some of the design decisions were purposely bad.  I don't think developers should be striving to emulate those decisions in the modern day.)  If I'd got to OR's 'pivot point' while playing the game I would no doubt have kept on going, but I didn't, so nine more runs seemed a long and irritating way off sadly.

Muss wrote:

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.

Quick note on this: I actually don't have a problem with Hades' difficulty.  Moment to moment, most of the battles were the right level of challenging, thrilling rather than frustrating.  I'd say that's certainly true of the final boss.  (The poison can still get in the bin.  Fun Fact: I never actually died from the poison itself, but it's still just The Worst.)  The frustration came less from the battle itself, and more from not being able to restart the battle immediately after a failed attempt.  Activating God Mode would have potentially unbalanced the moment-to-moment in favour of balancing the frustration.  That said, I agree I probably should have given it a shot: some slightly absurd pride got in the way.

...actually, what happens if you start a room, save and quit, then restart if you're getting hammered?  I presumed it wiped the run, but I never actually checked. Oh, and Muss - if you disagree with my takes on this game, wait until you see the next one I've got lined up...

Rum wrote:

This very much reads like I'm a simpleton who can't appreciate a proper story! I do find it quite funny because of the poor translation and heavy-handed characters (e.g. immediately bumping into Marie Antoinette who joins you on your adventure) but I appreciate high art too you bitch.

I haven't played it for a few days but I don't mind it. I have played TnT before so I knew about the voices (that's on you for not looking at any gameplay or trailers, I'd argue!), and it's very brainless - so it's not super compelling but I find it reasonably pleasant to blitz through. I think it's an RPG for kids, and not for fancy financial boys in their 30s. Also, there is the single player music mode which is quite fun, and clearly has Donkey Konga DNA.

Okay I absolutely did not mean to say that, sorry.  Bad communication.  What I mean is that you have, in the past, liked RPG stories that I've found a bit silly, or 'camp' I think you've called them, or even so-bad-it's-good.  I wondered if TnT's fit into that bucket, and it sounds like there's a bit of so-bad-it's-good in there that you enjoy so I wasn't entirely wrong!  Just put it badly, clearly.

Between this and Buska's take about my gym comment in the music thread, I'm thinking I come across as snider than I mean to on here.  Perhaps a signature change would help.

Balla wrote:

Quick note on this: I actually don't have a problem with Hades' difficulty.  Moment to moment, most of the battles were the right level of challenging, thrilling rather than frustrating.  I'd say that's certainly true of the final boss.  (The poison can still get in the bin.  Fun Fact: I never actually died from the poison itself, but it's still just The Worst.)  The frustration came less from the battle itself, and more from not being able to restart the battle immediately after a failed attempt.  Activating God Mode would have potentially unbalanced the moment-to-moment in favour of balancing the frustration.  That said, I agree I probably should have given it a shot: some slightly absurd pride got in the way.

As Muss mentioned elsewhere (I think) God mode is a very poor name for it.

Found a good break down of it online, so here's what it does:

Quote :

Hades’ God Mode doesn’t make you invulnerable or make enemies weaker. Instead, turning on God Mode reduces the damage you’ll take from enemies by 20%.

Further, every time you die and return to the House of Hades, that damage resistance increases by another 2%. The Damage Resistance will only increase if you have God Mode active when you die (meaning you don’t get credit for all the times you died before turning on God Mode). The damage resistance from God Mode maxes out at 80%.


Nothing else about the game changes with God Mode. You’ll still pick up the same items and currencies. You’ll deal the same amount of damage. You’ll hit all the same story beats. All that changes is the amount of damage you take when you get hit.

Balla wrote:

...actually, what happens if you start a room, save and quit, then restart if you're getting hammered?  I presumed it wiped the run, but I never actually checked.

I'd assume it plonks you at the start of the room again with whatever health you had at the time of saving & quitting.

HMMMMMMM

Balladeer wrote:

 (Here's a hot take from me: arcades were the biggest grift in gaming until lootboxes became a thing, but we've forgotten that because of nostalgia and cultural reverence.  Many/most arcade games were designed to eke out coins at a high priority than being entertaining, and as such some of the design decisions were purposely bad.  I don't think developers should be striving to emulate those decisions in the modern day.)

