So when I was in Americorps in like 2002, there were these two brothers in there with me, both from NYC, both grew up in the projects. Really good dudes, but very different background from me, so it could be awkward. We eventually figured out two things we had in common. First was obvious in hindisght, DBZ, the show that somehow unites basically all dudes of a certain age. The second thing was those guys FUCKING LOVED Puzzle Fighter. Like so much. Apparently it was the game they used to play against each other all the time in high school, and against anyone they knew. They got so hyped that I even knew what it was.
Those were really the only people I have known outside of SB that love Puzzle Fighter, but at least they are out there.
Still thinking about Dark Forces/Jedi Knight/Jedi Outcast so I made a (maybe overly pedantic) little video.
Basically:
Star Wars: Dark Forces is the best shooter of the bunch. Tighter, more holistically successful.
Star Wars: Dark Forces II - Jedi Knight takes the verticality and rabbit hole riddled levels to the extreme while also overextending itself in that regard + the floppy light sabre battles (janky fun, still) + the forces powers (which are not exactly necessary but the gesture of allowing players to tailor their methods of traversal/murdering in various ways is a nice one). The level design never quite surpasses the Bob-omb Battlefieldness of Nar Shaddaa, things get a bit too Tick Tock Clocky later on (that freefalling ship level though!) but it still remains pretty thrilling to explore all the way to the end and often epiphanous with its (quite tricky) secret areas. My personal favourite of the bunch (the secret area around 4:52 highlights what I like about the language of this game’s level design).
Star Wars: Jedi Knight II - Jedi Outcast lost me with how weightless the shooting feels, how the levels were immediately flatter and story-beated out (the “secret” area at around 10:55 was all I needed to see lol) and…maybe I’ve just had enough of Star Wars for now but also I want more of the super-scaled FPS exploration of Jedi Knight I so…do I download Mysteries of the Sith now?
And in case anyone’s interested, I found this very helpful in getting Jedi Knight I running in Windows 10:
The image for Step 4 doesn’t show up for me anymore so here’s what my file looks like:
I really dig the Star Destroyer level in Jedi Outcast, a lot of strut and scaffolding climbing and by that point they’re really taking advantage of 10m-high player jumps. A lot like one of my favorite level themes, bridge under-scaffolding.
That weak first secret area + the significantly downgraded jumping + going into the menu to find out what the ‘run’ key was only to find that auto-run was already on and there’s a key to ‘walk’ even slower = me totally put off by the game but yeah, thinking I need to give it a second chance. (maybe movement is nerfed for inevitable force powers to come? (ditto for shooting?) idk it just felt really slow and clunky compared to the first two)
it is definitely nerfed for inevitable force powers, and there are certainly a few weak levels, though none as bad as kyle’s dad’s house in jk1 (levels 3 and 4 of jk1 are imo the worst levels of the entire dark forces series outside of mysteries of the sith)
my personal headcanon of all the jedi knight games’ approach to level design is george costanza saying “oh you’ve gotta have the BIG salad! the BIIIIG salad!” except it’s “oh you’ve gotta become a JEDI!”
i know what you actually mean, but this sentence just makes me think of a shonen anime about arcade score tournaments, where one of the characters utilises qi gong to play better
I played a bunch of No Man’s Sky and I guess I just missed a scheduled rerun of one of the “expedition” game mode stories by, like, only 5 days, which is a huge bummer. I understand the FOMO principle of live game content but I do not like it! Everything should be available to me, the bad schedule haver, at all times!!
No Man’s Sky has so much shit in it now. I like upgrading the settlements because I do the same thing in Minecraft–building workshops and throwing bread and meat at villagers until they bone and produce disgusting miniature clones of themselves, etc. However NMS town expansion involves appointment mechanics, where you start building something and it takes a full hour of real time to construct, like some social or mobile games… I do not like this either, as a bad schedule haver!!
I’d actually mind it less if it were a whole day of waiting, like Animal Crossing. One hour is just awkward. Makes it feel like they are trying to push me to extend my game session in a way I don’t want. If you’re gonna make me wait at all, and you’re gonna make me wait a shorter time than a single game session, why not let me build it in five minutes? Why not one? etc.
The vibes are absolutely unparalleled. I’d call both of those the prettiest psx games. I’ve never been able to get over the terrible controls, but lately I’ve been thinking I want to go back in again and just deal with them.
Windjammers 2 is super fucking cool in how it feels like it carries the spirit of the original without missing a beat.
That said, the new stuff it adds also maybe puts a little too much complexity into what was a very accessible competitive game. I can handle the new types of courses that mix things up, but trying to remember what combinations of buttons do what, I dunno. Kinda reminds me of when they kept adding shit to Divekick.
Oh also that casino arena can go to hell. Am I mad because the AI* happened to land a hit as the goal switched to an inexplicable 9 point value? Yes.
*(uh, don’t get it on Switch like I did if you wanna play online with people, there’s like 30 on there, tops)
Anyway! I know I sound like I’m down on it, but it’s honestly pretty neat. Dunno if it’ll usurp Windjammers proper, but who knows. For a game that looked like it was never gonna happen, I’m pleasantly surprised.
Edit: I was too worked up to realize the Casino arena runs a roulette wheel after each point scored, and the value of the next round is shown not only on the scoreboard, but on top of the disc (which is a poker chip on that stage), too. Neat! And devastating if it lands on 9 points.
play on vita or an emulator where you can remap controls. put dpad on left stick and put the left and right camera buttons on right stick. if ur on vita put L2 on L. best control scheme
