Been playing Ori & The Will of the Wisps and enjoying the heck out of it. More fleshed out combat with actual boss fights and the environments are as beautiful as ever. The story is a real tearjerker again as well. Both parts are a real must play if you are even somewhat into Metroidvanias imho.
What are you Playing?
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As part of my “buy it for the Vita before Sony’s shuts down the store, Which I’m Still doing even though they course corrected”.
I bought Sayonara Umihara Kawase for the Vita and boy this game is fucking hard. Not Hard Corp Uprising “Who The Fuck Thought This Was A Good Idea” Hard but still.
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Started playing the first Sly Cooper today. A nice solid 3D platformer, though it can get frustrating tracking down the one friggin' bottle you missed in the level.
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Started playing the first Sly Cooper today. A nice solid 3D platformer, though it can get frustrating tracking down the one friggin' bottle you missed in the level.
If you've played Sly 4 where the levels are bigger this comes off as a minor inconvenience by comparison.
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Started playing the first Sly Cooper today. A nice solid 3D platformer, though it can get frustrating tracking down the one friggin' bottle you missed in the level.
That's kind of an inevitability in most 3D platformers with collectables.
I've been rotating between Dragon Quest XI on the PS4 and Paper Mario: The Origami King on the Switch.
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Playing Jak II now. Played it as a kid, but never finished it because there was this one timed driving segment I couldn't get past.
Anyway, I have to say this game has really not aged that well. It's so tedious having to traverse the same passages in the overworld city over and over to get your next mission, all the while dealing with all the tight corners and cars that inevitably block your path. Also, the actual missions are a pain since you rarely get checkpoints in them and have to start over from the beginning whenever you die.
And maybe this is just a port issue (playing it on the PS4) but the controls and camera are really janky. There's some kind of delay with the double jump so that you have wait a bit before pressing jump again or else it won't go through. Have died more than a few times as a result of that.
Oh, and it really is funny how much this series reinvented itself after the first game. Going from a kid-friendly adventure to this faux-grimdark shit.
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Oh, and it really is funny how much this series reinvented itself after the first game. Going from a kid-friendly adventure to this faux-grimdark shit.
At least they dropped the silent protagonist bullshit.
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Jak II was utter agony to complete. I've seen reviews praising the hell out of this game and even some people claiming it's not that tough, and I really have to wonder if we were playing the same game. Like, was there something wrong with my port, at least in terms of the controls? But regardless of the port, I think this game expects way too much from the player to complete the main game. And I think that mainly comes down to the lack of checkpoints. They are so few and far between that the missions just become a complete chore. Make one dumb mistake and you're sent back, usually the beginning of the mission, and have to complete 2-3 minutes of gameplay (though it feels a lot longer) before you get to the part you're having trouble with and then you inevitably die again. I don't know if anyone told the game programmers this, but that is just not fun. I mean, obviously the game is beatable since I beat it, but around the second half of the game I started dreading each mission rather than looking forward to them.
Incidentally, I watched a review of this game by Jirard the Completionist who claims to have beaten this game with only 25 deaths. To that I say horse-fucking-shit.
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After the disappointment that was In Verbis Virtus, there was a sale on Wizard of Legend (all three games I've recently added to my wishlist has gone on sale in this month), and I took the opportunity and bought it. It's incredibly fun! Didn't know I wanted a game that I can just pick up whenever and play for half an hour if I so desire and not have to worry about forgetting the story or important worldbuilding elements.
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On my 2nd playthrough of Nier:Automata right now (9S), which was on my to do list for waaay too long, and I just want to say that I love Platinum Games so much! I mean JRPGs are usually packed with a bunch of replayability, which I'm a sucker for anyways, but the way it's built into this game is pure genius. Of course, accompanied by a completely over the top story, a well rounded combat system and possibilities for tons of questing/grinding. Loving it!
We all float down here!
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On my 2nd playthrough of Nier:Automata right now (9S), which was on my to do list for waaay too long, and I just want to say that I love Platinum Games so much! I mean JRPGs are usually packed with a bunch of replayability, which I'm a sucker for anyways, but the way it's built into this game is pure genius. Of course, accompanied by a completely over the top story, a well rounded combat system and possibilities for tons of questing/grinding. Loving it!
Yep. I got it on launch but only tried it briefly; I was swamped with games and was really turned off when I got to the resistance camp and was immediately sent off on fetch quests, not to mention that at the time I had NO clue how any of the systems worked (plug-in chips and whatnot). But I came back to it fairly recently and had a blast getting (close to) 100% and seeing all the main endings.
Now I also passed on the original Nier back in the day, and I've been playing Nier: Replicant now. I gotta say… it's like pulling teeth. There are some good ideas there, but they're hidden behind a ton of terrible design decisions and probably the fact that the game had virtually no budget, because my god you spend 90% of the game time walking back and forth between like 5 smallish areas and grinding pointlessly for sidequests. I'm on my second playthrough now, after doing every single sidequest (except crossbreeding flowers in real time because fuck that), and all I can ever think is "Automata took this concept and made it into an actually good game." Because, while it's most certainly not the same game as Automata, I feel like Automata is more or less a "spiritual remake." I have not experienced a single thing so far that I didn't get from Automata in a much more satisfying fashion. There's almost no way I'm going to go for 100% in terms of grinding out all the weapon upgrades etc.
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Played and beat Jak 3.
Hey! Here's a great idea! Let's make a game where a large portion of it involves driving and create the most horribly controlled easily flippable cars ever that no one will enjoy. Seriously, did Naughty Dog just have no playtesting department in the early 2000's? Did no one tell them that the driving segments were not at all fun and really had to be reprogrammed?
Okay, in all fairness, Jak 3 really is a step up from Jak 2. Mainly in that toned down the difficulty and gave us some goddamn checkpoints. Still, the bullshittery does come through a few times (the Hunt for More Relics mission was fucking awful). But, overall, it is still a reasonably fun experience.
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Played and beat Jak 3.
Hey! Here's a great idea! Let's make a game where a large portion of it involves driving and create the most horribly controlled easily flippable cars ever that no one will enjoy. Seriously, did Naughty Dog just have no playtesting department in the early 2000's? Did no one tell them that the driving segments were not at all fun and really had to be reprogrammed?
When you look at all the games that came after this that have driving mechanics that range from dumb to "WTF how did someone not get fired for this". Jak 3 looks less stupid by comparison.
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When you look at all the games that came after this that have driving mechanics that range from dumb to "WTF how did someone not get fired for this". Jak 3 looks less stupid by comparison.
I don't like games with overly complex gameplay. I'm still a supporter of an interesting plot, and not the need to poke a million buttons. Since I ditched the old keyboard, I also bought a new Redragon complete with a mouse. Found this cool offer here https://homemakerguide.com/best-wireless-keyboard-and-mouse/. Returned to play Dota2, although without friends it is not so fun. It is a pity not to gather our former company.
