If i remember right, most of the bonus dungeons are in the post game besides the minigame style stuff you access in that dungeon house (with the sokoban and minesweeper dungeons)
So I’d probably just stick to the main story stuff and dabble in the side stuff if you need a break from it
theres a woman ina shop who offered me the pleasure of taking on over a dozen different bonus dungeons, on TOP of box pushing and minesweeper ladies, in different places, also offereing me those experiences. my question was only ‘what do i dabble in first does anyone have preferences on which of these dungeons were good’ but i guess no one played any of the bonus dungeons so i have to find out myself!!!
I think most of those are like short dungeon appetisers, besides the 99 floor one (which I think is broken up into 20 floor chunks?)
I mostly used these to pass the time while waiting for someone to rescue me in the story dungeon
oh yeah everyone re-download shiren 5 cuz im gonna need some rescues hahahaha
I think I played the minesweeper one the most, it’s the best for short burst dungeoneering
(Initially posted this in the wrong thread, argh.)
Trackmania Nations Forever (PC)
Free game; there’s the still-$30 “United Forever” version that also has other environments and modes, but Nations’ “Stadium” setting and racing seems to be exactly the thing I like.
Can get from Steam, or download directly from the official site:
http://files.trackmaniaforever.com/tmnationsforever_setup.exe
You can jump on online servers, each of which seems to host any one bizarre custom track at a time–but these are largely really hard to understand; they can also embed custom licensed music which is not so great for recording sessions for YouTube.
Downloaded some “Trackpacks” which, judging from their titles, are probably conversions from TrackMania Turbo (and TT DS), and they seem pretty good (most other lone, highly rated tracks I tried were incomprehensible to me ; ):
^ That site is pretty slick; for lone tracks you can even launch them directly into the game from their description page on the site, no separate downloading step needed.
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Trackmania (2020) (PC/Steam)
Without paying for a subscription, in this free-to-play if you want solo play at least you can only drive 30 or so tracks in the current “season.”
Didn’t dig the tracks I tried; felt too open and loosey goosey, not clear and directed like other TM games I’ve tried.
The aesthetic is brighter than my eyes feel comfortable with.
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Trackmania 2 Stadium Demo (PC/Steam)
I’m probably missing something but it seems like I can only do scheduled online races? And seemingly requiring a very slow update of some sort.
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Trackmania Turbo Demo (PC/Steam)
Not digging the grungy, complicated environments with sort of realistic textures; doesn’t feel as fun and fast as the more abstract TMs. Feels distracting from the driving.
Relicta update: up to the final chapter I believe with only one annoying softlock in the interim (block literally got stuck on an invisible bit of the environment, I legit walked around it and saw it resting on nothing at all) that cost me several minutes of redoing a bunch of smaller puzzles as fast as possible to get back to where I was at.
Anyways the reason I decided to post is that someone cracked wise at the magic space rock about its personality and how “it should tweet that.” The game takes place in the 22nd century, most of mankind has left the Earth behind yet twitter still exists, what a grim view of the future.
EDIT: And the opening puzzle of that last section took me just about an hour to complete (no mid-puzzle saving) with at least one dastardly trick and another bit I got to work but it feels like I had to brute force an unintended solution to bypass.
lol this doesn’t ring a bell for me, but it sounds correct
Played some 3DS.
Soul of Darkness by GAMELOFT (remember them?) is a competent Castlevania clone for DSiware. Not amazing or even particularly good but this particular level of game is lost to time for better and worse so it was a strange comfort to play something of Vay Quality for 40 minutes.
Metal Torrent (DSi) is a bullet hell shooter by Arika. Now that I am more familar with TGM the sound effects and general design of this stand out more. Again not amazing, but pleasant.
I almost drifted to my 2 other DSi purchases, and then I thought about the G.G. Series. I did own the now very expensive cartridge at some point then got rid of it because I don’t get particular pleasure at this level of game, and I guess the switch and itch stores are absolutely flooded with a different version of this.
So I went with Pocket Jockey. The ponies have never been hotter, and I did spend an hour with Solitaire last week. And to be a broken record, while this does have the polish and concept far above the other two games, I’m not sure it was good so much as when I closed the game 40 minutes had gone by.
Here’s to me gritting my teeth as I try to play through a Game Gear game on my 3DS to prove a point to myself.
My friend surprised me by gifting me the latest Outlast game, which is a co-operative haunted house camp-fest. Surprisingly, it’s very polished and is actually quite fun. They’ve dropped any conceit to telling a serious story so everything is just cranked to 11 on the ridiculous factor.
