Ack wrote:Just don't expect it to always be easy or physics to make sense.
To be fair, the more you dig into it the more you realize that actual physics doesn't make sense.
Games Beaten 2017
Re: Games Beaten 2017
To be fair, the more you dig into it the more you realize that actual physics doesn't make sense.
Blizzard Entertainment Software Developer - All comments and views are my own and not representative of the company.
Re: Games Beaten 2017
Ack, you went for a joke and frustrating achievement with the Gnome... not sure if it's fair to call out the physics over that. 
Honestly, I think HL2 blows HL1 out of the water and then some. HL2 to this day, still wows me every single time I go back and replay it. Which is probably biannually at least. It's funny how I've gone through its various versions too, never had the best PC to play it but I did along the way here and there using various settings, I had the Xbox version which was really impressive for the time, then the Orange Box on 360, and finally after all that have had good PC's. All the while Valve has continued to update it a little over time.
The aesthetics to HL2 could not be more perfect in my eyes (hence my love for Dishonored, since the same concept artist did designs there). But even on a technical level, there's just something about the FOV, how the characters look, the gunplay and satisfying impact hitting things or the way the soldiers crumble... the game literally feels and looks like perfection to me. It goes for this weirder pseudo realistic look that I don't think many other games replicate very well at all. The pacing is thrilling as well, there is still nothing quite like it to this day. I love how once the action kicks into gear in HL2, it can go on for long stretches of time. I think MachineGames (former Starbreeze staff) with Wolfenstein The New Order gave off a similar "feel" to HL2, that maybe makes sense if you're following me or not at all. But the issue with The New Order is that the shootouts lasted for like 5 minutes tops or were in small confined spaces, unlike HL2 where you're thrown into a warzone at times and it's utterly exhilarating. With that perfect, unique music rumbling over you. Nothing quite like these soundtracks either.
I'm confident about how I rank them, because I grew up on HL1. It blew me away at the time, but I have to be honest, I'm pretty sure I've always liked Jedi Knight more. I liked how HL1 felt a bit like a Metroidvania thing though, this huge sprawling Area 51 base for the entire game basically. But you honestly can't defend Xen. I've gone back to HL1 countless times over the years but can honestly admit, I have only completely finished it once. And I love FPS's from this era. But I think this is a rare case of overplaying something and ruining it. I would much rather go back to System Shock 2, Thief 1-2, Deus Ex, Quake 2, Jedi Knight, or Unreal over HL1 thesedays. It certainly set the bar for a new formula and changed things though. I love the intro, it's still one of my favorites of all time and insanely chilling. But whenever I go back to it thesedays, for maybe the last decade now or so, it loses steam pretty quickly on me.
I really enjoyed what I played of Black Mesa a few years ago. I think it's mostly finished now, outside of them doing Xen... which again I could careless about unless they somehow salvage it. But I've been thinking of hitting this up soon again, should be awesome and in a weird way might be my preference for revisiting HL1 from here on.
I do like how the Marines in HL1 were far more aggressive and intimidating than the Combine though, that's for sure. Beyond that though, HL1 gets credit but HL2 is an absolute timeless masterpiece to me.
Honestly, I think HL2 blows HL1 out of the water and then some. HL2 to this day, still wows me every single time I go back and replay it. Which is probably biannually at least. It's funny how I've gone through its various versions too, never had the best PC to play it but I did along the way here and there using various settings, I had the Xbox version which was really impressive for the time, then the Orange Box on 360, and finally after all that have had good PC's. All the while Valve has continued to update it a little over time.
The aesthetics to HL2 could not be more perfect in my eyes (hence my love for Dishonored, since the same concept artist did designs there). But even on a technical level, there's just something about the FOV, how the characters look, the gunplay and satisfying impact hitting things or the way the soldiers crumble... the game literally feels and looks like perfection to me. It goes for this weirder pseudo realistic look that I don't think many other games replicate very well at all. The pacing is thrilling as well, there is still nothing quite like it to this day. I love how once the action kicks into gear in HL2, it can go on for long stretches of time. I think MachineGames (former Starbreeze staff) with Wolfenstein The New Order gave off a similar "feel" to HL2, that maybe makes sense if you're following me or not at all. But the issue with The New Order is that the shootouts lasted for like 5 minutes tops or were in small confined spaces, unlike HL2 where you're thrown into a warzone at times and it's utterly exhilarating. With that perfect, unique music rumbling over you. Nothing quite like these soundtracks either.