I don't know how hot a take that is? Most people agree that the way arcades artificially increased difficulty was bad, but there's a fun and addictive quality which was necessary for arcade games to garner attention which many would like to see return.

Quote :

Okay I absolutely did not mean to say that, sorry.  Bad communication.  
Between this and Buska's take about my gym comment in the music thread, I'm thinking I come across as snider than I mean to on here.  Perhaps a signature change would help.

I think Rum was joking? And I was just in a bad mood that time. You don't usually come off too condescending, don't worry.

I do read all Balla posts in a posh voice, which might make him sound worse sometimes.

Whilst we're all clarifying tones, I did mean that we should beat Balla up. Thanks for reading.

Crumpy Andy wrote:

Whilst we're all clarifying tones, I did mean that we should beat Balla up. Thanks for reading.

I'm glad someone finally said it.

Don't worry Balla - I wasn't genuinely annoyed - I didn't think you'd seriously think I thought you were a bitch. (But you are a bitch.)

I CAN'T DETECT TONE WITHOUT MR. WINKY FACE

Buskalilly wrote:

I think Rum was joking? And I was just in a bad mood that time. You don't usually come off too condescending, don't worry.

Okay good, that's a relief. (Strategically ignoring the 'too'. ) The signature still applies, so it can stay for a while.

Buskalilly wrote:

I don't know how hot a take that is? Most people agree that the way arcades artificially increased difficulty was bad, but there's a fun and addictive quality which was necessary for arcade games to garner attention which many would like to see return.

Fair enough, I guess I need to make that take a bit spicier: the RNG and permadeath of roguelikes do indeed feel like arcade hang-ups, but ones that came from a place of getting in the way of people finishing the game (and thus squeezing more coppers out of them) rather than from being fun and addictive qualities.

Echoing what others have said in that I'm glad you gave it a go and at least appreciated why we all bloody love it - I was always doubtful the roguelike mechanics would click with you, but at least you saw the joys of the game.

As for music, I think the vocal tracks are the game's best - I hope you ran into Orpheous and Eurydice as they've got some wonderful duets. I'd look up "In the Blood" which is a wonderful song that plays over the credits of the game. Hearing Darren Korb (Supergiant's composer extraordinaire, plus the voice of Zag and Skelly I believe) sing falsetto with his partner taking the lower pitch is really impressive.

Jay wrote:

As for music, I think the vocal tracks are the game's best - I hope you ran into Orpheous and Eurydice as they've got some wonderful duets. I'd look up "In the Blood" which is a wonderful song that plays over the credits of the game. Hearing Darren Korb (Supergiant's composer extraordinaire, plus the voice of Zag and Skelly I believe) sing falsetto with his partner taking the lower pitch is really impressive.

THIS.

I honestly can't remember when or even if a game has just made me stop and listen for several minutes like when I first met Eurydice in Hades. Both Darren Korb & Ashley Barrett have unreal voices & there's a few live performances on youtube that are definitely worth a watch.

Supergiant in their previous games always had great VO and sound, such a top-notch studio, wouldn't be shocked in the current climate someone tries buying them.

I've not played Pyre, but I thoroughly enjoyed Bastion, Transistor and, of course, Hades. They only release bangers in my eyes.

Pyre does get a bit meh come the end as only so many teams, and feel it often gets forgotten about as well.

Still of you see in a PSN sale, I'd say get it.

JayMoyles wrote:

Echoing what others have said in that I'm glad you gave it a go and at least appreciated why we all bloody love it - I was always doubtful the roguelike mechanics would click with you, but at least you saw the joys of the game.

The converse is that I now know when y'all are massively overselling something about it. Eurydice was... fine?  I listened for a couple of seconds when I entered her room?  Then I moved on.  She was alright, but definitely nowhere near the top vocal numbers I've heard in gaming, let alone the best tunes.

My main problem is that now that I've sampled it, the reasonably undisputed best-in-class, I don't know why the roguelike mechanics would click with anyone. (Bar arcade nostalgia as previously described.)  Ah well, more spice for the great melting-pot of life...

POCKET CARD JOCKEY:

I don't usually post in here because I usually say I'll return to something I don't finish, even if I don't but these two at this moment in time just feel pointless to me.

Hidden because massive picture :

A slightly relevant game I've dropped :

That feels like it's the big hindrance of basically any Pokémon clone I've seen: most of the monsters don't have enough personality. Monster design absolutely needs to be the thing these games spend most of their time on, unless they're going for a completely different vibe like that Metroidvania-lookalike Muss went a bundle on a while ago.