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Well finished Horizon Zero Dawn all in all good game a bit iffy in some parts but enjoyable. Defintely wasn’t expecting to like
Aloy and Lance Reddick as Sylens was also unexpected.Did like how the moment I started Frozen Wilds I immediately get introduced to a new machine that’s a pain in ass even on
Normal (played the main game on hard and boy that made a number or parts of the game a pain in the ass). -
Finally installed Spyro: Reignited. Uncomplicated, colorful fun with a dash of nostalgia. I suddenly remembered where my dragon love originated types he as he looks upon his quite formidable dragon collection, as well as a very nice Spyro plushie I've never really played the first game, so most of it is so new. I adore the different designs of the dragons, and I welcome a little change of pace in terms of challenges. Going ham in Dark Souls is all fine, but just sitting back and enjoying the simple challenges Spyro has on offer.
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Going retro lately and playing/finishing games I've been meaning to for a while. Finished Suikoden 2, currently on Lunar SSSC and playing Lunar 2 next.
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Finally started playing New Pokemon Snap.
It gets a little annoying playing the same 3 or 4 levels over trying to log each of the Pokemons' behaviors where, half the time, I'm not even sure what I did to trigger it or what's even different about them. Wish they just included more Pokemon and more levels. But I'm only a few hours into it, so we'll see how it goes. Aside from that, it's still good ol' Pokemon Snap goodness.
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There’s tons of levels, not to mention research levels lol. And it’s full of interactions ranging from simple to complex, which is why there are all the requests acting as hints for some of the rarer ones. Probably worth continuing the story and not getting TOO bogged down replaying at an early state, since you probably haven’t unlocked all the functions yet. I’m finally done after around 100 hours (all requests done, completed diamond photodex, and just about every achievement completed).
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There’s tons of levels, not to mention research levels lol. And it’s full of interactions ranging from simple to complex, which is why there are all the requests acting as hints for some of the rarer ones. Probably worth continuing the story and not getting TOO bogged down replaying at an early state, since you probably haven’t unlocked all the functions yet. I’m finally done after around 100 hours (all requests done, completed diamond photodex, and just about every achievement completed).
UPDATE: As you said, yes, there are indeed a lot of levels in this game. And having completed the game (the standard run anyway) I can say that I enjoyed and still am enjoying it. Although now that I'm trying to 100% the game I'm finding that some of the things they expect you to do to unlock all the paths and Pokemon activities are incredibly specific. Suffice to say, I don't feel particularly guilty about looking them up.
Also, so many Magikarp in this game and no Gyarados to show for it. I am disappoint.
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Yeah a few of the alternate routes felt really arbitrary. Several have hints, or aren't that hard to figure out, but others are less obvious. Especially when you have to go back and forth between day/night versions of stages in a couple cases.
I think Magikarp is just the running gag. It shows up in every stage. If you need help with map completion or difficult diamond shots, or requests, let me know. I'm starting to forget things but I went through all of the pain already lol.
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Finished up New Pokemon Snap with my Photodex completed, all requests completed, and all Maps completed. Don't think I'll be going for all diamond stars or Research titles since, you know, I have to stop somewhere and I've put 64 hours into. It was a fun time, through there were a few things I felt could have been improved. Completing the Photodex and Maps proved to be a real pain at times and I think they could have made it more tolerable by maybe having a checkpoint feature (start a course partway through) or a reversal feature or allow you to submit multiple star levels for a Pokemon in one course. Hopefully something they'll consider for the next one (if there is a next one).
Anyway, for a change of pace, I'm playing Horizon Zero Dawn now. Two hours in and I'm really digging the aesthetic of this game. A seemingly medieval Nordic setting, but it's also got giant robots running around.
EDIT: It's a little disappointing that all the robots (so far) are just animal stand-ins. Like, there's the horse robot, the tiger robot, the wolf robot, the…...giant pissed off roadrunner robot.
And the lamb lies down on Broadway
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Fuck KO City with it’s shallow and incompetent shitty playerbase, and spotty servers.
And fuck you Deviljho and your annoying bullshit.
But I bagged your ass in the end.
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Anyway, for a change of pace, I'm playing Horizon Zero Dawn now. Two hours in and I'm really digging the aesthetic of this game. A seemingly medieval Nordic setting, but it's also got giant robots running around.
Wait till you get out of the starting area :D
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Finished up the main stories of Horizon Zero Dawn and the Frozen Wilds DLC. I ended up having an overall really fun time with this game. I was especially impressed by its captivating story. That said, I have a few notes:
-A lot of the machine battles can just be downright absurd. Like, I'm all for a challenge, but the game has a tendency to swamp you with enemies and/or pit you against really aggressive enemies that live you almost no opening to attack. Also, dodging doesn't do shit half the time. I mean, I guess I shouldn't complain too much since I beat them and most of the time didn't even deplete my health that much (after getting the Shield Weaver anyway). So I guess they're not hard, per se, as much as they are really frustrating.
-Finding sections that you're supposed to climb can be a real pain since they very often blend into the rest of the environment. If they just highlighted them with the focus (which they already did with some climbable sections) that would've been an easy fix.
-It sucks that you have to select a tutorial mission before you can actually work towards completing it. It should just happen automatically.Anyway, still have to get all the collectibles and complete finish some side quest stuff. I may even platinum. So yeah, it's a good time. Definitely would recommend.
And the lamb lies down on Broadway
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Finished up the main stories of Horizon Zero Dawn and the Frozen Wilds DLC. I ended up having an overall really fun time with this game. I was especially impressed by its captivating story. That said, I have a few notes:
-A lot of the machine battles can just be downright absurd. Like, I'm all for a challenge, but the game has a tendency to swamp you with enemies and/or pit you against really aggressive enemies that live you almost no opening to attack. Also, dodging doesn't do shit half the time. I mean, I guess I shouldn't complain too much since I beat them and most of the time didn't even deplete my health that much (after getting the Shield Weaver anyway). So I guess they're not hard, per se, as much as they are really frustrating.
-Finding sections that you're supposed to climb can be a real pain since they very often blend into the rest of the environment. If they just highlighted them with the focus (which they already did with some climbable sections) that would've been an easy fix.
-It sucks that you have to select a tutorial mission before you can actually work towards completing it. It should just happen automatically.Anyway, still have to get all the collectibles and complete finish some side quest stuff. I may even platinum. So yeah, it's a good time. Definitely would recommend.