I'm confident about how I rank them, because I grew up on HL1. It blew me away at the time, but I have to be honest, I'm pretty sure I've always liked Jedi Knight more. I liked how HL1 felt a bit like a Metroidvania thing though, this huge sprawling Area 51 base for the entire game basically. But you honestly can't defend Xen. I've gone back to HL1 countless times over the years but can honestly admit, I have only completely finished it once. And I love FPS's from this era. But I think this is a rare case of overplaying something and ruining it. I would much rather go back to System Shock 2, Thief 1-2, Deus Ex, Quake 2, Jedi Knight, or Unreal over HL1 thesedays. It certainly set the bar for a new formula and changed things though. I love the intro, it's still one of my favorites of all time and insanely chilling. But whenever I go back to it thesedays, for maybe the last decade now or so, it loses steam pretty quickly on me.
I really enjoyed what I played of Black Mesa a few years ago. I think it's mostly finished now, outside of them doing Xen... which again I could careless about unless they somehow salvage it. But I've been thinking of hitting this up soon again, should be awesome and in a weird way might be my preference for revisiting HL1 from here on.
I do like how the Marines in HL1 were far more aggressive and intimidating than the Combine though, that's for sure. Beyond that though, HL1 gets credit but HL2 is an absolute timeless masterpiece to me.
Re: Games Beaten 2017
1. Runbow - Wii U
2. Battlefield 1 - Xbox One
3. Until Dawn - PS4
4. Super Mario Sunshine - Gamecube
5. Titanfall 2 - Xbox One
6. Wario Ware, Inc: Mega Party Game$ - Gamecube
7. Pikmin 2 - Gamecube
8. Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - Wii U
9. Dawn of War 2 - PC
10. Dawn of War 2: Chaos Rising - PC
11. Sonic Mania - PS4
12. Castlevania IV - SNES
This game was pretty darn challenging. The last four bosses almost handed it to me, but I managed to squeak out a victory with a single health bar left on the final boss. This is the first Castlevania game I've beaten ever. I was feeling like a spooky Halloween game was what I was looking for this evening, and I can understand why it's a classic. I think I like this one almost as much as I enjoyed the GBA Castlevania games. Anywho, you should give it a shot if you're into whips and chains.
2. Battlefield 1 - Xbox One
3. Until Dawn - PS4
4. Super Mario Sunshine - Gamecube
5. Titanfall 2 - Xbox One
6. Wario Ware, Inc: Mega Party Game$ - Gamecube
7. Pikmin 2 - Gamecube
8. Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - Wii U
9. Dawn of War 2 - PC
10. Dawn of War 2: Chaos Rising - PC
11. Sonic Mania - PS4
12. Castlevania IV - SNES
This game was pretty darn challenging. The last four bosses almost handed it to me, but I managed to squeak out a victory with a single health bar left on the final boss. This is the first Castlevania game I've beaten ever. I was feeling like a spooky Halloween game was what I was looking for this evening, and I can understand why it's a classic. I think I like this one almost as much as I enjoyed the GBA Castlevania games. Anywho, you should give it a shot if you're into whips and chains.
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Re: Games Beaten 2017
Beat Cuphead finally. My everything hurts. Feels good.
Re: Games Beaten 2017
1. Ys IV: The Dawn of Ys (PCE-CD)
2. Mega Bomberman (GEN)
3. Lost in Shadow (Wii)
4. Kirby's Dream Land (via Wii Dream Collection) (GB)
5. Kirby's Dream Land 2 (via Wii Dream Collection) (GB)
6. Kirby's Dream Land 3 (via Wii Dream Collection) (SNES)
7. Saturn Bomberman (SAT)
8. Rent a Hero (GEN)
9. Tricolore Crise (DC)
10. Super Mario: Yoshi Island (SFC)
11. Clockwork Knight: Pepperouchou no Daibouken (Joukan) (SAT)
12. Mickey to Donald: Magical Adventure 3 (SFC)
13. Kishin Douji Zenki: Battle Raiden (SFC)
14. Super Donkey Kong (SFC)
15. Super Donkey Kong 2: Dixie & Diddy (SFC)
16. Anearth Fantasy Stories: First Volume (SAT)
17. Panzer Dragoon (SAT)
18. Panzer Dragoon II Zwei (SAT)
19. Panzer Dragoon Orta (XBOX)
20. Cross Tantei Monogatari (SAT)
21. Dragon Quest V (PS2)
22. Ryu ga Gotoku (PS2)
23. Dragon Slayer: Eiyuu Densetsu II (GEN)
24. Rokudenashi Blues: Taiketsu! Tokyo Shitennou (SFC)
25. Ranma 1/2: Bakuretsu Rantou Hen (SFC)
26. Contra Spirits (SFC)
27. Dennou Senki: Virtual On (SAT)
28. Dead or Alive (SAT)
29. Fighting Vipers (SAT)
30. Last Bronx (SAT)
31. Steeldom (SAT)
32. Street Fighter Zero (SAT)
33. NinPen Manmaru (SAT)
34. Street Fighter Zero 2 (SAT)
35. Street Fighter Zero 2' (SAT)
36. Virtua Fighter Remix (SAT)
37. Final Fantasy XI: Rise of the Zilart (PC)
38. Final Fantasy XI: Chains of Promathia (PC)
