It has the soul of a Wii game and it really does feel like Smooth Moves but with two, more sophisticated Wiimotes. Some of the poses/forms are a bit of a strain on the arms and body for longer sessions. Some do very clever things which often result in either the game malfunctioning or some moments that feel extremely novel. One pose has you hold the joycons IR sensor in front of your hand to register gestures. Feels like Iām interacting with some advanced scifi interface even if the tech is fairly simple.
āPounceā is madness and equivalent to Smooth Movesā āThe Discardā.
You donāt have to crouch down, you just need the joycons on a flat surface but getting this ready quickly isnāt easy and usually interferes with the upcoming game detecting a static position.
I do a lot of aerobic and strength-based workouts and consider myself pretty decent at squats and squat holds. The game is really asking a lot from a person with its squat-based games, multiple of which require sumo stomps or holding a sumo stomp on one leg keeping the joycons properly oriented.
The game has a running theme of butts and butt action throughout which worked for me.
Keith Silversteinās silky purr as the announcer was strangely compelling but Warioās new voice feels off. Kinda wonder how much casting they really did for it given Martinetās change seems to be more of a big deal for mainline Mario things.
In the spirit of Warioware hereās the best track with no context:
We are deep in the Third Strata. We took a brief progress break to level up a Ronin named Lily (after a friend). She kinda kicked ass, but we eventually went back to using Dark Hunter Sarah because tying up enemies while beating the shit out of them rules.
We just got the purple key, so weāve been doing some backtracking to grab stuff in previously locked areas. Most of the team is around level 40. Sarah is a couple levels behind, but she will catch up. Iāve prioritized TP Regen for my magic users, Rudie and Meauxdal, so we can hang out for a good long time down there.
i purposefully leveled up and added a ronin to my main team on my recent replay and ākinda kicks ass, yet not remotely worth subbing anyone out forā is pretty much the EO1 ronin epitaph lol
those late game unlockable classes are so misbegotten given how much effort the game expends to make you think that ronins/hexers are super goddamn cool (and to be fair: they are. just not very practical)
allthat said subbing out my protector for ronin worked out pretty well given that lv 10 Immunize makes protectors completely irrelevant
Oh gosh, despite not really being that much of a puzzle-solver, I used to be very into the DROD games (to the point that I briefly subscribed to their online service so I could place on their online leaderboards), and this post reminded me that I once participated in a contest to ārenovateā an original DROD room using the updated level editor, i.e. keeping the puzzle and architecture exactly the same, but updating the visuals and atmosphere. I forgot how much I enjoyed that process.
Anyway, my recollection of the new oozes is that neither of the new ones are as bad as the original in terms of making-things-unsolvable or even just excessively fiddly. That said, I donāt recall finishing ANY of the games mentioned so far, so I should jump on the trend myself, as soon as I have fewer obligations to fulfill.
Finished RoboCop: Rogue City. Prettyā¦pretty good little game they made, with this one.
The last few hours throw some wild shit at you, and the final encounter, while kinda easy, is nuts in its own way.
Did miss one achievement, though. I tried to pull it off and it was a pain in the ass, so, oh well!
Iāll have to give that Terminator game Teyon made before this a try. Iāve got their Rambo game installed, but from what Iāve played of that oneā¦that one isnāt a hidden gem, hahaha.
I have no idea how long itāll take me to complete this (Iām hoping under a month but who knows) but if you find yourself with the time and inclination jump on in, we can all get horribly stuck together~
Oh yeah:
DROD: TCB day 3
New area is all about vines with thorns that are constantly growing and trying to kill you/destroy other things. Unlike everything else in the game on a timer which proceeds based on aā¦ probably 15 turn timer, this expands based on its surface area that is not directly against solid surfaces. This means when slow itāll grow fast, itāll grow slower when bigger or against pits as opposed to walls, etc. I didnāt finish this area today as I got sucked into a secret (i.e. optional) room where you had to manage the growth speed of two different groups of vines so that one grows fast enough to kill some roaches you canāt reach before a second one either reaches you or joins up with the first group. I timed this pretty optimally and I think I legit needed every exact thing to be set right in the exact right order in order to succeed, when not I was chronically a single turn short. TBF this is a secret/optional room, but when I talk about fiddly and exacting thatās kinda what I mean.
Anyways I think I only have one or two more rooms in this area, the one I walked away on had some rather exacting bits of queen roach leading (they run away from you in very specific ways) that I only cracked the first bit of before I ran out of time.
like a dragon gaiden: the man who erased his nameā¦ sure is a filler game. but it tides me over well. i think this game is mid and fantastic in that peculiar way only rgg can do. will i grind for hours to complete my skill tree at the very least? you betcha.
20 years ago I was probably playing Prince of Persia Sands of Time going āwhy do other people like this game? I hate this.ā
Now in the future the past has occurred. āThis game is for rubes,ā I declare.
How can this game be so handholdy? so insistent on the player seeing where they need to go? So scared of the player pressing the wrong button, and yet I found myself at a complete loss as to what I should do.
Also 20 years later there is not that much difference between PS2/GC/Xbox graphics and youād be fine with any of them.
The 3 second cutscene of him putting away his sword after every fight is really infuriating.
The PS3 version is rad because they fucked up a bunch of stuff in the port. Some stuff with controls, his clothes never getting progressively tattered, a persistent audio echo (I guess it tries to output 5.1 to stereo speakers or something), and any time thereās a fountain or any sort of water nearby, it drowns out every other sound/music.
I still hella notice the difference between ps2 and Xbox ports. ps2 games forget to have shadows half the time! itās actually really bad. play psychonauts ps2 VS 360 itās like two different generations
also GameCube loading times are better than ps2. maybe Iāve just stood strong but ps2 has almost always had the worst ports and I only play exclusives emulated, otherwise I try to find a different version
3 second sword thing:thatās why I had to quit revengance, he takes like 5 seconds to rip out peopleās spines and then pose in EVERY FIGHT itās supposed to be fast action damnit
Really drives home the meatgrinder that is WW2 as you and hundreds of identical soliders slaughter each other for incremental progress, with scores fighting for individual hills and bridges using imprecise weapons. The maps lack of foliage and trees makes it feel realistic, using random bits of fence and the occasional tree trunk for cover is an actual tactic. The planes make no sense. Vehicles smash into each other like toy cars. incredible
Wolfenstein Enemy Territory
really a big old mess of a game before the era where games held your hand and put a big arrow on top of things to tell you what to do. Classes really matter, I find myself wanting to be a medic to revive everyone. The shifting battle lines create different chokepoints. The rain and snow visual effects, and grass, actually still look kind of decent today.