Funny, I've just recently started the game. I have to say, I have very mixed feelings so far, after maybe 10 hours. I feel like the game is trying its hardest to be annoying in terms of QoL. My idea of fun in a big open game like this is not to be constantly in my menu discarding resources because I've hit an inventory limit, trying to figure out which ones are useful and which aren't. I think I'm a single upgrade away from max inventory size and it literally doesn't matter, because there's a million kinds of drops. Also lame that expanding my inventory requires investment, and not only that but I've had to prioritize sinking my skill points into QoL-related improvements for the same reason (ability to dismantle resources, increased chance of rare materials because they're freaking required for inventory expansion, etc). Like, they're making a decent goddamn experience something you have to earn. Also so far it seems like fast travel actually requires consumable items that I have to buy or craft? Talk about taking the bullshit one step further. So it kinda feels like BotW all over again, at least in the inventory sense, which is something I absolutely hated. At least I can still climb in the rain ;)
Thanks for the heads up on the tutorial missions though lol. I'm definitely still early in the game, but I've already had the same thoughts of you regarding enemies. The combat is pretty fun… when you don't have to fight an entire horde at once. Sometimes you can use stealth, take out the Watchers, maybe get a couple other cheap shots in etc, but you're still left with several enemies that you'll have to engage at once no matter what. And eventually I get bored of trying to set up wires or traps and I just want to have a fight. I also don't have all goddamn day to deal with every encounter considering the size of the world and the amount of stuff to do, plus the resources I don't want to waste.
But anyway. The enemy designs themselves are great, and there's a lot I'm TRYING to love about the game. It feels pretty polished in a general sense, and there's a lot of slick features. The story is intriguing so far, though I'm not sold on the actual writing; kinda cheesy at times. I also haven't been given any characters to really care about. At least not ones that didn't die immediately. I'm curious to see how I feel later down the road.
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Funny, I've just recently started the game. I have to say, I have very mixed feelings so far, after maybe 10 hours. I feel like the game is trying its hardest to be annoying in terms of QoL. My idea of fun in a big open game like this is not to be constantly in my menu discarding resources because I've hit an inventory limit, trying to figure out which ones are useful and which aren't. I think I'm a single upgrade away from max inventory size and it literally doesn't matter, because there's a million kinds of drops. Also lame that expanding my inventory requires investment, and not only that but I've had to prioritize sinking my skill points into QoL-related improvements for the same reason (ability to dismantle resources, increased chance of rare materials because they're freaking required for inventory expansion, etc). Like, they're making a decent goddamn experience something you have to earn. Also so far it seems like fast travel actually requires consumable items that I have to buy or craft? Talk about taking the bullshit one step further. So it kinda feels like BotW all over again, at least in the inventory sense, which is something I absolutely hated. At least I can still climb in the rain ;)
Yeah, the inventory limit in this game can be really annoying. And unfortunately it never really gets any better (at least it doesn't slow you down like Witcher III though). I mean, they could've at least put in a bank system or something. Hopefully this is something they'll fix in the sequel.
Also, be on the lookout for an item that will let you fast travel infinitely.
Thanks for the heads up on the tutorial missions though lol. I'm definitely still early in the game, but I've already had the same thoughts of you regarding enemies. The combat is pretty fun… when you don't have to fight an entire horde at once. Sometimes you can use stealth, take out the Watchers, maybe get a couple other cheap shots in etc, but you're still left with several enemies that you'll have to engage at once no matter what. And eventually I get bored of trying to set up wires or traps and I just want to have a fight. I also don't have all goddamn day to deal with every encounter considering the size of the world and the amount of stuff to do, plus the resources I don't want to waste.
Yeah, I'm not really much of a stealth fighter, so I basically never used wires or traps. Also, I'm ashamed to say, there were a handful of times during my run I changed the difficulty to story mode since I just got so sick of the enemies constantly bombarding me (you think the main quest is bad, wait till you get to the DLC).
Anyway, I recently finished my run and platinumed the main game and the DLC. Didn't platinum New Game+ though, cause…nah. Just nah.
As for now I'm playing the extra missions in New Pokemon Snap and Yay! Finally got my Gyarados!
And the lamb lies down on Broadway
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Horizon has its issues but it's a pretty great game. My most pleasant surprise was how thought-out the sci-fi storyline actually was, considering the basic pitch for the game was "stone age but robots."
I've been hoping for a PS5 paint of coat before finally going back and giving it another spin.
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I've been playing Monster Sanctuary. Indie not-Pokemon game thats actually challenging and has a ton of depth. 101 monsters, but they have alt modes to choose from that alter their stats and passives (but just the colors on their visuals), and those can radically change a thing, so in practice its more like 200-300 even if its still officially only 101. Only a handful of evolutions so its an actual 101, not 40 things that have three phases where the final evo is always best."
It's a Metroidvania platformer with lots of exploring and backtracking. Each monster has a map navigation ability, about 20 total, and skill trees like crazy. Even at max level its impossible to fill out every skill tree on a monster so you have to make choices, which means you can have two versions of the same thing.
Every monster is unique, even when they overlap. Just about everything is viable, things I got at the start of the game are still solid at the end. Every battle (except bosses) is a 3 on 3 battle so there's lots of strategies about synergy to think about, and later on you HAVE to worry about buffs and debuffs.
40 or so hours into it, been playing it constantly all month, pretty close to the end, probably going to plat it.
Yeah, I'm not really much of a stealth fighter, so I basically never used wires or traps.
That's part of the issue then. The game doesn't want you charging into much of anything, you get eaten alive then. Stealth and overriding things and stealing their own weapons and setting up traps for them is the main way to deal with most of the stuff. I tried rushing into everything and just kinda died for it, you're not meant to just tank things.
I still need to go back and play the DLC but I'd already platted the gamme long before it came out and just haven't gotten to it… and would be so rusty the DLC would probably kick my butt.
I do agree that the limited inventory kind of sucked, and ultimately making all the different outfits and weapon types for the various passives wasn't super useful, but that applies to lots of games like that where ultimately you kind of just want the bonus one particular thing gives that suits you. . (Looking at you Ghost of Tsushima)
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The Great Ace Attorney is so good. It drags here and there but this was a nice trip down the memory lane. I think this have one of the best final cases in the entire series and is surprisingly a lot more grounded yet higher in quality in terms of cases.
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Horizon has its issues but it's a pretty great game. My most pleasant surprise was how thought-out the sci-fi storyline actually was, considering the basic pitch for the game was "stone age but robots."
I've been hoping for a PS5 paint of coat before finally going back and giving it another spin.
Yeah, I'm playing on PS5 for the record. It looks pretty great. Though to be honest after Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart's vibrant landscapes, I find the Horizon map so far to be very… samey? At least within each major area (again, I'm not that far in). It's super easy to get lost because all the terrain looks the same and I hate when I feel that I'm paying attention to my map or objective marker more than the actual world.
But yeah so far the sci-fi elements are the most intriguing/slick. And the Focus overlay is pretty clever too. I'm eager to find out more. Part of my writing complaints are the classic "I could answer your questions... but now is not the time!" Screw you, find a better way to tell your story lol. Also the whole cliché of "technology evil, nature good... by the way our god is a facial recognition door."
But! I don't really want to come here and do nothing but complain so early on. I'm still hooked. I refused to leave the first Proving Grounds without my three blazing suns lol. I was just a little shocked that the game immediately opened with what I would consider a big series of mistakes and QoL nightmares. XCX will probably forever be my gold standard for open-world exploration... yes there is technically an inventory limit, but only for gear, and it's somewhere in the thousands. Everything else is just handled via resource caps or actual scarcity.