39. Final Fantasy XI: Rhapsodies of Vana'diel (PC)
40. Final Fantasy XI: Seekers of Adoulin (PC)
41. ToeJam & Earl (GEN)
42. Magical Taruru~to-kun (GEN)
43. Metal Slug X (PS1)
44. Phantasy Star III: Toki no Keishousha (GEN)
45. Phantasy Star: Sennenki no Owari ni (GEN)
46. Breath of Fire V: Dragon Quarter (PS2)
47. Shonen Ashibe: Goma-chan no Yuuenchi Daibouken (SFC)
48. Super Mario Kart (SFC)
Shonen Ashibe: Goma-chan no Yuuenchi Daibouken is the story of a kid named, "Ashibe," and his pet baby seal, "Goma," having a nice adventure in a new theme park. Based on a Young Jump comic series, beginning in 1988, the game plays like, "Baby's First Super Famicom Platformer." There's really no challenge to the game, other than figuring out how to deal with the whirlpools in two of the "boss" stages, where you have to collect items thrown into the water. Hint:
Mostly, the game has you wander around some moderately appealing (from a visual standpoint) stages, as Goma-cchi, collecting eight of some specified animal/object (apples, birds, stars, etc). Maybe you'll even have an opportunity to play basketball with some hippo statues that barf basketballs, but watch out for the little brats who just want to hug the stuffing out of Goma. It won't be long before the realization sets in that Goma tries to solve all of his problems with head trauma, and brain damage. While playing the game, you'll repeatedly force Goma to slam his head into trees, brick walls, carousel poles, and all sorts of extremely solid objects. I'm actually somewhat convinced that this game was made, not for people, but for seals, in an elaborate plan to brainwash baby seals into clubbing themselves. I don't know why the game developers hate baby seals, but that's the only conclusion I can possibly draw.
In all, Shounen Ashibe is just sort of an average game. It's a fine way to waste a couple hours, but really nothing more.
Super Mario Kart: Nope.
2. Mega Bomberman (GEN)
3. Lost in Shadow (Wii)
4. Kirby's Dream Land (via Wii Dream Collection) (GB)
5. Kirby's Dream Land 2 (via Wii Dream Collection) (GB)
6. Kirby's Dream Land 3 (via Wii Dream Collection) (SNES)
7. Saturn Bomberman (SAT)
8. Rent a Hero (GEN)
9. Tricolore Crise (DC)
10. Super Mario: Yoshi Island (SFC)
11. Clockwork Knight: Pepperouchou no Daibouken (Joukan) (SAT)
12. Mickey to Donald: Magical Adventure 3 (SFC)
13. Kishin Douji Zenki: Battle Raiden (SFC)
14. Super Donkey Kong (SFC)
15. Super Donkey Kong 2: Dixie & Diddy (SFC)
16. Anearth Fantasy Stories: First Volume (SAT)
17. Panzer Dragoon (SAT)
18. Panzer Dragoon II Zwei (SAT)
19. Panzer Dragoon Orta (XBOX)
20. Cross Tantei Monogatari (SAT)
21. Dragon Quest V (PS2)
22. Ryu ga Gotoku (PS2)
23. Dragon Slayer: Eiyuu Densetsu II (GEN)
24. Rokudenashi Blues: Taiketsu! Tokyo Shitennou (SFC)
25. Ranma 1/2: Bakuretsu Rantou Hen (SFC)
26. Contra Spirits (SFC)
27. Dennou Senki: Virtual On (SAT)
28. Dead or Alive (SAT)
29. Fighting Vipers (SAT)
30. Last Bronx (SAT)
31. Steeldom (SAT)
32. Street Fighter Zero (SAT)
33. NinPen Manmaru (SAT)
34. Street Fighter Zero 2 (SAT)
35. Street Fighter Zero 2' (SAT)
36. Virtua Fighter Remix (SAT)
37. Final Fantasy XI: Rise of the Zilart (PC)
38. Final Fantasy XI: Chains of Promathia (PC)
39. Final Fantasy XI: Rhapsodies of Vana'diel (PC)
40. Final Fantasy XI: Seekers of Adoulin (PC)
41. ToeJam & Earl (GEN)
42. Magical Taruru~to-kun (GEN)
43. Metal Slug X (PS1)
44. Phantasy Star III: Toki no Keishousha (GEN)
45. Phantasy Star: Sennenki no Owari ni (GEN)
46. Breath of Fire V: Dragon Quarter (PS2)
47. Shonen Ashibe: Goma-chan no Yuuenchi Daibouken (SFC)
48. Super Mario Kart (SFC)
Shonen Ashibe: Goma-chan no Yuuenchi Daibouken is the story of a kid named, "Ashibe," and his pet baby seal, "Goma," having a nice adventure in a new theme park. Based on a Young Jump comic series, beginning in 1988, the game plays like, "Baby's First Super Famicom Platformer." There's really no challenge to the game, other than figuring out how to deal with the whirlpools in two of the "boss" stages, where you have to collect items thrown into the water. Hint:
Mostly, the game has you wander around some moderately appealing (from a visual standpoint) stages, as Goma-cchi, collecting eight of some specified animal/object (apples, birds, stars, etc). Maybe you'll even have an opportunity to play basketball with some hippo statues that barf basketballs, but watch out for the little brats who just want to hug the stuffing out of Goma. It won't be long before the realization sets in that Goma tries to solve all of his problems with head trauma, and brain damage. While playing the game, you'll repeatedly force Goma to slam his head into trees, brick walls, carousel poles, and all sorts of extremely solid objects. I'm actually somewhat convinced that this game was made, not for people, but for seals, in an elaborate plan to brainwash baby seals into clubbing themselves. I don't know why the game developers hate baby seals, but that's the only conclusion I can possibly draw.
