SleepingSilence

Video Games: The General Discussion & Community Thread Number Two

Steam’s Autumn Sale just started. So go check your wishlists. And here's a few things that I've played, while enduring my parent's poorly trained & incredibly exhausting doggo.

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VRChat runs like shit. (But this isn’t really a game.)

Perennial Order is left unfinished. Because despite liking its atmosphere, the dark souls-like characters and the challenge (in places). Some of the bosses were more obnoxious than entertaining. This one relying on multiple shitty gimmicks at once; fighting in an arena full of fog and requiring you to rely on sound cues to dodge attacks with terrible hitboxes. And I didn’t feel like I was learning anything with each attempt. (This game 100% needs health bars.) So maybe I’ll come back…but the challenge still needs to be learnable. And how do I learn to avoid attacks, if I can’t fucking see anything?

Drova:The Forsaken Kin is a competent ARPG. (Decent, simple combat. Decent rewarding exploration. One or two dark moments in the earlier parts that promise a darker RPG that doesn’t exist in reality.) With the most boring characters, quests, story and plot progression in anything I’ve spent over 30+ hours trying to like more. The pacing of this game is glacial and it does not respect your time. It does not surprise me that this was funded by the government. (And likely designed by committee too.)

Pseudoregalia is just a bit frustrating and dull. Not going to lie. (I enjoyed Cavern Of Dreams far more.) Hiding all the ability powerups in random far off places was not a good idea. When the game doesn’t start to have a good gameplay feel until you’ve unlocked nearly all the abilities. And it has a nasty habit of letting you get quite far into a platforming puzzle, with the very last part being impossible to progress until you’ve found another ability. The combat is pointless and doesn’t feel good. Making all the MP and health upgrades feel all the more hollow as rewards for exploration. Yet I will still likely finish it. (Thanks, sunk cost fallacy.) But this one doesn’t deserve the high praise.

Nairi: Tower Of Shirin is an enjoyable little puzzle game, thus far. Has lots of charm in its characters and the puzzles are decent (if a bit easy). I do wish the navigation through the map was a little less tedious. (Since there’s a lot of going back and forth between characters to do puzzles.) But it makes me interested in the sequel that just came out, with the caveat that it apparently *also* ends on a cliffhanger. So I assume this first part will not have a completed story either.

What shows/movies are you watching?

The Penguin (7 Episodes): This show is pretty entertaining. Penguin and his mother are both pretty good actors. (The sidekick character not so much.) But the plot is incredibly convenience based, and there’s a lot of plot armor/stupid tropes in it. I hope it ends satisfyingly & doesn’t try to rely on a second season. Because rarely does a good season of a modern show get a good follow up.

The Wild Robot: It’s a nice looking movie, and I enjoyed the g-rated morbid humor where every joke is how animals keep killing each other. But the time-skip plot isn’t paced very well, and I find a lot of the forced sentimental moments to be a little saccharine for my tastes.

You Are Umasou: Amusing and well-animated. The 3rd act is rushed, and the subtitle translation might not be perfect either. (One Stormy Night might be a better version of this film.)

Talk To Me: A very good lead performance, and that’s about all I can say. Almost no one dies, and all the characters are unlikeable/stupid.

You Might Be The Killer: You know the pothead character in Cabin In The Woods? Well, this was an entire movie of that kind of humor. And despite how I made that sound, it’s actually entertaining.

Wake Up: A worthless film, where all the characters are unlikeable and die in very unsatisfying ways. Surprisingly apolitical for a movie about (fake) social activists boycotting (what is essentially) an IKEA.

Caddo Lake: M.Night’s take on Dark (that show on Netflix). I called the twist before it was revealed & I found the second half of the movie (where most of the plot happens) a little too dull to engage with. It’s acted okay, for what little that’s worth.

Hoping Re:Zero's 3rd season continues to maintain its level of entertainment. Though the fact that a major character reveal moment was done in a side project, shows that the complicated narrative of this arc might be a little hard to adapt properly.