The Great Ace Attorney is so good. It drags here and there but this was a nice trip down the memory lane. I think this have one of the best final cases in the entire series and is surprisingly a lot more grounded yet higher in quality in terms of cases.
I finished the first game and I'm partway into the second case of the second game. There are some really neat things and overall I'd say it's a pretty decent entry, but not on the same level as the original trilogy for me. The first game had SERIOUS pacing issues for the whole first half, but I think ultimately one of the things that knocks the experience down a peg is that I really, really hate Susato. She's so annoying and stupid. They also didn't give van Zieks almost any character development or exposition yet so it's kind of lame when you don't really have an interesting rival and you hate your assistant. Sholmes is funny but mostly in small doses and he's kind of a gimmick overall. Iris is the best though.
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I finished the first game and I'm partway into the second case of the second game. There are some really neat things and overall I'd say it's a pretty decent entry, but not on the same level as the original trilogy for me. The first game had SERIOUS pacing issues for the whole first half, but I think ultimately one of the things that knocks the experience down a peg is that I really, really hate Susato. She's so annoying and stupid. They also didn't give van Zieks almost any character development or exposition yet so it's kind of lame when you don't really have an interesting rival and you hate your assistant. Sholmes is funny but mostly in small doses and he's kind of a gimmick overall. Iris is the best though.
I wonder if this is an issue with age and experience. Like, because we've all played the previous games (assuming you did, I'm not sure) and the female side characters are so colorful then we have a more grounded character like Susato.
I mean when I first met Susato, I didn't particularly hate her but didn't really like her anyway. She sure grew on me (and i hope she will on you) once the second game starts. She's supposed to be the ideal japanese woman personality back in the Meiji era and it shows (albeit with her quirks that makes her enjoyable down the road). I'm surprised you still don't like her even after the first case of the second game though, but that was the easiest case of them all so it kind of further emphasis your "she's not really smart" point.The best and when it really starts going is once the third case starts and it is basically momentum from there. That's basically what you've suffered through the slow pace of the first game and the anti-climatic moments for.
Anyway, DAA didn't do well in comparison with his older games and you could really see why once you started playing, for this one "grand tale" that the last case seek to tell, he had to sacrifice a ton of pacing and nerf the entire first game. That kind of commitment makes it difficult to find an audience for.
Justice for ALL had some shit pacing but DAA is close. But me being a Sherlock fan and a sucker for old London and Japanese heritage probably is a huge reason why I enjoyed the playthrough.Did you enjoy the jury system (when you have to cross statements) and the joint reasoning (investigation) segments? Apparently it was one of the things he wanted to implement in the original trilogy but can't because of graphical limitation.
I loved jury at first but it gets annoying and I still love joint reasoning towards the end because of how quirky it is. -
but I think ultimately one of the things that knocks the experience down a peg is that I really, really hate Susato. She's so annoying and stupid.
So basically Pearl & Maya.
Edit: Finished MH Iceborne good thing I had PSPlus because boy is this game fucking ridiculous.
I've often wondered about that myself; seems like being supported by people who only want you there so the world can end in fire (with you going to Hell in the process) would be somewhat off-putting
3DS Friend Code 0044-2806-5284
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Did you enjoy the jury system (when you have to cross statements) and the joint reasoning (investigation) segments? Apparently it was one of the things he wanted to implement in the original trilogy but can't because of graphical limitation.
I loved jury at first but it gets annoying and I still love joint reasoning towards the end because of how quirky it is.I will respond about Susato in response to the next quote, but to answer this, yes I find the jury stuff fairly neat and refreshing. It's just kind of underused and really basic, unfortunately. It also suffers heavily from the fact that the jury is almost identical every single trial though. Like goddamn talk about lazy, they reused characters, models, and voices every time. Even across games! I think a total of… three new characters have been introduced in the entire second game so far, which is really sad. I'm still on the last part of the trial for case 2 though; didn't play much in the last day.
For the joint reasoning I assume you're talking about Herlock's deductions and "corrections." My thoughts on that have changed over time. Initially I found it annoying that they were making him seem like a complete idiot, but over time I've come to like him overall, and it's kind of funny to see how hilariously wrong he can be (as long as it's not overdone). However, from a gameplay and pacing perspective, I think those deduction segments are detrimental. The main problem for me is they're not interesting at all - I have to sit through a long animation twice, then spend 10 seconds rotating the camera to find the obvious alternative.
I am definitely curious to see how it will all pan out in the end and the grand scheme of things, but my general impression right now is that they sacrificed too much trying to set up whatever they're going for. Events don't get satisfying conclusions, characters act irrationally or out of character, and character development is nearly non-existent on the whole. I think the original trilogy hit a pretty good balance of independent cases that explore characters / the world, and events / cases that end up tying together in satisfying ways down the road.
So basically Pearl & Maya.
First of all, Pearl is a little girl and in no way fills the role of an assistant/partner character, unless you count the brief moments where she channels Mia. But she is adorable and I will fight you. As for Maya, I actually like her quite a bit. It's hard for me to pinpoint exact reasons for all of this, but framing probably has a lot to do with it. Maya started out as essentially an orphaned teen whom you were looking after, so while she acts immature and childish at times, it's expected. And I actually think her crazy impulses are pretty funny at times… these actually map more onto Herlock in Great Ace Attorney rather than Susato. More to the point though, Maya grows as a character (and in age) over the course of the trilogy, and the events of all the games really develop her as a person, as well as her tragic and unique family. Plus her theme song is chill as hell. Anyway, in the end I can't help but feel actual genuine emotion toward Maya as a human being.
Susato by comparison feels like the cardboard cutout of a character in many ways. She exists in isolation with just about zero background or introduction, for one. I mean her dad is there, but they might as well not be related as far as I'm concerned. She's just kind of thrust upon you, and she is set up to be an actual competent, mature person, well-versed in law already (hell she supposedly teaches you). Which would maybe be fine if that's actually how she acted, but it's not. I don't know if it's just plain bad character writing, or bad story writing/telling, but it's constantly grating, at least to me. I feel like going into a lot of detail is a bit spoilery so I'm going to hide the rest.
! The first thing that truly pissed me off was her instant distrust and accusation of Ryunosuke in the second case. They tried to play it off as some kind of "I was blinded by emotion" deal but to me it was bullshit given the entire events of the first case, the establishment that Kazuma is your best friend and tons of exposition, etc. Plus obvious facts like the way the wardrobe had a sign taped over it that he couldn't possibly have done himself. From there it only got worse. Her refusal to look at Kazuma's diary entry was infuriating, especially with Herlock doing the exact same thing moments later at which point it became instantly okay because she's just suuuuch a big fan of his, even when he's spouting nonsense. And she does this AGAIN in the second case of the second game, because "how dare you examine a love letter that couldn't POSSIBLY be relevant."