In all, Shounen Ashibe is just sort of an average game. It's a fine way to waste a couple hours, but really nothing more.
Super Mario Kart: Nope.
Re: Games Beaten 2017
Undertale.
I enjoyed it. Odd RPG but glad it was short. I took a neutral route as at first treated it like any RPG but later tried to spare more enemies. The music is really fantastic. It's not Earthbound good IMO. Sans is awesome. The humor in this game is really well done. It does have that odd charm Mother games have but goes further. You learn this games humor fast. Times where it wants to trick the player something is about to be difficult, it's really easy and at times they say will be easy..it will be difficult. Other times takes you by total surprise.It can range from predictable to very unpredictable. Visually I am mixed on it. I do love sprites and this game has neat art. You kind of want more from it but then again it's look helps its charm. It's one of the very few indie games trying to look like an NES game that I can almost and I mean almost believe it. If Toby decides to make another RPG I hope it's in Unity and has a more Saturn 2D look to it or I would settle on a SNES Earthbound look. Whatever he makes I will keep an eye out.
I enjoyed it. Odd RPG but glad it was short. I took a neutral route as at first treated it like any RPG but later tried to spare more enemies. The music is really fantastic. It's not Earthbound good IMO. Sans is awesome. The humor in this game is really well done. It does have that odd charm Mother games have but goes further. You learn this games humor fast. Times where it wants to trick the player something is about to be difficult, it's really easy and at times they say will be easy..it will be difficult. Other times takes you by total surprise.It can range from predictable to very unpredictable. Visually I am mixed on it. I do love sprites and this game has neat art. You kind of want more from it but then again it's look helps its charm. It's one of the very few indie games trying to look like an NES game that I can almost and I mean almost believe it. If Toby decides to make another RPG I hope it's in Unity and has a more Saturn 2D look to it or I would settle on a SNES Earthbound look. Whatever he makes I will keep an eye out.
Re: Games Beaten 2017
1. Pokémon Moon - 3DS
2. Tony Hawk's Underground - GCN
3. Warhammer 40,000 Dawn of War II: Chaos Rising - PC
4. Warhammer 40,000 Dawn of War II: Retribution - PC
5. Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness - PSP
6. X-Wing: Imperial Pursuit - PC
7. Star Wars Republic Commando - PC
8. X-Wing: B-Wing - PC
9. Blazing Lazers - TG-16
10. Tales of Xillia 2 - PS3
11. Shining Force CD: Shining Force Gaiden - Sega CD
12. MUSHA - Genesis
13. Sonic CD - Sega CD
14. Final Fantasy Legend III - GB
15. Tales of Zestiria - PS3
16. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - Switch
17. Horizon Zero Dawn - PS4
18. Tales of Berseria - PS4
19. Battlefield 1 - PC
20. Turok 2: Seeds of Evil - PC
21. Mass Effect Andromeda - PC
22. Starflight 2 - PC
23. Armored Hunter Gunhound EX - PC
24. Space Megaforce - SNES
25. Persona 5 - PS4
26. Torment: Tides of Numenera - PC
27. Cosmic Star Heroine - PC
28. Prey - PC
29. Strafe - PC
30. Mystic Origins - NES
31. Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia - 3DS
32. Ultra Street Fighter II - Switch
33. The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky - PC
34. Ultima IV - PC
35. Environmental Station Alpha - PC
36. Dust: An Elysian Tail - PC
37. Hollow Knight - PC
38. The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky Second Chapter - PC
39. The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky the 3rd - PC
40. Call of Duty - PC
41. Azure Striker Gunvolt 2 - 3DS
42. Sonic Mania - Switch
43. Mighty Gunvolt Burst - Switch
44. XCOM2: War of the Chosen - PC
45. Metroid: Samus Returns - 3DS
46. Dishonored: Death of the Outsider - PC
47. Cuphead - Xbox One
48. Odallus - PC
49. Shenzhen I/O - PC
50. South Park: The Fractured But Whole - PC
So the five second review is that if you liked Stick of Truth you'll like this, and if you're a major South Park fan you'll like this. The game exists as pure fanservice with some good writing that plays out like one of the multipart stories (like the Coon & Friends trilogy). It also continues the trend of having fun with video game tropes.