Video Games: The General Discussion & Community Thread Number Two

Northern Journey: I enjoyed the vast majority of this game. Sudden difficulty spikes notwithstanding. But the quicksave button was a lifesaver. (The haunted glacier level & glider part sucked. And I could’ve done without 2 or 3 of the final five boss fights in the end game.) Hard to recommend to just anyone. But it’s nice to enjoy an FPS for once.

Overbowed: The things the game does get right (like little character interactions and health upgrades to reward exploration), doesn’t save it from being a little mediocre overall. Bosses aren’t fun to fight, and I really dislike how the map is designed to be one color/unable to be viewed in its entirety. (No custom map markers either. And for a metroidvania…that’s an odd choice to make.)

Dead Island 2: The gorey-looking combat and decent multiplayer doesn’t really save this game from being just okay either. As the plot and characters (and their dialogue) are pretty bad. And I got a little sick of how often it spammed enemies behind you & how long it took to kill literally everything.

I Wani Hug That Gator: No, it’s not actually a lewd game. Has genuinely good characters, and decent dialogue that lets you engage with the teenage melodrama of a plot. I don’t usually play visual novel games like this. But the internet (and the heaps of praise it gave this) got this one right.

Gris: I gave this one a try. But it was a very boring experience. Play something like Omno instead of this.

Nimbusfall: Just a bad arcade boss rush, that might be a little better with a friend. But I didn’t have one to play it with. So the simple one button combat and bad enemy hitboxes made me not want to finish this.

I’m very much enjoying Perennial Order. (Though I did want to play its Co-Op. I’m flying solo atm.) Though I’ve heard that it’s a bit of a “Boss Walk/Crawl”, because it has a lot of downtime between its fights. But the bleak world is nice to look at, and the character interactions are interesting. So I certainly haven’t minded it yet.

I will attempt to play more of Darkwood too. Because it really does have a nice spooky atmosphere. But its controls seem strangely unresponsive. (Especially with my mouse.) Maybe I’ll try using a controller instead?

Regardless, I'm getting closer to completing my last Christmas purchases. So I'll have plenty of room for more new games...

Video Games: The General Discussion & Community Thread Number Two

Man, Okami is one of the best games of that generation. Unfortunate that you don't vibe with it.

@Fabricant451

I love the character design and appreciate its soundtrack. So the disappointment that I don't really like the gameplay is shared.

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Somehow my writer's block has even bleed into my desire to write reviews for games. So with that said, here's a brief overview of what I've been playing. (Or at least, what I tried to play.)

I never thought I'd ever get into survival crafting games. But both VRising and Palworld have proven to be enjoyable time wasters. The former had a ton of variety in combat, traversal and base customization. And its challenging bosses were both a highlight and lowlight of how chaotic and cheap a lot of the challenge was. But it also had shit like waiting 24 hours of real time for servants to bring you back a pithy amount of resources. So by the end of Act 2, I was getting a little tired of how unnecessarily padded its grind was.

And thus far, Palworld is pretty entertaining too. But it doesn't seem very multiplayer friendly right now. Since it has a lot more general bugginess in multiplayer servers, and resources (like item chests) can be easily stolen. So I may very well play this one on my own.

Otherwise, I'm very happy to be enjoying my time with Northern Journey. Because I was worried that my troubles with Frogmonster being too difficult to control and play were my own. But no, as it turns out, a quick save does wonders and is vastly superior to a checkpoint save system. Also, this games' atmosphere is pretty stunning for a solo developer. (And it's also better at providing freights than Little Nightmares 2. Which controls terribly and had several bugs that forced me to restart levels in order to progress.)