You all play as someone who has volunteered to take part in a therapy session that turns out to be some Saw style exposure therapy course that simultaneously indoctrinates you into whatever the ideology is of the evil corporation that’s in these Outlast games. You are completing your therapy by proceeding through five Programs, which are a series of missions that take place in (from what I’ve seen so far) a prison with a electric-prod wielding leather daddy and an evil clown carnival where a crazy hand puppet lady corrupts children to murder adults. There is an online lobby you can walk around in that looks like a populated Vault from Fallout, where you have people to upgrade your class abilities, tables to arm wrestle at, and a room you can customize. When you select a mission, you step onto a train and strap into a char where they give you lobotomies, and you watch the pre-mission briefing while getting dosed with a huge amount of joker gas.
The gameplay is surprisingly sturdy. It’s just sneaking past, running from, and distracting enemies, completing puzzle objectives like carrying gas to generators or finding keys, and just navigating the lavishly decorated maps. It all works together really well as a co-op game, since a big strategy is luring enemies away from areas, and surviving together if you get into crazy situations. I am not someone who gets scared by games anymore, but this game will spawn a hostile enemy that looks exactly like you or your partner (all with the name and health above its head, and even a live microphone icon) and you just won’t know it’s not your friend until they’re grappling you at your last 1/5th of health. It’s a fantastically fun and spooky experience to have to ask “is that really you!???” And of course sometimes you fuck around and act like it’s not you lol. I do wonder how it plays with more than two players though. I really like it at just two.
The art budget is off the chain in this game and the performance is great despite being early access. I don’t know how long the legs are gonna be on this game, but it’s fun enough already for just $30. I played for four hours straight last night and would love to play some more.
a bunch more bonus dungeons will appear when you finish the story too, as is traditional
apparently i can’t read the word shiren without being like maybe i should drop everything and get back into shiren
everyone should drop everything and get back into shiren so i can be rescued whenever i need 
HOW MANY MORE
i dunno it was years ago when i played! more than two, i’m sure of that
I am now desperately in need of a mindless game to play after work. It cannot have nearly any story or shit you have to think about. I’ve finished all the usual shooters of the era like Doom, Infinite, Destiny, Wolfenstein, the various Star Wars shoot-em-ups, Gears, etc
I picked up Boltgun, which is decent, but I sorta get bored with how flat boomer-shooter environments are. I bounced off of Ion Fury, even before the transmophic controversy.
I could return to Skies of Arcadia but god damn that can be slog. I also want to finish Deserts of Kharak but that requires you to re-learn how the fuck to play that game and ugh. House of the Dying Sun was also too much shit to keep track of, becoming work.
Have you tired Rise of the Triad, Quake, or FEAR? Those would be my big next steps for pure shooter, IMO.
Recommend one of the Warhammer co-op games like Vermintide or Darktide, they’re even on sale right now. All you need is chop thwack waaagh.
TM 2020’s current campaign is a stinker, yeah. There’s some good tracks in previous campaigns but the user-made content is definitely the highlight. In the $10 a year subscription you get access to all previous campaigns, user-made servers, and a track of the day, all of which are better than the current campaign. IDK why Nadeo released on consoles featuring their worst content lol. It’s a solid game but very confusingly marketed. The knockout Fall Guys-esque mode is pretty fun for a laugh, and that’s included in the free version. I think the free version also has access to the rotating “featured” server.
For mechanics, it’s essentially an expansion of previous “Stadium” environments, but with a wider range of drivable surfaces. Road and dirt are standard in previous Stadium environments, but now there are blocks for grass (which used to only be available as the floor to the stadium), plastic, magnet, water, etc. There’s also ice, which is really tricky to get used to, but very satisfying once you learn how to slide on it. And they added a decent number of powerup gates: upwards and downwards boost (to help you fly or stick the track, respectively), slowdown gates, cruise control, no steer, fragile, etc. It has a lot of variety!
Now for Trackmania Turbo, that combines the four Trackmania 2 environments (Canyon, Valley, Stadium, Lagoon) into one game. It’s very overwhelming when you start since you have to learn 4 different physics systems but it provided me something like 300 hours of entertainment. There are 200 campaign tracks (10 tracks * 5 difficulties * 4 environments). It’s very good if all you want to do is beat time attack medals in single player, but it’s sorely lacking in the multiplayer department.
Nations Forever is absolutely a very very good game, though! The newer Trackmanias don’t really change in terms of depth compared to that game, they just vary in breadth.
Not enough FEAR talk on SB imo. For me, it’s one of the most pinnacle shooters ever made, and it’s rare that a game reaches its height.