This game is a sequel to Stick of Truth, and events start with your character, now king, having to engage in battle before the Coon convinces everyone to play Superheroes instead. There's actually a bit of lead up in the episode "Franchise Prequel". It's not required (the main plot point is described at the start), but it adds a bit to the setup for the game. Your nameless, voiceless character now joins in the Superhero game as you attempt to find a missing cat for the reward money to help fuel your superhero franchise and make a billion dollars. Along the way you'll explore the town, engage in sidequests both collection and storyline based, and poke around using your fart based powers.
The biggest change from Stick of Truth is the combat; things are now grid based and you usually have a large party with you. On your turn you can use one of three moves or your ultimate, which costs a meter shared by the team. Attacks usually have very limited ranges of effect, so positioning becomes very important. Your character has a lot of flexibility in attack selection, as over the course of the game you unlock more and more abilities. This lets you customize for something that fits in well with the rest of your preferred party. And even when you get a forced party situation, you always get a chance before combat to redo your equipment and power selection.
The game has a lot of fun with the superhero aesthetic; the various powers are pretty imaginative, like how kids might come up with their attacks. And the ultimates are especially fun, with several adding in lots of more hand-drawn style art (including a return of Professor Chaos's anime form from "Good Times With Weapons"). It's fun to see a lot of the very serious situations you engage in contrasting with the fact that you're all still engaged in playtime.
One final thing to touch on is the filling in of your character sheet. Over the course of the game you will fill in things such as your gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, religion, alignment, and income bracket. And outside of some dialog related to the fact that your gender might be different from the assumed boy from the first game, none of it actually matters in game. Still, the game pays a lot of attention to filling this all in, gating the storyline behind doing the various pieces (it's slowly done over the course of the storyline). Also, every piece of your character sheet can be changed after it is first set (except maybe religion/alignment, as I didn't try to trigger that so I don't know). So I'm really not sure what the end goal of all of this was. There's an achievement for playing the game with the highest combat difficulty and the darkest skin called "The Token Experience", but otherwise I think it's just to give players the ability to fully customize. Maybe there was deeper plans for it?
As I said before, if you hated the first game or hate South Park you won't like this. If you're indifferent then maybe you'll enjoy it? The combat requires enough finesse that it's worthwhile, but there's a lot of deep references to the show (including stuff from first season) that you won't get if you aren't already a big fan.
2. Tony Hawk's Underground - GCN
3. Warhammer 40,000 Dawn of War II: Chaos Rising - PC
4. Warhammer 40,000 Dawn of War II: Retribution - PC
5. Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness - PSP
6. X-Wing: Imperial Pursuit - PC
7. Star Wars Republic Commando - PC
8. X-Wing: B-Wing - PC
9. Blazing Lazers - TG-16
10. Tales of Xillia 2 - PS3
11. Shining Force CD: Shining Force Gaiden - Sega CD
12. MUSHA - Genesis
13. Sonic CD - Sega CD
14. Final Fantasy Legend III - GB
15. Tales of Zestiria - PS3
16. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - Switch
17. Horizon Zero Dawn - PS4
18. Tales of Berseria - PS4
19. Battlefield 1 - PC
20. Turok 2: Seeds of Evil - PC
21. Mass Effect Andromeda - PC
22. Starflight 2 - PC
23. Armored Hunter Gunhound EX - PC
24. Space Megaforce - SNES
25. Persona 5 - PS4
26. Torment: Tides of Numenera - PC
27. Cosmic Star Heroine - PC
28. Prey - PC
29. Strafe - PC
30. Mystic Origins - NES
31. Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia - 3DS
32. Ultra Street Fighter II - Switch
33. The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky - PC
34. Ultima IV - PC
35. Environmental Station Alpha - PC
36. Dust: An Elysian Tail - PC
37. Hollow Knight - PC
38. The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky Second Chapter - PC
39. The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky the 3rd - PC
40. Call of Duty - PC
41. Azure Striker Gunvolt 2 - 3DS
42. Sonic Mania - Switch
43. Mighty Gunvolt Burst - Switch
44. XCOM2: War of the Chosen - PC
45. Metroid: Samus Returns - 3DS
46. Dishonored: Death of the Outsider - PC
47. Cuphead - Xbox One
48. Odallus - PC
49. Shenzhen I/O - PC
50. South Park: The Fractured But Whole - PC
So the five second review is that if you liked Stick of Truth you'll like this, and if you're a major South Park fan you'll like this. The game exists as pure fanservice with some good writing that plays out like one of the multipart stories (like the Coon & Friends trilogy). It also continues the trend of having fun with video game tropes.