! I hate the way she withholds important details. The fact that she got a telegram, the fact that SHE SABOTAGED AN ENTIRE CRIME SCENE, how the hell she knows the name of an unpublished manuscript. It's endlessly irritating. Then in trials, she constantly acts surprised or confused literally moments after figuring them out together by examining evidence or previous interviews/testimony etc. She says something inordinately insightful one moment then becomes a complete blockhead the next.
! I think a lot of the other stuff that bugs me about her is just because I already don't like her, but it still piles on. For example, I can't stand her stupid animation where she whips out and parts open her pocket-sized Compendium of All Human Knowledge (seriously, what ISN'T magically written in there). Or the way she makes a fist and hits her palm in an "aha" type gesture. I hate that I can't examine a single thing at a single location without her giving me 5 minutes of unwanted character interaction. Jesus Christ I just want to know what that's a painting of, not get some half-baked history lesson about European art. It's really neat for the specific things that really matter or describe the world – stereoscopes, music boxes, currency, transportation, details about plumbing, heating, beat cop duties, etc. All of that is really interesting and hopefully isn't made up because I feel like I'm learning a lot. But PLEASE, not every damn time I try to examine something to get flavor text.
! Specifically in reference to the first case of the second game -- didn't do it for me, sadly. I actually thought it was stupid that suddenly being "in the spotlight" makes her derpy and clueless, as if all those times in trials didn't count. I am sure they made here reuse all of Ryunosuke's ridiculous animations for comedic effect, but it's so dumb to me. For me the most interesting aspect of Susato in that case was that apparently her best friend realized she wants to bang her. ;)
! I dunno man. Maybe I'm already on a runaway Susato rage train lol. It might not be entirely rational at this stage, but that's just how much I got ticked off so far. I would certainly love for her to get real, meaningful character development for the last few cases and for her to surprise/impress me somehow though. But honestly I'm more interested in van Zieks getting proper character development at this point, especially after the recent not-so-subtle hints about his past. -
First of all, Pearl is a little girl and in no way fills the role of an assistant/partner character, unless you count the brief moments where she channels Mia. But she is adorable and I will fight you
What're you gonna do hit me with a hundred hand slap:ninja:
As for Maya, I actually like her quite a bit. It's hard for me to pinpoint exact reasons for all of this, but framing probably has a lot to do with it. Maya started out as essentially an orphaned teen whom you were looking after, so while she acts immature and childish at times, it's expected. And I actually think her crazy impulses are pretty funny at times… these actually map more onto Herlock in Great Ace Attorney rather than Susato. More to the point though, Maya grows as a character (and in age) over the course of the trilogy,
That's the one thing I can agree with she got better and more likable after the time skip…....still prone to letting other people take advantage of her and get her accused of murder though.
Susato by comparison feels like the cardboard cutout of a character in many ways. She exists in isolation with just about zero background or introduction, for one. I mean her dad is there, but they might as well not be related as far as I'm concerned. She's just kind of thrust upon you, and she is set up to be an actual competent, mature person, well-versed in law already (hell she supposedly teaches you). Which would maybe be fine if that's actually how she acted, but it's not. I don't know if it's just plain bad character writing, or bad story writing/telling, but it's constantly grating, at least to me. I feel like going into a lot of detail is a bit spoilery so I'm going to hide the rest.
I wish I could read the spoilers but this guy forgot this game was coming out on PS4 along with the Switch. So now I have to wait awhile:getlost:.
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I thought it would be nice to point out that the entire localization section in the Wikipedia page of The Great Ace Attorney is a nice read. It's a little sad how localization teams can so little credit for the mountainous effort they have to put in.
I am definitely curious to see how it will all pan out in the end and the grand scheme of things, but my general impression right now is that they sacrificed too much trying to set up whatever they're going for. Events don't get satisfying conclusions, characters act irrationally or out of character, and character development is nearly non-existent on the whole. I think the original trilogy hit a pretty good balance of independent cases that explore characters / the world, and events / cases that end up tying together in satisfying ways down the road.
I hope you will be rewarded and the character development part really hits near the end. But that doesn't necessarily applies for all of the cast which is unfortunate as some development has to be shafted for the others. Not that it is that much of a con, it's just something I noticed in retrospection.
Even when I'm done and impressed, the pacing in the early cases and the inconclusive conclusions still does annoys me. I think it would be better if Adventures ended with a grand case that is connected with the other early cases and is conclusive but still leaves room for interpretation that opens up to Resolve. I'm not sure how to go about fixing that in detail because my memory of Adventures is not as good as of Resolve, considering I played Scarlet Study's translation 4-5 years ago. Despite all that inconclusiveness, I still enjoyed it because of Mcglid's case(1-3) and the one with! Ash Grey? the gentleman in white. I still think 1-3 is top-tier.
Susato by comparison feels like the cardboard cutout of a character in many ways. She exists in isolation with just about zero background or introduction, for one. I mean her dad is there, but they might as well not be related as far as I'm concerned. She's just kind of thrust upon you, and she is set up to be an actual competent, mature person, well-versed in law already (hell she supposedly teaches you). Which would maybe be fine if that's actually how she acted, but it's not. I don't know if it's just plain bad character writing, or bad story writing/telling, but it's constantly grating, at least to me. I feel like going into a lot of detail is a bit spoilery so I'm going to hide the rest.
I can't help but agree with the points you've made. I think she's too much of a Mary sue character and I could see how her constantly putting Holmes on a pedestal can be annoying (yeah okay now that you've mentioned it, it annoyed me). Regarding how she goes on about certain historical/cultural context during investigations, I really enjoyed it and wish there was more of it. I guess we are back to me being a dork for the 19th century and also Japanese culture. In retrospection, her character makes sense because of the setting. I mean, back in the original trilogy which is modern day, there is really not much of a need to go on 2 paragraphs about what a cellphone is. But if we were to get a Maya-esque character instead of Susato, it doesn't make sense for her to then be able to give a short history lesson. The information is also not entirely boring because here, the female assistant plays the "straight" man whereas Naruhoudou plays the funny guy instead of the mainline series where Phoenix or Apollo is usually more of the straight man than the funny commentator.
It just didn't work out as well here, I guess.Really, the dynamic here that bothers some people really can be how grounded/less quirky Susato is as compared to literally everyone that is a female protag/important side character in the series. But considering how Shu Takumi really wanted to drive "this two people literally represents the politeness and etiquette of japan back then", in order to contrast with the British, you can see that he didn't wanted to push her character that much further. Even Natsume who is supposedly the quirkest japanese guy is only that way because he's an eccentric author. If you consider the angle he was going for, as a historical interpretation, then I guess it's a bit more bearable and understandable why he didn't go out of his way to make the dynamic like Phoenix and Maya's.
TLDR: It's kind of a mix of cultural and ahem accurate ahem historical representations that her character turned out like this. #
Personally, I'm rather tired by the eccentric and vibrant in your face personalities of the past female assistants by now, and Susato worked well for me.
