I also really outspokenly admired Paragon and LawBreakers and was hurt by their loss.
I really have a thing for Dead Games.
2 Likes
I started up the most recent God of War a few days back and today was the day I learned that while you can do some side things as soon as you can get to them, it might not be a good idea as the only thing in your way are much much stronger enemies. I only realized this afterwards when my reward was a piece of equipment two levels higher than anything Iāve seen so far and almost as much XP as Iāve seen in the entire rest game so far. I just thought I was very bad at the game.
1 Like
Lemme tell you about Star Wars Galaxies:
4 Likes
Vanquish became revelatory once I finished it and unlocked the pure arena wave mode; it demands a perfect balance of cover-sliding, sliding shotguns, and melee finishers only in the briefest breaths of safety that every mechanic clicks into place. Unfortunately the campaign never demands that, despite its lovely setpieces, and the upgrade system is more draining than interesting.
So thatās not a great answer but it has a purer more beautiful game inside it if you havenāt seen it and is, in my book, absolutely necessary.
3 Likes
I worked my way toward one of those sleeping knights by a broken gate and realized this the hard way.
That said, some of the enemies in the post-game are insanely hard, too. I backtracked through an early area and two of those witch enemies (the ones that teleport around and send attacks rippling through the ground) spawned and pretty much killed my will to clean up.
Tactical Challenges reveal a playground that trains the player to such a degree that the main game is still enjoyable but becomes like a sequence of fun obstacle course skirmishes, compared to those crafted gauntlets.
6 still gets my heart pumping more than most games have ever approached. Plenty of people have good executions on youtube, one guy choreographs something unapproachable (I did study his run a bit to beat it).
2 Likes
Iāve been going through my games, mostly the ones I got in lots or from op shops for $1, seeing if any are worth keeping because I need to clear some ROOM. These will be poorly written.
WII
GREASE THE OFFICIAL VIDEOGAME
this one was funny because they have the soundtrack and video clips from the movie BUT they dont have the license to john or olivias likenesses so whenever they show movie clips it always avoids showing them at all and their characters in the game look nothing like them. the game itself is a collection of minigames (mostly rhythm) that follow the events of the film. also itās bad (especially the racing minigame) but i kinda want to keep it for the novelty.
FURI FURI PARK
really disappointing because it could have been pretty decent if they actually put effort into it. like some of the minigames i think āoh this is neat!ā but itās only one level and they never really do anything with them. feel more like microgames. most are based on classic taito licenses like bubble bobble and even lesser known ones like cameltry. A WASTE. getting rid of this one.
WIIMUSIC
a cute little toy but not much else. still enjoyed playing with it, though.
LOVE IS IN BLOOM
a pal exclusive where you play a bunch of minigames (sure were a lot of wii minigame collections) to help two little naked people to fall in love. it is odd. also not very good, but surprisingly not awful. it kept me entertained for a while.
also itās bad at showing how relationships work, you play the minigames to earn money to buy each other gifts which is very cynical but the funniest part is that the first gift you buy is a PUPPY for the woman. you donāt buy someone you just met a puppy as a surprise!! that is a huge responsibility that they probably arent prepared for!!!
COOKING MAMA
i really didnāt like this at all, it really needs to feel tactile like with the DS screen and stylus. doesnāt really work when youāre pretending your wiimote is a knife, and made me cramp quickly. i like the ds ones, though.
LINKāS CROSSBOW TRAINING
unfortunately it looks like someone used the disc to wipe their nose and it didnāt run and likely never will even with a buff. thatās one dollar iāll never see again!!
PS3
TIMESHIFT
call of duty but with a scifi setting and time powers so it is better than call of duty. for the most part itās a very generic, average mid-2000s shooter though, so i lost interest pretty quick. still, not bad if youāre looking for a popcorn shooter.
PLAYSTATION ALL-STAR BATTLE
this is just smash bros except probably not as good (i never got into smash bros) but i get to play as parappa and the onion head guy turns giant and fights a robot in the level background so thats cool
WIPEOUT HD FURY
itās wipeout but in hd!! and looks glorious, even with age. plays fantastic, too. i really dislike the way progress is structured though. i just want to race, but i gotta do time trails, speed laps, etc. the zone is awesome, though. overall i like it, but man, just let me race. or zone. oh and it still has the problem with unbalanced weapons but whatevs
DEMONāS SOULS
i said i wouldnāt play a game like this again and didnāt plan to spend much time with this one but ended up playing for like three hours or something. it feels really good! Also interesting seeing the differences between this and dark souls. the latter definitely feels more refined and the hub system is a big difference. do people here think it does anything better than dark souls? i wonder why i bounced off bloodborne but got into this one so easily. it just feels really good. and maybe more accessible? iāll probably go back to it. i only got past the first boss and unlocked the other areas.