This game is a sequel to Stick of Truth, and events start with your character, now king, having to engage in battle before the Coon convinces everyone to play Superheroes instead. There's actually a bit of lead up in the episode "Franchise Prequel". It's not required (the main plot point is described at the start), but it adds a bit to the setup for the game. Your nameless, voiceless character now joins in the Superhero game as you attempt to find a missing cat for the reward money to help fuel your superhero franchise and make a billion dollars. Along the way you'll explore the town, engage in sidequests both collection and storyline based, and poke around using your fart based powers.
The biggest change from Stick of Truth is the combat; things are now grid based and you usually have a large party with you. On your turn you can use one of three moves or your ultimate, which costs a meter shared by the team. Attacks usually have very limited ranges of effect, so positioning becomes very important. Your character has a lot of flexibility in attack selection, as over the course of the game you unlock more and more abilities. This lets you customize for something that fits in well with the rest of your preferred party. And even when you get a forced party situation, you always get a chance before combat to redo your equipment and power selection.
The game has a lot of fun with the superhero aesthetic; the various powers are pretty imaginative, like how kids might come up with their attacks. And the ultimates are especially fun, with several adding in lots of more hand-drawn style art (including a return of Professor Chaos's anime form from "Good Times With Weapons"). It's fun to see a lot of the very serious situations you engage in contrasting with the fact that you're all still engaged in playtime.
One final thing to touch on is the filling in of your character sheet. Over the course of the game you will fill in things such as your gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, religion, alignment, and income bracket. And outside of some dialog related to the fact that your gender might be different from the assumed boy from the first game, none of it actually matters in game. Still, the game pays a lot of attention to filling this all in, gating the storyline behind doing the various pieces (it's slowly done over the course of the storyline). Also, every piece of your character sheet can be changed after it is first set (except maybe religion/alignment, as I didn't try to trigger that so I don't know). So I'm really not sure what the end goal of all of this was. There's an achievement for playing the game with the highest combat difficulty and the darkest skin called "The Token Experience", but otherwise I think it's just to give players the ability to fully customize. Maybe there was deeper plans for it?
As I said before, if you hated the first game or hate South Park you won't like this. If you're indifferent then maybe you'll enjoy it? The combat requires enough finesse that it's worthwhile, but there's a lot of deep references to the show (including stuff from first season) that you won't get if you aren't already a big fan.
Blizzard Entertainment Software Developer - All comments and views are my own and not representative of the company.
Re: Games Beaten 2017
First 50:
51. Oniken - PC
The first game from the team that made Odallus, Oniken is also an NES throwback game. Here, though, it's more of a throwback to hard action platformers like Strider or Ninja Gaidin. My suspicion is that it's closer to Strider; I haven't played that game so I can't be sure, but if the primary inspiration was Ninja Gaidin they really cut down on things. The big thing it takes from Ninja Gaidin is the cutscenes; large shots that slowly pan in lie of animation. The story involves some bad guys wanting to world domination and your Kenshiro expy gets to sword a bunch of guys.
In game your controls are simple; you can jump, slash, throw a grenade with up + attack, and you can activate a berserk mode. Pickups are just as simple; most of them are packs of five grenades, though sometimes you'll find health or a sword powerup. This gives your sword a short range wave that comes off of every slash. However, taking a hit will cause you to lose a bar of sword; initial pickup gives you two bars. The sword powerup is also the way you activate berserk; when you have at least two bars you can activate the mode to go invincible and have your sword waves explode on hitting enemies (great for large enemies that will take multiple hits as a result), but your sword power constantly runs down. So there's some risk/reward in terms of trying to keep using the sword wave or just burning it for berserk before you get hit. There's also a few sections where you ride a bike; here you can shoot, jump, or toss grenades behind you (the latter is needed for one boss).
