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Comments
Also I just completed Gurumin. Crazy bonus boss and all. Now I want to eat some real black beans.
So I actually have now played Aquaria, Aztaka, Element4l, and Wooden Sen'SeY. Finished all except Element4l which I didn't enjoy. Also finished Oozi (for some reason) and Gurumin.
I feel ilke Ys II or Trails FC is up next.
(spoilers: Castlevania Aria of Sorrow final boss)
Why doesn't he try something other than tanking all the hits? how about hitting the small green orbs? or moving to dodge the yellow daggers?
That's racist.
hooooolyyyyy shit
Note: this guy did it on Normal. If it was Hard, his back row would have died before he got to the corner.
The rhythm-game/RPG hybrid Sequence has been renamed to Before the Echo, due to a (presumably) trademark claim of...I have no idea who those other folks are, honestly.
I'm not left with a good impression...
(...of the game. The AVGN is pretty cool.)
He doesn't make a special point of them, but those "press X to not die" things -- along with the quick-time events that he does point out -- those ruin the immersion for me.
Rather, it's imitators that have gone nuts with overacting.
Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet completed.
Here's the contents of that old list. Which actually is composed of three lists:
1. to-"finish" list
* Ys Origin (replay with Hugo or Toal)
*
Ys I, Ys II* Terranigma
* Metroid Prime
*
Aquaria* La-Mulana (published version) (currently in progress)
* Knytt Underground (dropped until further notice)
* Cherry Tree High Comedy Club (replay for 100%)
* Dragon Age: Origins
* Recettear
2. to-try list
*
War of the Human Tanks*
One Way Heroics*
Terrariathis was a to-replay entry but I've decided against it until further notice* To the Moon
*
Dysfunctional Systems* Torchlight I / Torchlight II
*
Guacamelee* Neverwinter Nights 2 (just started)
* Thief
* Antichamber
3. eventual list (at that time, I didn't yet have any of these...and I still don't have a majority of them)
* The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky FC and SC (I have but haven't played FC; SC not available yet)
* Territoire (not even finished in development yet)
* Okkotos (not localized)
*
Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet* Papers, Please (I don't have this yet)
Steam version adds a few more features. And changes the timing of one of the cutscenes, and changes another cutscene. Other than that the game basically stays the same. And it was pretty good as is -- a short little platformer with some challenges with some odd creative elements and some philosophical pondering.
----
Another one from the "things I've been curious about for a while but hadn't yet tried" pile: Frozen Synapse.
This is a top-down semi-real-time strategy game. You plan out the moves for your units, and then you execute them and enemies also do their thing. Thing is, all the units can't take any hits before dropping. You're supposed to use cover (both full and partial) to your advantage, as well as switching between moving faster and aiming in certain directions. Also, enemy units have AI and movement, just as yours do -- it may not sound like much, but this is a sort of game you can't play with intuition. It's difficult if you try that, and if you're like me, you'll probably fail the first or third mission.
When I first saw the game, I actually thought this would involve controlling a unit myself in a 360-degree top-down tactical shooting strategy game. Nope, no direct control -- just give them commands, tell them when to stop moving, when to start aiming, etc.. But these aren't just mooks or mook allies -- they're mook allies you need to protect, or else.
So yeah, a pretty difficult game, unless maybe you take the chance to think through the strategy. Also not a fast-paced game -- good for sit-down experiences and getting way too deep into the strategic aspects, I guess. Not really my kind of thing but it still seems to be pretty well-thought-out.
I got this at the same time I got Aquaria. So yeah, a while back.
----
And now, finally, The Shivah.
A point-and-click adventure about the story of a rabbi in New York City, who becomes involved in a whodunit murder mystery...as the primary suspect, no less. He's not a perfect person himself, and the story will have him reopening old wounds, answering hard questions, and bridging cultural gaps, in order to find answers, it seems.
I don't think I've played that much of it, but it seems to have quite good writing. And voice-acting. The soundtrack's also great.
By the way, if you have an issue with it going low-res but fullscreen, you can make it windowed and change the resolution by this method.
Got two different bad endings, multiple times, before looking up how to get the good ending. I suppose if I played with it for a while then I could have observed how to get the good ending myself. (Probably should have done that, except I felt pressed on time, so now I feel a little unaccomplished as a result. Oh well.)
Still, though, this story is well-written, and it asks interesting questions about suffering, and the consequences of our actions.
Also, apparently, "rabbinical response" means something snarky. A question, specifically. Well, the game kinda tells you that at the very beginning. This game definitely rewards careful reading and observation.
