SleepingSilence

Video Games: The General Discussion & Community Thread Number Two

So I went through two narrative focused games (that I got for x-mas), and feel disappointed in both of them.

Starting with, "Beacon Pines", a game not shy about who its pandering too. The character dialogue is probably the best part here, and was genuinely amusing at times. But the game's story threads feel completely unfinished, and the branching 'choices matter' narrative shtick did not do this game any favors. All in all, the story didn't make a whole lot of sense, and it felt like an unfinished project. (5/10? Maybe. I wish it ended a bit stronger.)

Next, "Unavowed". (Another game in the Blackwell Series, that I liked for the most part.) This one had a lot of optional voiced character dialogue (that I'm sure someone will find interesting), and the puzzles for most of its gameplay are fair ones. Something rare for its genre. But then it decided to have the worst level(s) and story ending to completely ruin whatever else the game had going for it. (Confusing level design, tedious backtracking, pointless walling off progress, mocks/condemns player, moon logic puzzles, awful child voice acting.) It had every bad thing you could imagine in a narrative point & click. (5/10 But I straight up dislike this one's "we're so smart/modern hollywood-esque" narrative.) And it was bad enough to make me want to switch genres.

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I don't have Gamepass. (For the fair trade of not spending money on an Xbox.) Thus, my Steam wishlist grows...

Video Games: The General Discussion & Community Thread Number Two

Nobody Saves The World has a lot of content, and its numerous forms are fun to use. But the lacking challenge and enemy variety makes me feel like this game is a more passive experience. (Where I have to bring my own soundtrack, or listen to something else while I'm playing.) Though not everything in the game is a cakewalk. It has several side missions seemingly designed to be purposefully impossible, until you get some kind of overpowered combination through excess grinding. (But being annoying as hell, is not the same as creating an engaging objective.) So I might push my way through the final few levels. (With my own soundtrack, of course.) But while it gives you a nice variety of things to grind. (Literally gives you a "move around" experience bar near the end game.) I can't claim it "gets grind right", when I'm starting to grow a little sick of "breaking enemy wards" for 30 different characters. (Probably getting a 6/10 from me.)

And the story isn't charming me that much either, but maybe it'll end better?

Also, I recently watched a let's play stream of Hi-Fi Rush, and goddamn the game is filled to the brim with charm. (Far better than the initial "this game looks like RWBY" impressions that I originally got from it. Ha ha stupid male MC aside.) Plus the soundtrack seems better and more focused than No Straight Roads' was. (And I guess I'm not the only person to think so, since its director got upset at the unfavorable comparisons.) Though I'm not sure how much I'd personally connect to its gameplay. Since I haven't played many rhythm games.

Video Games: The General Discussion & Community Thread Number Two

Nobody Saves The World is grind-tastic so far. Time will tell how fun the game will stay.

What's everyone else playing?

Anime & Manga! Oh my! (Anime/Manga Thread)

Isn't that every anime season, though?

@Kuro

I don't think it's been quite to this level of "we don't care" in a while. (Most rushed anime were simply delayed into oblivion. Even during Covid.) Now perfectly good (or serviceable) concepts are being completely ruined through it's terrible/non-animation. The last modern seasonal anime I can remember watching several episodes in a row that were filled with dozens of still images and concept art for simple dialogue scenes—was never. Because I've never seen something so lazy before...

But I guess I'm watching more anime/longer than I expected to. Though I don't know how many I'll see through to the end.

Video Games: The General Discussion & Community Thread Number Two

"Ghost Song" might've left the worst first impression of any Metroidvania that I've played thus far. (To the point where I feel like these overwhelmingly positive reviews are straight up dishonest.) And I wish I looked into the game’s general opinions a little bit further. (Like I do for most things.) Because it certainly doesn't sound like it's going to get any better...

To be blunt. Here's my future review; This game gets absolutely. everything. wrong. Play literally any other Metroidvania game over this.

Note for future self: Games in development hell are basically always there for a reason, and should be avoided like the plague. Thanks for coming to my TED-talk.

What Are You Listening To?

Anime & Manga! Oh my! (Anime/Manga Thread)

This season has so many examples of rushed and downright half-assed pieces of work. That I'm not surprised to see that several anime are getting delayed.

Really hope this isn't a trend for the whole year.

Video Games: The General Discussion & Community Thread Number Two

♫ This is the game that never ends.
Yes, it goes on and on my friend. ♫

Baba is You is a great challenge. (Because the developers came up with every single conceivable puzzle imaginable using its core premise.)

But it was starting to grow a little stale for me (halfway into my nearly thirty hours), and the game had way too many puzzles that I didn't find personally rewarding to solve. So I "beat the game" and installed something else.

(Still probably the 'least obviously flawed' of the three puzzle games that I played though...)

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Watched someone play Forspoken on Twitch, and it was pretty bland looking. (And Twitch only continues to become less user friendly every time I look at it.)

