SleepingSilence

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!

The Wild Beyond Witchlight

@Dark Cloud had IRL drama that has been dealt with (that kept him from getting online) & he's working on getting things sorted before he returns.

THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

@Dark Cloud had IRL drama that has been dealt with (that kept him from getting online) & he's working on getting things sorted before he returns.

Video Games: The General Discussion & Community Thread Number Two

@BrokenPromise Sure. I think the "free-to-play" model can dodge a lot of legitimate criticisms under the guise of "being free". (Especially in regards to certain monetary practices.) But the actual free game is a nostalgic reminder of the endless flash game library that kids everywhere enjoyed. (Opposed to the mobile game market nowadays, where the kids spend thousands of dollars on their parents' credit card.) And I much prefer the former.

Plus, I think the point is to give the developers free and vital feedback on their design, and "exposure" through word of mouth. So when the current triple-A market and it's defenders argue that games need to be more expensive. Pointing to the variety of (free) indies that I'd rather play instead of their overproduced slop, is an ever-growing counterpoint.

Also, I'd actually disagree with the "free means lack of polish" argument. Because I've had less bugs and issues with free games as opposed to shovelware/cheap indies/early access games that expect money upfront. (Though short duration is usually valid & I think "being left wanting more" isn't a bug. But the point of "prototype/game jam" games.)

And I'll certainly give that list a look.

Video Games: The General Discussion & Community Thread Number Two

For anyone whose bored and needs a game to play. (As someone whose played and very much enjoyed at least one of these games. That being Bloody Hell.)



100% Orange Juice (A 'Mario party-ish' board game.) & Endless Legend (a 4X Strategy) are also free right now on Steam.

And Indigo Park: Chapter 1 (Indie horror) was released on Steam for free.

So I suddenly have more things to play. (Time will tell if I actually like any of them. But Steam games have a better track record of enjoyment, compared to Itch.io games that I've tried.)

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But because I spilled shit all over my keyboard and had it non-functional for weeks. I haven't been on my PC/Steam much. So I played a few games on my PS5 instead.

Animal Well: Unlike Rain World & Outer Wilds, this game's controls were made by someone who actually plays video games. More challenging than I originally thought it was going to be. But it's a genuinely good game that ends well. And it still had plenty of optional content/secrets to find. (With "boss fights" being it's weakest and most frustrating element.) Not quite the masterpiece "Tunic" is, but few things are. And it's probably the strongest of the three games I'm 'reviewing'.

Worldless: This one hurts a bit, because the "mid-game" is downright impressive. It has a dual character movement/combat system that forces you to switch them on the fly & it's turn-based combat system is quite a challenge. Plus, like Animal Well, it's very nice to look at in places. But this games' challenge through obscurity/trial-and-error never really "clicked" with me. (As the necessary parry mechanic/certain movement abilities felt way too inconsistent for how precise you needed to be.) And unfortunately, it's ending is downright terrible. (Whoever thought it was a good idea to end your game on a "supposed to lose" boss fight is beyond me.)

Chants Of Sennaar: Another good puzzle game that I enjoyed for the most part. It's obviously rushed final level aside. Especially how it's good ending/optional content directly changes old parts of the world to make you feel like you're improving it. (But it was clearly made for PC's/mouse movement. Because doing the optional content/it's numerous "stealth" sections on a controller were a tedious endeavor.)