DARK VOID
an uncharted clone, but this one has a 40s scifi thing like rocketeer going on which kept me playing longer than i would have otherwise. also there is some jetpack stuff (which is cool) and āvertical coverā (which is bad) and also nikola tesla is in it?? unfortunately the core game is still uncharted which I find boring so i tired of this one pretty quickly. especially since the enemies are all bullet spongers. maybe thatās less of a problem when you upgrade your weapons a bit, but i didnāt stay long enough to find out
BIONIC COMMANDO
the edgy grittiness of this reboot always put me off but the swinging looked fun. it isnt. the combat is even worse. just play spiderman instead if you wanna swing.
TWISTED METAL
feels like its stuck in the 90s in both its edginess and its game design. feels really dated (especially controls) EXCEPT for the large destructable arenas, which are cool, but also feel wasted in this game. also everything moves around too damn fast and itās not because iām old now. also david jaffe is a jackass
THATāS ALL FOR NOW
6 Likes
Funny that you mention CoD when at the time I played this I felt it was clearly aping Half Life 2 but decided Time Powers instead of Physics Powers
2 Likes
I am playing the original Resident Evil 2 to increase my froth for the remake (and the local game store is sold out of the remake and I refuse to buy it from anywhere else)
I had never played claireās campaign before and tbh itās the way the game is meant to be played, itās so good.
1 Like
Iāve been trying Bloodborne again and basically spinning my wheels like I usually do in these games.
I can get to a bridge with two werewolves who always rock me, or I can go past them into some sewers where some rats tear me apart. Is there not another checkpoint anywhere?!?
Iām not sure what those two exact locations are but if I recall the first section relies heavily on unlocking shortcuts to further areas. try exploring more.
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Those werewolves are brutal and kind of unreasonable at this point; I think theyāre intended to guard the bridge which only functions as a shortcut. Note that you can cheese them by during them back to the darkened house, whose door they canāt fit through.
Continue heading along the northwest edge and youāll reach a cathedral with half-turned men and rats in the basement that empties into the canals/sewers, which is the cleanest intended route.
Or, past the werewolves you can find a back way around the main road into the sewers.
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Checking the wiki I discovered a shortcut I walked past dozens of times now and feel really silly. This should help!
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Oh, I can see how you would have gotten that, especially with the setting and aesthetic. Definitely felt more CODish too me though. Of course, itās been over ten years since I played Half-Life 2.
Singularity was a mostly-forgettable but otherwise fun B game.
It has three endings, one of which I loved, all of which were peak nonsensical causal bullshit.
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I think theyāre basically two perfect halves of one coin, but I personally prefer Demonās (probably only because I played it first, to death, before Dark ever even came out). The number one biggest difference is the clear stage/level based structure of Demonās versus the connected world of Dark. In general I think Demonās is more lo-fi and thematically evocative. Dark is more interested in its twisted and eventually unreconcilable histories (āworldbuildingā, to be crude about it), but Demonās cares much less about What Happened Here and much more about evoking a specific emotional mood, which plays better with me.
Demonās is also faster with somewhat less variation between builds which normally would sound like a downside to me but, like I said, Iām not objective about it.
7 Likes
I agree with all that. The worldbuilding focus on specific names in Dark felt like a real step backwards next to frontloaded vague themes, and the level design stripped away in-level complexity towards between-level-connection complexity which is also less interesting to me. No levels are on par with Boletaria 1-1 (but then, nothing is until Bloodborne). And the general color-washed aesthetic, the blue-green of Dark, isnāt as appealing as the more varied nature of Demonās.
1 Like
Demonās was also more interested in chthonic imagery and a kind of dark mysticism, where Dark was more of a deep dive into Western fantasy and (mostly Greek) mythology. I think the former ideas are less well explored and more fruitful.
Bloodbourne really is a sequel to Demonās in a way the Dark series is not.
6 Likes
save me Garl Vinland
So the world might be mended.
5 Likes