And the Plucky Squire is a worse than mediocre game. Whose highlight is a singular bullet hell endgame boss that Akimbot did a 100x better. I seriously would've been pissed if I spent $30 on this. (The combat is barebones simple & the AI is barely there and easily exploitable. The puzzles are far too simple and done better in other games. The bosses are a few terrible mini-games that almost seemed encouraged to be skipped. And the sheer amount of awful forced instant-fail stealth sections in this game felt like a quarter of the game’s runtime. Plus, the amount of bugs, crashes & times I had to repeat entire sections over again were past double digits.)

Cassette Beasts (and it's awful start) made me want to go back and play Nexomon Extinction again. Ghostland Yard was a barebones simple platformer that has an optional feature to make the game feel less bad to play. And it had me glitch through the terrain in a "trial-and-error" chase through the level boss. (My least favorite gimmick that never dies.) Anomaly Collapse is another roguelike that does not have enough variety to justify repeating its gameplay loop all over again. And Cleo: A Pirate's Tale was a wasted dollar.

But with my vacation coming up, I'll likely be playing less vidya games this week. So I'll have to return to finish what I started. Least I'll have some things to look forward to.

Video Games: The General Discussion & Community Thread Number Two

'Crypt Custodian' is a pretty good game, that improves on the balance and combat difficulty that Islets (his previous game) lacked. Plus, it probably has one of the better maps in any Metriodvania that I've played lately. And it (in my opinion) smartly allows you to skip a lot of backtracking tedium by allowing you to warp between save points immediately. Though the secret 'butterfly-collecting challenge' shouldn't be the most frustrating thing in your Zelda game.

'Akimbot' is a decent game, that does it's best to be visually interesting. But it has about two dozen too many clunky vehicle segments, and some random ass mini-games (a late game level of fucking flappy bird for its worst example) that feel like padding. Highlights are probably its bosses (with the exception of the final one between the two antagonists that you fight in an empty white space.)

'Castle Crashers' is dumb fun. No idea if I'll ever finish it. Let alone level up every single character in it.

'Okami' treats you like you're a fucking four year old & it wasn't entertaining enough to push past it's slow pace.

Bilkin's Folly has a ton of love put into it & the 'Swedish Chef' voice your MC has, has made me (and friends) laugh on numerous occasions. (And it has an adorable doggo in it. What's not to love?) Well...it's third island has 'a point of no return' & some of the most cryptic/difficult puzzles of the game thus far. Plus, a ton of lag/slowness from the random NPC's that roam around the town, that made everything from your movement speed to dialogue exchanges, cripplingly slow. So the appeal of exploring different places to dig up junk and solve any puzzle at your own pace has been spoiled. (And I think the idea of "your doggo levels up and learns new skills as you bond with it" wasn't ever useful from a gameplay standpoint.)

I'm now trying to play V-Rising. So many games, not enough hours in the day.

Video Games: The General Discussion & Community Thread Number Two

I also hope Black Myth Wukong isn't being overhyped by it's endless stream of perfect 10's. Time will tell.

'Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1+2' is somehow far worse than the games made decades prior.

'Bo: Path Of The Teal Lotus' was an enjoyable challenge. (At least until the end game content.) Deserves better than the "Mostly Positive" it's getting on Steam. But it *is* buggy and not fully updated on PS5.

'Cat Quest 3' is disappointingly short on content.

I stopped playing "Ghost Of A Tale" pretty early on, despite it's decent writing, because the sense of direction and gameplay felt like I was doing a lot of meaningless wandering. Maybe one day I'll find a stealth-focused game that can hold my attention.

Okami HD is next on my list.

Video Games: The General Discussion & Community Thread Number Two

Just going through some games, while I'm recovering from writer's block. Hoping my "vacation" will give me more time to myself.

Another Crab's Treasure: I enjoyed most of my time in this. (Cheeseball story aside.) The end game is very stretched out, and I didn’t find the dialogue particularly funny as every Youtuber/reviewer claimed. But I do think its accessibility options are how all games should be adjusting difficulty within your game. (Giving you ways to make certain things easier, harder, and amusing extras like giving your character a gun.) Made the terrible camera in boss fights (and its glitches) more forgivable.

