i mean i’m all for each of these traits! but in combination it’s like, what exactly is this guy’s body composition. there should be more fullness to that face if there’s meat on those bones. just imo. i don’t know why this is sticking in my craw so
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I seen guys like this IRL tho
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let the pear boys live
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seems like there was miscommunication about that
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damn i stand corrected. god bless
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i think this is an april fools?
ah that’s a real dumb/not particularly funny April Fools if so. well in any case i guess we’ll see!
wow first time in my life the “I seen guys like this IRL tho” defense actually worked
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you’re the one person i trust to see guys, my good toups
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I certainly felt seen when I met Toups
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I finally picked up Sephonie (it’s on sale on Steam right now) and I’ve played about an hour. I feel like this game got less attention than Anodyne 2, but I’m really enjoying it so far! It’s set in my favorite kind of video game biome, a surreal tropical island. The tone reminds me a lot of the early parts of Chrono Cross. I liked Anodyne 2’s soundtrack, but this game’s music is such a huge step up for me. I’ll be listening to this stuff outside the game for sure.
As with their previous work, I really enjoy this game’s attention to the simple pleasures of navigating 3D space. There are all sorts of little bonus story treats you can find by exploring the environment and navigating to difficult-to-reach areas. I’ve heard criticisms of the game’s platforming physics… They are sort of a weird combination of floaty and technical, particularly wall-running. But the gameplay hasn’t been very demanding so far, so I’ve not had any frustrations with it.
The game’s structure thus far is actually pretty similar to Anodyne 2’s – while exploring a 3D hub world, you discover NPCs and mentally link with them, entering a different mode of gameplay. This time you’re playing a little 2D puzzle game where you place colored shapes on a grid, with sort of a blokus kind of feel. It’s simple, but pleasing. Further complications and variations are being introduced with each new puzzle, but at a relaxing pace.
I played this before bedtime last night and tonight. It has a perfect before-bed vibe.
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If you can, use a switch pro controller. The platforming makes way more sense with non-analog shoulder buttons.
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hmmmm Angeline Era… idk. I feel bad because I wasn’t very into Sephonie either, like it’s not enough for them to be this good at borderline authentic retro graphics and writing, I also need them to be doing heavy handed genre bending coming of age narratives too. but I have to confess that I am not getting a ton out of this fairly challenging Ys clone.
Anodyne 2 was unreasonably good perhaps
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from everything i’ve played of it it’s a reasonably unique, difficult, and kinda jank action game. has a very Sega Saturn energy to it (or Ys like you said). it’s kinda neat to get a straight action game from them, esp one that’s surprisingly difficult. and there is a good breadth of different stages, and one or two weird unique ideas that are on brand for them. but at the end of the day it feels like it’s played relatively straight and i dunno if it lives up to some of the meta stuff in Anodyne 2, but maybe that was a one off. i’ve enjoyed playing Angeline Era more than what i enjoyed of Sephonie though - feels like there’s more substance there for me.
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I think it’s good when a game studio doesn’t necessarily do literally what they did the previous couple games.
That said knowing how esoteric stuff got in the Anodyne games were, and this one has this whole searching system, and unclear levels of upgrades vs secret mechanics vs pixel hunting etc, I’m letting this thing take it’s time to cook and see where it goes.
as an action game it’s janky but still mostly very good. I love its dedication to making absolutely everything feel like it has a texture to it through gameplay friction.
Gonna need more time to figure out if it can keep the momentum up but it’s neat! I kind of think the explicitly Ys influenced straightforwardness has some appeal even if that’s as deep as it goes.
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Moved some posts to this thread.
I’m really into Angeline Era right off the bat, just after playing the first few levels and reaching the dream area. I love these supercute little 32-bit looking diorama levels. I like the combat; its slightly janky looseness is compelling. I love the way it hides its secrets – so far the ones I need to find are well telegraphed, but then having this general search button gives a nice sense of mystery. I enjoyed finding the secret bath in the first level. I really gel with Analgesic’s sense of humor.
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I actually love the weirdly aggressive boss fight design and their writing and aesthetics are reliably great but the moment to moment exploration and the regular levels are not doing it for me at all
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I think the world design has sort of a Fisher-Price Dream Dollhouse commitment to the pleasure of just bumping into objects and seeing what charming things they do. The opening cruise ship area where you open cabin doors by attacking them and knocking them off their hinges, and then when you explore other cabins you find that the other passengers knocked their doors off too, and one person laid the door politely on the bed… This to me is magical.
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Ok, there are a lot of really cool secrets hidden everywhere if you try searching in intriguing places. In the starting village there’s a creepy guy’s house with a secret basement that takes you to a crazy ass masocore stage.
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After enjoying Anodyne 2 a lot I feel like I should do an Analgesic marathon. I’ll get to it in a few years probably.
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