anyone who doesn’t know how to sword fly in halo 2 is missing out on one of the more satisfying unintended game mechanics ever created
1 Like
Well shit, what a week. Just finished up Virginia and hell, I gotta sit back and think about it. It’s one of those “what are games?” moments for me. I hear it’s not a game, but an interactive movie. I couldn’t disagree more, but I’ll leave it for a bit so I can ponder as to why I do.
Now onto Starseed Pilgrim. No need to express my enthusiasm as I have played it before and consider it a masterpiece. The mechanics of the seeds themselves harbor a fine line between puzzle completion and maze building as feedback.
I have discovered something new about the light-blue seed this time round. I’m always amazed at the level of depth this game has. Learning some other tricks about the “behaviour” of seeds and how they interact with the other seeds.
I like how space is white and object is black.
1 Like
Wasn’t the soundtrack considered some kind of landmark? So far it’s been very Pure Moods new age-y. It’s a nice relief from the fake John Williams stuff I expected, but it nevertheless still feels like it’s supposed to carry the same cheesy “Hollywood!” gravitas.
I’m glad the little turtle aliens are so cute. That’s like the one thing that doesn’t feel aggressively focus tested to the aggro dude market. They totally feel like they escaped from some other game. Maybe that’s Marathon/Myth Bungie’s secret hostage message underneath the postage stamp. I hope there’s cows.
I hit level 2 and suddenly remembered playing some of it in French at a friend’s house when it first leaked. Really feeling the beige city. One foot in the Quake past, one regenerating foot in the CoD future.
what are these again?
Sorry man, that was supposed to be “the behaviour of seeds”. 
oh cool. still tho, give us that info
I mean when you plant a different seed onto another seed class. Like if you plant the green seed two blocks before the end of a yellow seed, it grows in a different direction etc.
I found out the light-blue seeds prevents the black matter from growing faster. There is also a pattern on the yellow seed’s block at the end that is an inverted symbol of the blue-seed’s block. The stack of brown blocks that you start on has the SAME symbol as the blue-seed’s blocks too. I’m not sure what happens there, but there is some correlative mechanic going on for sure. Still need to figure it out.
whoa cool. didn’t know that about the green
those ice blocks are a real mercy, yeah. they never get consumed by the void!
red seeds are such a hassle imo
1 Like
Red seeds are a tough one, yea. Trying to figure out how to use them outside of closing a path to get to a key portal and head home is my current challenge. I think the dark-blue seed might be an answer if you’re lucky enough to have one nearby.
Reminded that I did infact play Virginia as well. that I had not brought it up maybe is my review.
I started Bastion since a friend gifted it to me 3 years ago. Wow this game is pretty old at this point! I tried looking up what we said on old SB. Probably easier for me to call in @Father.Torque
I am going to play more but already feel it is not for me. Like if you put sushi in front of me. I can’t really make value judgements about it outside of my own non-enjoyment of it. Like Virginia above if I start giving my critical reactions I feel like I am just being an asshole.
I think a lot of folks here are down on Bastion but I liked it a hole lot. I’m easily hypnotized by novelty, though. Some of the optional difficulty modifier stuff you can unlock is cool, though.
1 Like
Bastion is the shit
I’d be interested in hearing opposing opinions on this because I can’t image a reason to not like this game, other than personal taste. It just seems like such a well designed and beautiful game.
2 Likes
It has no crunch and it’s mechanically uninteresting.
7 Likes
I liked Bastion’s visual style and appreciated what it was going for with the narrative (and narrator), but after about two hours I just had an “oh so this is it, huh” moment, and lost interest.
bastion is incredibly limp from a mechanical perspective. looks and sounds quite decent, but is an utter slog to play
1 Like
agree with all
Level design would be nice, fight arenas are a limp substitute. I recognize the feeling because from a very high abstraction that’s what it looks like level design is but I know more than I did three years ago when I was thinking/creating like Bastion and realized I hated it
All the people who make it are cool tho
which is why it’s nice that they made a much better game afterward
2 Likes
agree, but the combat system has 3 or 4 exploitable loops and they really could’ve closed them
Anecdotally the more oblique narrative seems to have turned off a general audience (read: everyone I know) which is kind of a shame
2 Likes
I still have to play Transistor. I’m afraid it won’t live up to Bastion for me though.
Maybe I just have lower standards for level design. It all felt good to me but I don’t have a critical analysis handy to decide why that is. I’d have to play it again with this in mind.
That said, I feel like the combat is actually really crunchy?? The weapons all feel very different and the combinations lead to very different play styles. And the perfect parry mechanic is really hard to use, but very tactile and precise.
Maybe this is all because I was playing with a bunch of the additional difficulty stuff added. I guess the game without that could be pretty limp. But even then it’s still a gorgeous game with incredible music.
Anyway, y’all can have your opinions but I pretty strongly disagree on this one.
2 Likes
Yeah I can say that Bastion never seemed super deep mechanically or narratively but the set dressing and the hints of world building sure did let me imagination gallop over the horizon for the couple of hours it took me to complete the game. At the time it also seemed like such a welcome departure from the standard AAA stuff appearing on consoles.
2 Likes