Moonlight Pulse: It’s a decent Metroidvania that made me care enough about the characters to refight the final boss. (Who permanently kills the members of your party.) And its character switching gimmick is flawed, but it’s probably the best I’ve seen the gimmick done thus far. It’s probably ranked somewhere in the middle of all the Metroidvanias that I’ve played.

Master Key: Imagine playing a Zelda game without a story, good puzzle design, and combat without an ability to dodge/block. And that’s going to be the vast majority of your time in this. It’s a game too obscure for its own good. And many of its vital upgrades are given to you through grinding for money. Got to the “end game” and couldn’t even find a direct walkthrough on where to get a particular item that you need to complete the remainder of the content. So I gave up. (Besides its four decent bosses, it wasn’t particularly fun anyhow.)

The Last Campfire: The first world of levels is a lot like Monument Valley, but with a ten year old girl narrating the obvious to you ad-nauseam. The second world was “find the puzzles in our puzzle game” and it was boring the hell out of me.

Small Saga: An enjoyable romp that is written by a teenage Redditor. Far too easy, but it was engaging enough to complete.

Plants Vs Zombies 2: It’s a decent multiplayer game. (In a sea of way worse things to spend your time on.) But its characters are very unbalanced, the gameplay is occasionally buggy, and it’s made by EA. (So there’s lots of things to spend your money on.)

Video Games: The General Discussion & Community Thread Number Two

Sony failing to bring back ‘Stars’ during a sales event, is the biggest fuck you to your playerbase and business failure that I can imagine a company having. (Outside of what Microsoft is already doing.) And it low-key pisses me off. Even if I wasn’t one of the poor fools who chose to hoard points that they’ll likely never get to spend now.

But I digress.

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I bought seventeen games (and downloaded another free one) on Steam. And I spent my remaining PSN wallet on another game for my PS5, after I finished Elden Ring & Shadow of the Erdtree. (Likely the last thing that I’ll buy on my PS5 for a while.)

So I should have enough to keep me busy…

(Now onto a few reviews…)

Elden Ring: This game felt like it would never end, for better or worse. Since I had already spent 120+ hours to reach Crumbling Farum Muzala & then proceeded to spend many more hours beating numerous hidden dungeons, entire side areas that I neglected to find, and defeating every optional boss that I missed after defeating the Elden Beast. (Just a day before they finally provided a patch to add Torrent into the fight.) And as many valid complaints as one might have with this game, it’s truly a one-of-a-kind experience. One that I might still play in order to help other friends through it.

Shadow Of The Erdtree: I have complicated feelings with this DLC. Since the patches themselves seemed to specifically screw me/my playstyle over at every given opportunity. (By nerfing every single thing that I was using.) But I think both the haters and fanatics are judging this game’s DLC unfairly in either direction. Because I don’t think you can honestly say this was a “10/10 Elden Ring, but better with less filler.” Nor, a “A worse in every way, harder Elden Ring that improved nothing.”

Because I think the visual presentation and level design is some of the best in the game. And the side dungeon content (those lava and ice dungeons) might be some of the worst new additions. (Among all the other pros and cons that I won’t mention for brevity's sake.) But I’d say the content was solid overall. (Even if the characters pulled the same shit they did in Lords Of The Fallen, and it made me hate them all. And I only beat the final boss with a cheese strat that they patched out mere hours later. #NoRegrets.)

The First Descendant: “Hey Destiny 2. Can I copy all your homework and then have people claim I play anything like Warframe?” “Sure, but don’t make it too obvious.”

The WereCleaner: One of the few games that I wished I could’ve paid something for. Good humor and smooth gameplay, that was worth an hour of my time.

Rusty Lake, Roots: Paradise was better. The narrative in this one was a bit more straightforward, perhaps. But I don’t think the obscure puzzle game gets better with a simpler narrative.