The game, unfortunately, is difficult for all the wrong reasons. Many enemies will lack a tell or a consistent pattern to their attacks (the ninjas stand out), which makes it extremely hard to avoid damage and frequently you can spend a lot of time in knockback loops due to not enough mercy invincibility relative to the knockback. There's also a gigantic difficulty spike on level five, which then comes back down for level six. And finally, a lot of the bosses are extremely difficult to impossible to dodge the attacks of; it's frequently better to just face tank hits and get in your damage before you die. Because you can cancel your attacks by landing from a jump or crouching/standing you're better off just mashing attack and down to deal damage, and I think the devs balanced things around this.
One fun thing is there is a bonus level after the credits; it's set with one of the NPCs from the cutscenes during one of your missions and plays out like Contra with a health bar. You have a machine gun and grenades are now used for a missile. Interestingly, the missile actually has less DPS than the machine gun (and is actually less damage than the main game grenades) and is best used when you have very brief attack windows. In a stand up fight the machine gun is the way to go.
The whole thing is a decent first effort, but they did a much better job with Odallus. I'd also say that while Odallus is very doable with a keyboard, Oniken requires a bit too much button precision and reflex that's better served with a controller.
51. Oniken - PC
The first game from the team that made Odallus, Oniken is also an NES throwback game. Here, though, it's more of a throwback to hard action platformers like Strider or Ninja Gaidin. My suspicion is that it's closer to Strider; I haven't played that game so I can't be sure, but if the primary inspiration was Ninja Gaidin they really cut down on things. The big thing it takes from Ninja Gaidin is the cutscenes; large shots that slowly pan in lie of animation. The story involves some bad guys wanting to world domination and your Kenshiro expy gets to sword a bunch of guys.
In game your controls are simple; you can jump, slash, throw a grenade with up + attack, and you can activate a berserk mode. Pickups are just as simple; most of them are packs of five grenades, though sometimes you'll find health or a sword powerup. This gives your sword a short range wave that comes off of every slash. However, taking a hit will cause you to lose a bar of sword; initial pickup gives you two bars. The sword powerup is also the way you activate berserk; when you have at least two bars you can activate the mode to go invincible and have your sword waves explode on hitting enemies (great for large enemies that will take multiple hits as a result), but your sword power constantly runs down. So there's some risk/reward in terms of trying to keep using the sword wave or just burning it for berserk before you get hit. There's also a few sections where you ride a bike; here you can shoot, jump, or toss grenades behind you (the latter is needed for one boss).
The game, unfortunately, is difficult for all the wrong reasons. Many enemies will lack a tell or a consistent pattern to their attacks (the ninjas stand out), which makes it extremely hard to avoid damage and frequently you can spend a lot of time in knockback loops due to not enough mercy invincibility relative to the knockback. There's also a gigantic difficulty spike on level five, which then comes back down for level six. And finally, a lot of the bosses are extremely difficult to impossible to dodge the attacks of; it's frequently better to just face tank hits and get in your damage before you die. Because you can cancel your attacks by landing from a jump or crouching/standing you're better off just mashing attack and down to deal damage, and I think the devs balanced things around this.
One fun thing is there is a bonus level after the credits; it's set with one of the NPCs from the cutscenes during one of your missions and plays out like Contra with a health bar. You have a machine gun and grenades are now used for a missile. Interestingly, the missile actually has less DPS than the machine gun (and is actually less damage than the main game grenades) and is best used when you have very brief attack windows. In a stand up fight the machine gun is the way to go.
The whole thing is a decent first effort, but they did a much better job with Odallus. I'd also say that while Odallus is very doable with a keyboard, Oniken requires a bit too much button precision and reflex that's better served with a controller.
Blizzard Entertainment Software Developer - All comments and views are my own and not representative of the company.
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Exhuminator
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Re: Games Beaten 2017
86. Sweet Home | Famicom | 1989 | 7/10
In 1989 Capcom released Sweet Home, which was based on a horror movie of the same name. Neither the movie nor its video game adaption ever left Japan officially. (I am not going to explain the involved plot, if you want to know the story, read a synopsis.) The Sweet Home video game was critically acclaimed in its day, rising above typical licensed dreck. This was in large part due to the film's director acting as producer of the Sweet Home video game, as well as Capcom having quality development personnel at the time. In 2000, an English fan translation was released for Sweet Home, giving accessibility to English speaking Famicom/NES fans. After the translation, Sweet Home quickly gained a cult following in the west, and now graces many "hidden NES gems" and "best Famicom imports" lists around the net. It's easy to be initially impressed by this top down RPG/adventure hybrid, with its turn based battle system. Especially when the goal is to explore a spooky haunted mansion and fight grotesque paranormal monsters.