Sony and Microsoft are pimping out two hundred dollar controllers "WITH REMAPPABLE BUTTONS LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!"

What A PC? Never heard of it.

What shows/movies are you watching?

>I wrote this yesterday while I was half asleep and never posted it.

I'm gonna let you in on a little secret: I've never even fuckin' seen an Illumination movie.

I can't make a qualitative statement on Illumination movies, but I don't see why they couldn't make a good Legend of Zelda adaptation because as a studio they clearly have talented animators. I think the Mario movie will be fine and I have no reason to think their hypothetical Zelda movie would be anything less than that.

@Fabricant451

I don't know if I've ever been impressed with Illumination's animation. (It's not ever been particularly strong.) But you couldn't call them anything other than savvy businessmen. So I understand and can relate, that my own limited viewing experience means I can't say for 100% certain whether a movie will be good or not. I'd simply state that pattern recognition makes me less positive/enthused about the idea. (But the Mario movie will probably be the answer to whether or not it gets made. Regardless of who makes it.)

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I love movies. I just kinda hate the system that produces them. But I'm fortunate enough to live in an area where I can see the big dumb blockbusters on a big dumb screen and still have a theater where they show the quality shit that makes me remember why I studied the fucking things in the first place.

@Fabricant451

I won't even pretend that movies are my main source of entertainment. I'm a weeb at heart, and I'm still always behind on the "I need to watch this" trend. (If anything, it's only saved me a whole hell of a lot of wasted time.) Especially nowadays, where supposedly great shows (1899 for one instance) have been getting the early axe. (Or this trend of finished things getting cancelled before they're even released.)

I'd say the one positive trend thus far, is how foreign movies and shows are starting to become more popular. (Yeah, the weeb would say that.) Though RRR was probably my Everything Everywhere All At Once. But all the ones I did watch, were certainly far more entertaining and likable than any of the western media I consumed.

But that's neither here nor there.

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But I got really tired and exhausted with the poor state of film criticism. I basically turned into a debate lord over fuckin films for a while. (And still kinda do, but believe me I used to be worse, because I care a lot that it pained me to have people start trying to objectively state when movies were bad or good or shit like that.)

And like, I don't care if people don't like a movie (even if sometimes I get aggro, but hey who doesn't defend the things they love.) But I also want to stress to people that it's not all bad. There are good movies out there!

I think video game adaptations in general are kinda dumb, even if I liked those Sonic movies. Especially because way too many western games are still chasing this weird 'video games as cinematic experience' high. Where the first episode of The Last of Us will be well received, the game was basically 50 percent watching it anyway!

@Fabricant451

Objectivity aside. I know that merely pointing out flaws and problems with anything is easy to do. Thus, the poorest of critics do tend to have most of their work handed to them on a silver platter. Though I'd love to see more in-depth counter discussion, versus what still tends to happen. (Usually outright dismissal.) I just wish this "7/10 IGN means barely playable" mindset wasn't so normalized in film too. To the point where Zoomers' word for I dislike this/something bad is "Mid".

#MakeAverageMeanWhatIt'sSupposedToMean

And ‘The Last Of Us’ showrunners, telling actors not to look up or be familiar with the source material they're making the show from, tells me all I would need to know. If I want zombies. The Walking Dead has sixteen billion seasons for me to watch already.

I honestly can't stand this ongoing trend of "we don't like or care about the things we're adapting" shtick. (And I'm usually not even the target for their nostalgia traps.) But I still can't help but question why they continue to do it so blatantly. (I can only imagine we have a staggering number of Tommy Wiseau's in modern entertainment. Where inflated egos and personal drive defy all common sense to make products they genuinely believe to be hot sh*t.)

Video Games: The General Discussion & Community Thread Number Two

Stray is a bit disappointing. In that I enjoyed the vibe, and wanted to see how the narrative would end. But it's pretty obvious that the game was rushed to a conclusion.

The 2nd city has very limited places to jump on top of, and the puzzles are a bit more directionless. (That, on top of having no ability to backtrack, or get 100% completion through no fault of your own.)

One puzzle I found to be the biggest stretch was "find this guy, he's wearing this, this and this." But nobody in the whole city had any of those features. So I assumed you were supposed to share the same logic as the developers did. (In that, you deliberately can't see those features, and you're supposed to infer that. Over every other possible option..) And I did. But talking to the NPC alone wasn't enough. Nor did it provide any further hints. Instead, I actually needed to show them something from my inventory to succeed. (But I didn't think to do this for a while.)

Honestly, Stray had a neat premise (cat pandering aside) and deserved to be better. (But I also shared the same bugged out NPC that Dunkey had, after a whole six months later. So I assume this game isn't getting any more polish...)

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Baba Is You is pretty good and challenging thus far. Perfect for listening to podcasts while puzzle solving. (Since they'll take you a while.) To the point where I'm considering downloading another game to play. So I can turn this into "my daily crosswords" of sorts.