It's a little on the short side, but it works well for its length. Definitely recommended.
*Final Fantasy VI actually feel like stopping because it is starting to feel like I'm just going through games in order to complete them because of some vague sense of accomplishment (or rather inverse sense of shame) for being able to check them off a list right now than anything else. There's also the guilt of playing them during my schoolwork crunch period...
Some differences from Steam, according to the features it allegedly has:
* turning off individual client features -- I'm guessing this means things like, for example, not having it track gameplay time, but still having chat enabled?
* potential to roll back patches
* at least they explicitly say that they're gonna try to optimize it
* the client is optional (though we already knew that)
* allowed to make your own client if you can figure out how it works (whoa!)
* auto-updates can be disabled
I went and requested to join so I think I'll be checking whether I can choose where to install stuff. I already have existing installations and it'd be nice if I could use their locations.It does say it'll detect existing installations. I presume that I'll have the option of setting the directory for future installations as well? Since I've basically installed all my non-Desura non-Steam stuff to my Windows subfolder in my games directory.Also note that they'll stop supporting the GOG Downloader. (This is different from downloading installers from their website, FYI.) They won't break it intentionally but just won't be keeping it up.
I don't like to say I'm hyped, but I'm actually kinda looking forward to trying this out.
Also, Linux client and game overlay soon, apparently.
http://www.carpefulgur.com/tsmwm/
A lot of things I never knew about SotN before, such as:
0. Michiru Yamane's sister sang Prayer.
1. can push away ghosts with the shield.
2. Juste's interior design room in HoDiss was likely inspired by a cut idea in SotN for Alucard to have his own room, expanded by a Skeleton Carpenter in the course of the game and filled with furniture he finds strewn around.
3. That's a very interesting idea with the candlelighters. I'd suggest putting that in in a future game. Though leaving the room should respawn the candlelighters, just not the candles.
4. Owl Knight idea was inspired by the ghostly man-and-dog combo in Super IV. Makes sense, though.
5. I never paid much attention to the Librarian's menus, but they are actually pretty nifty how they all open differently. I never knew that they -- and the pause menus -- were just placeholders that made it into the final product. They never did look fancy, though I didn't put much mind to them.
6. The item in the room beneath the Librarian is supposed to suggest that it was dropped from his chair above. (I somehow never put two and two together regarding this.)
7. Succubus as a boss was intentionally made to be easily defeated.
8. bibuti = https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vibhuti
9. IGA's favorite tracks are Lost Painting and The Tragic Prince.
Things I had suspected and were confirmed:
1. SotN very much had a design philosophy guided by artists just trying to design a castle that was interesting to see and explore, rather than guided by planners planning out dungeons and boss locations. I personally really like this.
2. Lots of creativity, not much concern for consistency. There was enough consistency that everything made sense together, but there was also just enough creativity that there's huge amounts of interesting content, including numerous interesting cosmetic features.
3. SotN ran out of time and had cut features -- such as Alucard's room. Most likely, this is what happened to the Cursed Prison and Underground Garden areas which were only in the Saturn version. Furthermore, I strongly suspect that the inverted castle would likely have had more varied background music and even area nameplates, had they had the time to make them.
I also just realized that The Tragic Prince, as a background music track, strongly hints that the Clock Tower isn't where the player is supposed to go early-game, by having a more intense texture and more aggressive emotion to the melody. Though the broken bridge immediately following it just makes it totally clear.
I still found it enjoyable, but I'm not sure if I'm ready for another go at it TBH. Cave of Darkness *shudders*
"Yeah I had trouble with him on my Four Job Fiesta a couple years ago. He's doable without grinding, but you want two healers and keep Shell on everyone or Almagest will fuck you to pieces. Also remember it has a lingering HP drain. If everyone's shelled though it's not that bad at all.
Use the Magic Lamp twice on Exdeath's first form, then a third time the moment Neo shows up (Zantetsuken instakills the head in the back). After that, burn down the head that uses Grand Cross, which is the next most likely to screw you over at a moment's notice -- you shouldn't have to survive more than one use of it. Then, spread damage between the last two heads so you don't have to deal with meteor spam at the end."
I did the Zantetsuken trick (and petrified the part that could be petrified), but still had issues keeping my characters alive. An issue I had in that and some other fights was that I only had one magic user (White Mage and Summoner through most of the game) so when the time came that I really needed two, I didn't have them.
I didn't know about Almagest and Shell, that would've been useful. I did know about the Kiss of Blessing trick, but I thought it'd be too cheap.