So it's true that Sweet Home has a lot to offer. Firstly the graphics and audio. Sweet Home indeed has impressive ghastly graphics, creating a tangible sense of foreboding atmosphere. Sweet Home's dire and well orchestrated OST truly sets a grim mood. It short, this is a Famicom game which legitimately feels creepy to play, no small task given the platform. Sweet Home's gameplay interface systems are impressive in their capability. You have classic adventure commands like "look", "talk", "item" and the like. You have five characters to control at any time, and are able to pair them into teams of up to three. Each character has specific puzzle items only they can use, but can also carry up to two more item objects, as well as one weapon. Your teams must explore rooms, find object items, find new weapons, solve puzzles with the item objects, fight monsters as they appear in random battles, and try not die ever. I say "ever", because death is permanent in Sweet Home. Losing a character is a big issue, but not a game stopper. For instance, if you lose the vacuum character, another character can find a broom, and use the broom to substitute for the loss of the vacuum. Another point of difficulty are health potions, or rather the lack of them. The only way to heal in Sweet Home, is to use a health potion, of which there are limited quantities. It is true that Sweet Home is a difficult complex survival horror RPG-adventure hybrid. It is true Sweet Home has convincing atmosphere. But being fun to actually play? That's another matter.
So let's talk about the bad stuff. First off, the extremely limited inventory system. Each of your five characters can only carry up to two item objects each, and this includes health potions. This means you are always backtracking to retrieve item objects you had to leave behind, due to not having enough inventory space. There are tons of different items, and you won't know what most of them are for initially. Trial, error, and tedium is the formula. Also the annoying backtracking is made even more slow by constant random battles. This limited inventory system was a just dastardly scheme, one designed to artificially prolong time it takes to beat Sweet Home. Also annoying is being unable to have all your party members travel as a single party. Sweet Home will allow all five members to join a single battle together, but never to travel as one entity. This means tediously switching back and forth between members, to move them all slowly as one herd. It's all just ludicrous really, and yet another way to purposefully waste the player's time. There are just so many ways Sweet Home intentionally wastes its player's time. To list all of them would waste your time. I just truly don't like when video games gleefully waste my free time via contrived asinine design. Unfortunately Sweet Home adores this concept. So should you play Sweet Home, I hope you enjoy taking lots of photos of identical frescoes to gleam esoteric hints.
Perhaps some players won't mind the absurd backtracking, intrusive key hunting, constant item juggling, tedious party member switching, inane random battles, and inscrutable final boss sequence. Then again, I'd wager many of those "best of" list writers who so romantically talk up Sweet Home, never actually beat this perturbing video game. I do appreciate Sweet Home's forward thinking and innovative concepts, and can respect its ambition and maturity. This game does contain strides towards breaking new ground, and that is important. Some cite Sweet Home as historically significant due to being an influence for Resident Evil. That may be true, but I think Koudelka has a lot more in common with Sweet Home than Resident Evil does. For this player, Sweet Home was a great idea in concept, but rather botched in the entertainment department. So putting in nine hours to beat Sweet Home wasn't much fun. I can enjoy NES gore and spooky JRPGs as much as anyone, but I'm afraid Sweet Home was often too sour for my taste.
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(That's supposed to be a possessed gangster, at least they could have made his eyes glow or something.)
87. Avenging Spirit | Game Boy | 1992 | 6/10
1992's Avenging Spirit on Game Boy is apparently a port of a 1991 arcade game of the same name. In this cutesy platformer, you play the role of a possession-capable spirit, saving some mad paranormal scientist's daughter, by slaying a mafia. You float over an enemy and possess them at will. But if you get hit too much, you can "die". (Or at least lose the ability to exist in the same dimension as the mafia? I don't know.) Aside from having the ability to possess all sorts of enemies, and use their bodies to fight with, the actual gameplay is bog standard platformer stuff. The six levels are super simple in design, with very basic boss battles. The one catch is; you're supposed to find three hidden keys and solve a code, in order to get the "good ending". If you care about that sort of thing, enjoy that then. All in all, Avenging Spirit is a forgettable but cute easy Game Boy platformer. Though it does let you spiritually possess a missile firing robot, I guess that counts for something.
PLAY KING'S FIELD.
Re: Games Beaten 2017
Exhuminator wrote:This means tediously switching back and forth between members, to move them all slowly as one herd.
I was trying to find a relatively cheap cart of Sweet Home for a couple years, until I played a little bit of it on the Everdrive, and cooled down on it significantly, specifically because of the above.