I could see where her problems during court come from and it does feel like she's smarter and somehow dumber than Naruhoudou at times but if you are ever stuck and reach the end of a cross-examination or if you deliberately present wrong evidence here and there, the hints that she gives is actually quite useful as compared to the ones that Maya did. But that actually requires the player to fail quite a bit to see that so eh, that's difficult a point to be contesting.
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1-3 was especially refreshing after the horrid pacing of the first two cases, but I agree that it was also very interesting due to the subject matter. The only thing that really bugged me was:
! The fact that somehow Ryunosuke is in the wrong for believing his client and doing everything possible to defend him. There's a lot of suspension of disbelief with these games' INCREDIBLY janky judicial systems and laws to make the games work, but punishing the defense attorney for mounting a competent defense? It definitely rubbed me the wrong way.
Anyway I'm onto the 3rd case now. Will probably comment after finishing the game. Dividing my time between multiple games right now though haha.
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Been playing some retro games. And they all start with C, coincidentally.
Claymates: So, a long long time ago in a decade far far away (the 90's), when I was little kid, my mom rented me this game from Blockbuster (ah, the good ol' days), and I've never played. For some reason though, it really stuck out in my mind and I kinda wished I had bought it. But now it's available on the Switch SNES library and I finally get to play it again! And…yeah, I'd say this still holds up as a pretty fun game. The controls are a tad stiff, but I like colors and the art style and I have a weak spot for games that let you transform into different characters or "forms". Oh yeah, and for some reason they made the right, like, absurdly fast in this game. Like, faster than Sonic.
Castlevania III: There's a fuckton of Castlevania games out there and I'd say I've played most of them, and now I can finally check this one off as well. And, woof, they certainly weren't kidding about this game being hard. Just very grateful that to have the save state feature or else I'm not sure I'd have the patience to finish this game. Not mention you have to replay it as least three times to play every level in it. I don't know. Maybe it was fine at the time, but I think this game may be a bit too challenging for its own good. But the character swap system is pretty cool. I guess I should be thankful we have the Bloodstained games (and I am).
A whole bunch of Contra games: Uh...yeah. Specifically I bought the Contra Anniversary Collection and have been playing Contra, Super C, Operation C, and Contra Hard Corps (already played Contra III several years back). Not much to say. They're Contra games. They're pretty hard to mess up. Even the Game Boy game is good for what it is. Honestly, I'm kind of surprised that, whereas most games tended to get easier (or more manageable at least) in the shift from NES to SNES, the Contra games got much harder (and they were already pretty tough to begin with). But yeah, gameplay-wise, there isn't a ton of difference between them, though it is kind of interesting that Hard Corps tried to have more of a story to it. Wish it would let you skip the cutscenes though, especially since you have to replay it four times to get all the endings.
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I finally finished Ace Attorney Chronicles last night. It definitely picked up for the final three cases (even though the last two are really just a single case with an arbitrary cutoff in between). Definitely a solid overall experience, and I do appreciate the ambitious storytelling and some genuinely interesting mysteries. Also the soundtrack just kept growing on me throughout. It's top-notch, even if it goes in the epic orchestral direction rather than the super-catchy tune direction. There were still things holding me back from rating it among the best though. I don't feel like writing a super long rant, but the writing just got sloppy toward the end. More characters acting inconsistently and illogically just to obstruct your progress in court, evidence being poorly used and reasoned, then things ballooning into ridiculous impossible-to-buy-into scenarios. Also a few very unsatisfying plot threads. Also Susato still sucks lol.
! Amnesia is a terrible plot device. Sholmes magically inventing livestreaming and holograms is a terrible plot device. The irrational obstructions from a lot of the trial characters made it hard to appreciate them; in particular I lost a lot of respect for Kazuma and I kinda wish he had stayed dead. I am pretty frustrated that the Hound of the Baskervilles manuscript mystery, as well as Susato being recalled to Japan, was not some big dangerous secret, not an incriminating clue, not a conspiracy… no, it was all just to prevent Iris from figuring out her parents? What the actual hell. That is infuriating to me. Most of the other events/revelations were pretty good though.
Overall despite some complaints and a few QoL issues (the volume is weirdly low and text scrolling speeds leave much to be desired), I would definitely recommend the game(s).
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I just finished my first play through of Fire Emblem Three Houses! I was close to the end and stopped when my and my GF started playing Divinity Original Sins 2! Now I'm going to finish up my Spiderman PS4 Plat and then either play Xenoblade Chronicles 2, Hades, or Final Fantasy XII.
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Been putting waaay too many hours into Hades since it launched on Xbox. I've never actually played a roguelike before and wasn't sure if I would enjoy it, but I'm enjoying the crap out of this game. Absolute recommendation to everyone! Gameplay, art and story just flow so well and the music is great, too.
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Also the soundtrack just kept growing on me throughout. It's top-notch, even if it goes in the epic orchestral direction rather than the super-catchy tune direction.
Partners the game is afoot is the best ost close to og cornered and nothing else except tap dancing for no reason matters.
! > More characters acting inconsistently and illogically just to obstruct your progress in court, evidence being poorly used and reasoned,
! The only ones that bother me in the end was the stubborn warden chief and that was about it, I never really did found anything else inconsistent about the characters but that could be due to the fact I never held Kazuma in high regards and saw Jigoku as the culprit once the photo became court evidence.
! I could've sworn the part with needing to present the ticket stub was unnecessarily frustrating because of the extra steps involve. Which is basically a majority of the problems I had, the extra steps of investigating, pressing a statement first before going back to press another statement and then (ensure that you evidence is updated by making sure you investigate it) you get to present. I think this was prevalent back in the previous trilogy too in the last cases but boy did the system not age well when games are constantly updating their QoL mechanics. On the other hand, Dual Destinies who had its mechanics dumbed down for casuals was stupidly easy. A middle ground would be nice.
! > then things ballooning into ridiculous impossible-to-buy-into scenarios. Also a few very unsatisfying plot threads.
! Some examples would be nice but I get if you don't want to go into a long rant. The Kazuma's segment of "i went aboard to kill but not really but I slashed him but didn't kill and left because of honour but I still went anyway" was one that bugged me.
! > Sholmes magically inventing livestreaming and holograms is a terrible plot device.
! It wasn't a plot device as much as an necessity though because Mael had so much power and public influence that it requires authoritarian approach and a clear, solid breakdown of what he has done and a confession to actually be able to charge him.
It was politics because the queen can't just jail him as he has much influence and impact on the current law (arguably more peaceful) in London. That, and it was likely she knew long ago (evidence by how Holmes easily stroll into her garden) but her hands were tied. Holmes was as much a pawn to her as she was to him, which was why I thought it was well written. The live streaming was necessary but the hologram? That was completely unnecessary and was just for fun and was just Holmes dancing on the grave of Mael.
