I’ve taken to playing through one day in Shenmue whenever I play the game and that feels like perhaps just the amount of Shenmue I can handle in a single setting. Of course there are occasionally times like today where I go someplace at ten in the morning and am told to come back first thing next morning, and I train for a bit and go play Hang-On and it still isn’t even noon so I just return home, turn off the tv and come back later to hit the next day prompt… but it usually works better than that.
Also I played through Hate Plus and seemingly importing in the harem ending from the prior game locks you into a drama-free reading of logs so that was probably a mistake on my part.
Definitely don’t play it because this game never makes you forget you’re in a warehouse
This post made me wonder how many truck drivers spend all their off days playing Truck Simulator. Just a pure life devoted to truck driving. I’m sure these people exist
Styx: Master of Shadows - forgot how much more tolerable the titular goblin rogue (gogue? roblin? roblin.) was in this one versus the sequel. currently at the first proper mission and have run up against a wall- I keep getting detected and panicking.
why they decided he needed to tell you, the player, that his greasy ballsack needs a fresh wax but he wouldn’t trust it to such an incompetent gamesperson, who is too busy with their own genitals, because preoccupation with a concurrent act of masturbation must be reason they let ol’ Styx fall into a pit, which is like the pit where the player’s brain is meant to be, the great big dumboface, so dumbo it shows in the vacancy of their face every second of their lives, it has affected their every action and aspiration; their online retailer of choice almost denied them the right to exchange real human currency to pilot Styx because of their countenance which Styx: Master of Insult Comedy recognizes looks quite unintelligent and Styx: Last of the Gobthieves should only be controlled by non-voidheads, appreciate this privilege while you can because the next time you try to launch and play with this boy he might not be there; he will be having his balls waxed by an intelligent and competent and dexterous professional who will not be put off by any of their various musks or textures or grease variations
…every time he dies and you’re prompted to reload a save in The Sequel I’ll
never know
ETA: look I’ll check if anyone wants but I don’t even think this is an exaggeration
93% sure this goblin told me to stop playing with my balls so he can go back to playing with his own balls!
Wolfenstein Youngblood is trying to be some kind of mashup of Borderlands and Dog Days and instead of feeling visceral or being some kind of build and loot porn, it fails at both because it’s trying to serve too many masters
there are better ways to gate progression that don’t involve a literal leveling system
it does not feel good to shoot an enemy that looks the same as other enemies but because they out-level you, all of your oomph disappears into the ether
why does this game have an endgame? like,I get why Destiny or The Division have an endgame, they’re always online and your characters are persistent. this is some 4-6 hour sprint and the only person who will give a shit is if you have a coop partner
I just… there’s so many bad decisions in the core design of this game. I get wanting to do something different or wanting to take a different approach for a different narrative but what the endpoint they arrived at wasn’t it
I think the biggest flaw, even more than the progression, is the combat is so fucking boring. Every enemy just charges you, and as long as you understand how the enemy armor system works, you can punch way above your level.
I’ve been gradually going through it solo and it’s frustrating how easy and brainless it is to play. Doesn’t help that I hate the narrative too.
I played through Elsinore over the weekend. I was a little worried before playing it would be like eating my vegetables but it kept me engaged, especially thanks to being able to fast-forward time and having the events I’d already seen reoccur regardless of whether or not I witness them. At its best, the game plays up the ridiculousness of what can happen in Shakespeare. The melodramatic highlights for me were the ghost ending, Hamlet killing Claudius and the hilariously creepy and nihilistic Power path.
In terms of quieter moments, my favorite ending was the one where Polonius finally internalizes that nobody respects him despite his decades of service. An important side effect of centering Ophelia that I hadn’t expected is that her family members Polonius and Laertes become more fleshed-out characters as well.
Another big change of emphasis from Hamlet to Elsinore is the political aspects are emphasized, especially since Prince Fortinbras doesn’t just suddenly show up at the end anymore. After playing this I have a much better understanding of the tension in Hamlet, which is not just about interpersonal conflicts at the court but also looming external menace exacerbated by Claudius’s mismanagement and Hamlet and Polonius’s inadequacy to fix things. If everybody is going insane it’s partly because of the cognitive dissonance of having this enemy army marching through Denmark but Claudius, like a sort of Chamberlain, insisting it’s cool because they agreed to be allies and nobody is allowed to contradict him. I gather this was all implied in the original play but completely flew over my head.
Another reason this game is successful is the aspect of bizarre richocheting contingencies and paths not taken is a huge part of the original. First of all, “if Hamlet had just gone ahead and killed Claudius what would have happened exactly anyway?”, is a question the play doesn’t ask but is at the front of the audience’s mind. The game comes up with several possible answers which also clarify why he might’ve been so reluctant. Also the whole complicated sequences Laertes and Hamlet both leaving on boats and returning and then getting advice from some particular people and not others, and all those particular details driving the ending, I now understand were not just Shakespeare machinating plot points to get a particular scenario where everyone suddenly dies, but also a commentary on how contingent history is. And that connects back to my last point about Hamlet also being about the history of a kingdom, not just a bunch of people.
In general I appreciated this game in large part as a learning tool for understanding some facets of the original better, which is a truly complex and alien play that nowadays begs for aids and critical discussion. By cutting out the difficult Shakespearean language (wisely given that writing pseudo-Shakespeare for all the new scenes is bound to fail) and adding gamey elements, Elsinore provides a new way of abridging Hamlet that emphasizes theme and structure. It only communicates a facet of Hamlet, but I found it quite faithful and thoughtful with respect to that facet, especially as it’s always clear enough what was in the original and what is an invention. I still have a critical edition of Hamlet on my bookshelf gathering dust, and perhaps I’ll revisit Shakespeare’s beautiful language later, now less disoriented.
glad someone else here played it and it encouraged such a thoughtful post on what it does well!
I really loved it after Bennett persuaded me to go back to it, there’s 20% more unity jank in the first impression than I would’ve liked (that the characters don’t move isometrically by default despite the game world being roughly isometric is kind of a big nitpick) but it really starts to shine quickly
I owe you a hypnospace outlaw playthrough in return, it’s the last thing on my 2019 backlog, but I think it’s going to get punted to like June
I got Ballistic Craft thanks to @Ymer and it’s really fun. Creating shots is interesting. I got an S rank on every story mission on the first try, so the game is incredibly easy. I haven’t had the chance to fight a real human yet, and I’m not sure that I will, unless someone buys this and plays it with me. Maybe I’ll host a Ballistic Craft Tournament
It’s unrefined and janky and doesn’t have a lot of “content” but it’s mechanically enticing so I think it deserves merit
I started up Axiom Verge today as my not-Shenmue game of the moment.
It seems alright? Not particularly inspired and I think through at least the first two bosses it doesn’t do a good job disguising how linear it is, but I still do dig the aesthetic.