Duck Detective, The Secret Salami: Amusing. But I don’t think it did the best job explaining/justifying its logic. (And it’s also pretty short.)

Hob: I'm still playing this. But it doesn't feel particularly engaging. Since the combat is pretty barebones, the platforming isn't precise, and it's challenge through cheap obscurity isn't doing the game any favors. Since its needless backtracking doesn't really reward me with much...

What Are You Listening To?

Spotify has been useless with recommendations lately. But Chosic's 'similar song finder' found me a dozen or so decent tracks in a row. So maybe I need to use it more. (Because finding new music has been a pain in the ass.)

I found myself a band that's so close to giving me "The Dear Hunter" vibes. That I might actually sit and listen to a few albums. (And I haven't done that in a while.)

Video Games: The General Discussion & Community Thread Number Two

‘Blood Spear', ‘Boomeroad’, ‘Gravitas’ & ‘Sheepy: A Short Adventure’ were the best vertical slices of games that I wished were longer. But at least I found a few decent experiences during my housesitting venture. (Would’ve probably liked ‘Grimm’s Hollow’ too, if a bug didn’t reset one of my character’s most important stats.)

But in the absence of other good media, my efforts to find the next game that I enjoy enough to sink time into hasn’t been successful. Though I’m still trying.

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Talisman: A game I’ve now wasted my money on twice. (At least it was cheap both times.) Friends all got this game on PS5 this time around, and no one liked it enough to finish a full match. (It also supposedly corrupted one of my friend’s PS5 and prevented him from redownloading it.) And the AI is such a cheating bastard.

Grounded: I can’t imagine playing this on my own. But it’s probably meant to be enjoyed in a group, and I suppose it’s about as fun as anything is with friends. Though the fact that this game has the option to completely customize/vastly improve the experience, just to punish you by removing achievements, leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Monster Hunter World (Iceborne): I’ve realized that Monster Hunter World is only as fun as the people who tag along. Because loot isn’t shared, your resources that you spend an hour trying to collect can disappear (both after death and just before you kill them), and there’s a limit on what you can really “do as a team”. Also, certain environments and “knockback” attacks can affect your teammates in ways that break combat flow. So combine that with the inability to follow the story/join games during unskippable cutscenes, and it’s not all that enjoyable to play in a bad/uncooperative group. (Also, it might be just me, but I remember the monsters fighting each other a lot more often in my first attempted playthrough. As opposed to now always choosing to go after the player characters instead.) In conclusion: I spent $15 on a shitty grapple hook.

Laika Aged Through Blood: It looks great, and I really wanted to like this. But the PS5 controller lacked the ability to use the map or go into the inventory screen. Which feels like a massive oversight. So I had to keep setting the controller down, to see where the hell I was going. (Not very helpful for building immersion.)

But more importantly, the cripplingly punishing mechanics of dying in one hit and losing half your resources, do NOT mesh well with this movement system. Nor does its “Grace Mode” seem to change how easily you can inexplicably flip over and crush your own head in, while biking across completely flat surfaces. (So I might give this another try with a mouse and keyboard setup, when I’m in the mood. But it’s getting shelved for now.)

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For some ungodly reason, I got Pathologic 2. And I downloaded Dredge, since it was on Extra. So those will likely be the next games that I attempt to play. (Then maybe I’ll go back to other games that I stopped playing, if neither of them manage to capture my interest.)

Otherwise, I’m holding off on buying anything else, in hopes that the Steam Summer Sale will healthily trim down my wishlisted games.

Edit:
>Play Dredge and realize it's a few dull minigames that remind me of when I tried Skull & Bones and was forced to chop trees down.
>Pathologic 2's in media res makes absolutely no fucking sense, if you don't know the original story. (And even then, it's borderline difficult to parse.) And after watching 3-4 NPC's running into walls, my ass got stuck in the terrain between a fence and a rock, while trying to find the door to a house. Effectively making me restart my whole run already. Quality port Sony!