! > The irrational obstructions from a lot of the trial characters made it hard to appreciate them; in particular I lost a lot of respect for Kazuma and I kinda wish he had stayed dead.
! That's the whole point of his character, he serves as a way for us to see Naruhoudou's growth. He always held him in high estemn but grew throughout his adventures to be able to stay rational when he otherwise didn't.
That and the whole chapter 2 of the reader(us) respecting him was largely due to a biased opinion from the POV of Naruhoudou's and there were signs that he was a darker person than he really is.
Didn't really dig how unremorseful he was in the end though, felt that could have been handled a bit better.
! > I am pretty frustrated that the Hound of the Baskervilles manuscript mystery, as well as Susato being recalled to Japan, was not some big dangerous secret, not an incriminating clue, not a conspiracy… no, it was all just to prevent Iris from figuring out her parents? What the actual hell. That is infuriating to me. Most of the other events/revelations were pretty good though.
! I think its the same reason why van Kiek's brother wanted to keep his affair with Iris mother a secret, to protect them from Stronghart. Any leaks of a surviving member of the professor could not only lead to the society ostracizing Iris + the ugly truth that the notorious killer came from a noble family + Stronghart tying any loose ends by silencing her. It is also of course for Iris's own sake but there's like three layers to that too. -
Finally working on my Steam library.
LostWinds 2: Played the first one a few years back and never got around to playing this one. Like the first one, it's a cute enjoyable enough game that you can beat in a couple days.
Braid: Definitely a brainteaser of a game, though it's kind of annoying how the rules seem to constantly change and they're not always obvious. Had to look up a few of the solutions. Still, very creative.
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! @zeltrax225:
! > Some examples would be nice but I get if you don't want to go into a long rant. The Kazuma's segment of "i went aboard to kill but not really but I slashed him but didn't kill and left because of honour but I still went anyway" was one that bugged me.
! In the last case mostly. Other than what you mentioned, the fact that Stronghart was perfectly blackmailing and coercing everyone on an international assassination scale, with everyone perfectly going along with everything. It was ridiculous to me that clearly Stronghart is the one with the most to lose; in fact he was going to ABSURD levels to cover up traces of a 10-year-old case out of paranoia just in case it MAYBE bit him in the ass for his super important promotion that he murdered his way to. But no, he's the one able to get other people to do his dirty work lol. And after everything people still agreeing with Stronghart and chanting his name. And of course all the Sholmes crap I mentioned.
! @zeltrax225:
! > It wasn't a plot device as much as an necessity though because Mael had so much power and public influence that it requires authoritarian approach and a clear, solid breakdown of what he has done and a confession to actually be able to charge him.
It was politics because the queen can't just jail him as he has much influence and impact on the current law (arguably more peaceful) in London. That, and it was likely she knew long ago (evidence by how Holmes easily stroll into her garden) but her hands were tied. Holmes was as much a pawn to her as she was to him, which was why I thought it was well written. The live streaming was necessary but the hologram? That was completely unnecessary and was just for fun and was just Holmes dancing on the grave of Mael.
! It's terrible writing. "We couldn't find a reasonable and satisfying way to pin down the mastermind other than using magical technology beamed directly to the Queen." It's absurd and unsatisfying on every level. I also disagree with most of your conjecture.
! @zeltrax225:
! > I think its the same reason why van Kiek's brother wanted to keep his affair with Iris mother a secret, to protect them from Stronghart. Any leaks of a surviving member of the professor could not only lead to the society ostracizing Iris + the ugly truth that the notorious killer came from a noble family + Stronghart tying any loose ends by silencing her. It is also of course for Iris's own sake but there's like three layers to that too.
! The reason stated for Klint was that he didn't want his daughter to grow up being shunned as the disgraced child of a serial nobility-killer. It was never implied to have anything to do with retribution from Stronghart, which he would have no need for as she was literally unborn at the time. And the reasonable thing to do would be to just warn all parties involved, even without revealing all the details but in an open way. Sholmes could have done it. Yujin could have done it, if not before then AFTER recalling his daughter. It's just endlessly stupid.Thinking about it, part of what helps the original trilogy avoid coming off as overly absurd or unbelievable is that a lot of it was rooted in supernatural elements existing, which automatically open the door for rather crazy or otherwise impossible situations. That kind of insanity doesn't really work in a game rooted in a far more serious and historically-accurate context.
Braid: Definitely a brainteaser of a game, though it's kind of annoying how the rules seem to constantly change and they're not always obvious. Had to look up a few of the solutions. Still, very creative.
It's been a really long time since I played Braid, but I never felt the rules were confusing or inconsistent. It slowly introduces layers of complexity to the mechanics and it's awesome to discover the extent to which they can be used. I had to look up a couple of the secrets, because sometimes they are REALLY well-hidden and/or you can lock yourself out of them, but otherwise it was excellent IMO. Especially compared to The Witness, which I think got extremely circle-jerky.
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It's been a really long time since I played Braid, but I never felt the rules were confusing or inconsistent. It slowly introduces layers of complexity to the mechanics and it's awesome to discover the extent to which they can be used. I had to look up a couple of the secrets, because sometimes they are REALLY well-hidden and/or you can lock yourself out of them, but otherwise it was excellent IMO. Especially compared to The Witness, which I think got extremely circle-jerky.
I could never figure out what the glowing green stuff and purple stuff meant, or why sometimes you can reverse a dead key and sometimes not. Maybe I just needed to spend more time on it or maybe my brain just isn't wired for it.
Anyway, playing Super Meat Boy now. Don't know if I'll have it in me to 100% the game, but for now it's a fun, challenging, breezily-paced game.
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Huh I thought it forced you into learning all the mechanics through simple example quite nicely. I seem to recall the green mechanic being introduced by enemies carrying a green key into a pit, forcing you to jump down to get it then rewind to get out. This immediately teaches you that green objects are immune to rewinding.
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Alright, I finally finished Horizon including Frozen Wilds. I was pleasantly surprised at how easy the plat was. At the end of the game I was only missing around 4 trophies (including the Frozen Wilds trophies), and all but one were for mundane tasks like repairing X machines or doing X dismount strikes. The only one had to look up, and literally the only thing in the entire game I looked at a guide for, was destroying all 23 training dummies. Props for not making me complete the data logs. In general I only had small gaps here and there, but dear god the "world" section has dozens that I missed and I have no inclination to look those up, even as a completionist. I am also tempted to take on the challenge of NG+ on Ultra Hard but I just don't have the time for that at the moment. In theory I should be able to avoid almost all combat and just do the forced story battles, but still…
Anyway, my overall opinion is that the game is fantastic. The plot is intriguing, the world-building is quite good, and most of the sidequests/errands are interesting in at least one way (lore, character development, world-building, combat). I think the game really nailed the balance of stuff to do in the world. It's super satisfying to clear bandit camps and corrupted zones one by one, the cauldrons are varied with the awesome override rewards, the hunting grounds are a cool challenge, and there are just enough collectibles to incentivize exploration without being overwhelming (and those collectible maps are amazing lol). The level curve is perfect, with me naturally reaching max level around the end of Frozen Wilds. There are also some REALLY satisfying dialog choices. I'm actually curious how much changes depending on what you say. I doubt the outcome ever actually changes? The only one I'm not sure of is Nil since it seems to give you pretty specific options.