The thing is even Pokemon has a bunch of dud designs, which I think it gets a bit more of a pass on

Maybe so, but Pokémon had the advantage of an anime to bring its monsters to life.  So a collection of pixels became living breathing creatures through the influence of other media.  (The same is true of Yo-Kai Watch, which was a monster-catching game let down by its mechanics but with strong monster design.  Digimon Cyber Sleuth should have had the same I guess, but its evolution mechanics really hindered me from getting attached to the monsters.)  That was back in the pixel days of Pokémon, and now they have the budget to really make those monsters pop in 3D, even the weaker designs.  Unfortunately I do think those monster-catching games releasing now with 2D-only budgets need to try harder on the design front than Pokémon did and does to get the same effect.

Pokemon has zero duds.
(Except maybe Jynx . . .)

Buskalilly wrote:

Pokemon has zero duds.
(Except maybe Jynx . . .)

This is a man in denial, but I can sympathise

I've been playing Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights since December last year.  Nintendo Life slapped a 9/10 on it, and since I've enjoyed games like Hollow Knight of similar ilks I thought it might do the same for me.  Needless to say, since I'm posting about it here, it hasn't.

ELQotK is a Metroidvania, but probably more accurate to say it's a Castlevania-like.  Your primary weapon is a sword, it's a dark fantasy setting filled with ghouls, you have different magic weapons you swap out - none of these scream Metroid to me.  NL said it had Soulslike DNA, but I'm not sure about that.  It's hard and dark (like Buska's 'Humour' segment), but it has some reasonably explicit story-telling and you lose nothing when you die.  You do spend a lot of time 'dodging' (falling face-first into the floor) away from enemies though.

There's not much that's bad about ELQotK, but it was a bit miserable and a bit charmless apart from the animation.  I didn't much care for the world, and the Priestess isn't fun to control: she has a floaty jump and all her attacks are really slow and floaty-feeling likewise.  It felt like a bit of a slog, so I'm dumping it here to free up headspace for other games.  If you loved that Zelda-like with the crow whose name has suddenly completely fled my mind , you might get on better with it.

(Death's Door)

(that's the one)

(actually Tunic looks like Death's Door but happy and I hope it comes to Switch soon)

Gravity Rush Remastered

I’ve been dipping in and out of Gravity Rush for the best part of two years, but finally decided to delete it from my PS4. You see, this game is a beautiful little bastard, but it’s clunky and populated with crap fetch quests. It’s a PS2 game dressed up with an interesting gimmick - you can change gravity. As fun as this premise is initially, the actual world you are in is full of narrow streets and underground corridors which negate the need to use the gravity power. When you're out in the sky attacking enemies, it's a neat game that uses a lock-on system to nail attacks (a bit like in Sonic Adventure). The characters are decent enough and given the presentation is through comic-book style dialogue boxes and you level up an anime-like schoolgirl, it feels accessible and family-friendly. A good example of this is how the unlockable "maid outfit" isn't sexualised, although the mission that lets you unlock it (collecting ingredients from across the map) can get in the bin.

Kat is a really strong character surrounded by bland enemies and a miserable landscape. That's probably harsh on the art design, as there's a timeless charm to how everything looks - a bit washed out like Valkyria Chronicles but also with lots of Victorian Steampunk influences. It's certainly unique and the game's biggest plus but the overbearing darkness makes it look a bit drab.

The section that irritated me the most is the platforming section where you are navigating giant mushrooms moving up and down (think Mario Kart Wii). It’s similar to why Jet Set Radio is a cult classic and not a true classic - people remember the brilliant music and the gorgeous visuals but not the horrible platforming. In JSR you felt like your rollerblades were filled with concrete; in Gravity Rush the feel of jumping is fine, but there’s a huge hitbox around you meaning you slide off platforms if you aren’t fully on them. The combat is also a bit lacklustre - endless cycles of “clear area of strange alien things with glowing weak spots”. It all feels a bit dated - however, I understand this is a ten-year-old Vita game at this point, but the fact that its shortcomings are magnified on the big screen means the PS4 version isn't the one I'd recommend.

I will still check out Gravity Rush 2, as that's meant to be better.

7/10