The Frozen Wilds, especially right after the main game (I did it at endgame essentially), felt okay but not great. I like the further development of the Banuk culture, but most of the actual area and activities felt pretty underwhelming and at times boring. I was super turned off by there being a new set of animals to farm for bones/skins lol. I think the only carry capacity upgrades I don't have are the final ones for a couple of the new weapons. And yes, the new machines are brutal. I don't think they're tuned very well. They just ramped up the aggression 1000%, making it often unfun because it reduces your options by a lot. I love the polar bear design though, and thought it was lame that the final one is just a fire version of that with like double HP.
Anyway, I think probably my biggest disappointment is the Hunter's Lodge. I had such high hopes for that! I figured I would do all these hunting trials, get certified, and then unlock a whole bounty system. Like where the lodge sends me out to destroy unique boss-type enemies, or AT LEAST special versions of existing enemy types, or a special group encounter. I was so hyped when they kept talking about Redmaw, a NAMED MACHINE! But then... that was the end of the entire quest line. They already made me kill multiple Thunderjaws, so the culmination is just one with extra HP, and I don't even have to fight it alone? Really? My first fight against a Thunderjaw when I had no idea wtf I was doing was infinitely more difficult and exhilarating.
Regarding combat in general, I gravitated almost exclusively toward bows and the ropecaster, if I had to reel in particularly unruly enemies and expose weak spots (especially flying enemies, ugh lol). I was not a fan at all of traps and trip wires; I like fighting in the moment as opposed to trying to rig specific setups. I also pretty much never used slings, for freezing/elemental damage or otherwise. I was actually pretty disappointed to find out you can cheese even the toughest enemies by just spamming them with a damage-boosted blast sling. Kill really hard enemies in seconds whereas I normally spend minutes surgically hitting weak points and kiting attacks. Finally, I wish they had expanded spear combat because I find it really fun but it's just sucky and limited. I want to be able to punish aggressive enemies that try to melee me with good dodging and spear attacks, but it's often not viable. Even if I do manage to knock down enemies with spear attacks, the critical hit damage does not scale well and it's hard to follow up with another good punish (except maybe overriding, if I'm not getting attacked by 5 other things at once). At least it looks like they may be adding spear options to Forbidden West, which I am definitely buying (already pre-ordered the PS5 Special Edition).
On to the section where I complain/nitpick lol. I definitely stand by the fact that the inventory limits are stupid and just degrade the overall experience. You shouldn't have to unlock a decent inventory size. Also, the early game is really weak. Other than weapon/gear variety, having to unlock permanent fast travel, AND HAVE IT TAKE UP AN INVENTORY SLOT FOREVER, is really stupid. I feel like a decent middle ground would be for crafting items to go into limited inventory slots, but nothing else. Basically, items that are used to make ammo and potions. Nothing else should take up inventory space. DEFINITELY not items whose sole purpose is to be sold, but I think also tradable stuff. Hearts/lenses should never take up my resources inventory. Non-meat animal parts shouldn't either. I also don't understand why there are weapon/gear inventory limits. There's a limited amount of stuff to equip, and usually your new gear is just a better version of old gear, so just let me have it all? I also got so tired of constantly culling my modifications inventory. Fine, cap that if you want, but make it something like 500 so that I can sell all the trash and then not worry about it for a long time. Also, you should be able to remove modifications by default, not have it as a skill I have to invest in a whole tree for.
In conclusion:
[hide]Fuck Ted Faro[/hide]
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[hide]Fuck Ted Faro[/hide]
[hide]Faro did nothing wrong.[/hide]
Anyway, still playing Super Meat Boy, and I'm getting to the point where I really don't know if I'm gonna be able to 100% this game. Last night I spent 45 minutes trying to get The Kid and that was the first time I was like, "No, fuck this" and had to quit the warp zone. I didn't even make it past the second stage. The stage I quit on specifically was one where you have to wiggle your way through a series of spikes in rapid succession, and it was just so demanding and so precise that…it just wasn't fun. Like, I knew what I had to do in the level and there's no way of finagling around it, the stage just demands you have perfect timing and muscle control. And while that's certainly challenging, I don't think it's challenging in a good way. I don't know, maybe my 33-year-old body just doesn't have the skill or patience for it. I've still got a bunch of other levels to try, so I'll keep at it, but I'm not sure for how long. And, I dunno, maybe I'll try unlocking The Kid again later.
Also, since I've heard that Half-Life 2 is supposed to be one of the greatest games ever, I've jumped into the franchise for the first time and started playing the first Half-Life. First of all, I've come to the conclusion that there are two types of people in this world: People with rubber fingers and people who don't enjoy playing games on keyboards. I'm sorry, but games like this are the reason I've always been hesitant to play PC games. The first few hours of playing this game were a real chore for me since I just couldn't get a good control setup. At first I started with the keyboard and went by the default settings, but I found that to be pretty uncomfortable and unwieldy and resulted in one particular instance where I had to press the E, CTRL, and space bar in rapid succession. I dunno, maybe some people are adept at maneuvering their way around 100 different buttons while playing a game, but I'm not. Anyway, after that I switched the PS4 controller, which was better, but still had some control issues, particularly with the camera. And then, finally, I switched to the, uh, Switch controller, which works mostly fine. So yeah, video games. As far as I'm concerned, for the most part, they're meant to be played with controllers.
Anyway, aside from all that nonsense, I'm actually really enjoying Half-Life. It's dated in some respects and I occasionally have to look up what to do, but overall I'm having blast. And the game is actually pretty creepy. I don't know if it was intentional or because of the outdated graphics, but the monsters and noises really do make my skin crawl. Looking forward to seeing how Half-Life 2 ups the ante.
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Playing Zone Of Enders HD Remaster
Only played the first 20 minutes and boy is this game swimming in tropes/cliches.
- Kid experiencing a tragic event and Immediately gets thrown into a weapon of war which he can competently use (which at least makes sense considering you're playing as him).
- Doesn't like being told what to do by adults….or his pragmatic AI partner.
- Recklessly stupid childhood friend.
- Insubordinate Rival.
Not a fan though of trying to keep casualties and area damage at 100% since letting either fall below all but ensures you get a C rating which is pretty easy to do given how easy it is to for you or enemies to destroy buildings.
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Finished Great Ace Attorney over the weekend. Pretty sure the two together make for my favorite AA game, I was sad when it was over. Strong soundtrack and cast, helps that it's set away from the rest of the series so it's all pretty self-contained with a start and finish without the plot meandering around.
I'm thinking OMORI is next, and/or Tales of Arise.
Hang in there, Kierkegaard.
