Games Beaten 2018

[ESauced]

I had no idea that Curse of the Moon was coming out so soon. I have the Switch one coming and I don’t really play on PC so I’ll just wait on that.

I finally beat Doom on Switch. I liked the game a lot but I didn’t care much for the boss fights. After the rest of the game being about frantically moving around to avoid enemies while you rain destruction on them and rip them apart with glory kills, the boss fights just feel too methodical and boring. The final boss especially I just shot all my heavy weaponry from a distance and barely had to dodge anything. I guess you might say it’s a change of pace but I think it would have been better if they stuck to what the game did best during boss fights. Sure, have one big boss, but throw waves of enemies at me too and make it chaotic like the rest of the game.

[Sarge]

Don't want to spoil much from the game, but Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon is beaten. I need to dive back in to grab things I might have missed; there are permanent powerups throughout the game. My first run took me 1h45m, which isn't insanely long, but I fully expect it to get harder when I go for the higher difficulties. I played on Normal and Veteran modes the first go.

Anyway, if you love old-school Castlevania, this will (mostly) scratch that itch. It's just close enough to give you a lot of what the classic series did, but also feels just different enough to do a few things of its own. I'm not entirely sure if I feel it stacks up to the classics yet. Normal mode was pretty easy, even if I still died a decent number of times. Having an entire crew to blow through before losing a life, plus lots of opportunities to boost score for more lives, meant that I had 16 total lives at the end.

And yes, you will go flying down pits in veteran mode. Yes, you will miss some jumps and plummet to your doom. It's totally got that part down.

[MrPopo]

1. Ultima V - PC
2. Ultima VI - PC
3. Might and Magic VI - PC
4. Realms of Arkania: Blade of Destiny - PC
5. Pool of Radiance - PC
6. Curse of the Azure Bonds - PC
7. Secret of the Silver Blades - PC
8. Pools of Darkness - PC
9. Gateway to the Savage Frontier - PC
10. Treasures of the Savage Frontier - PC
11. Champions of Krynn - PC
12. Death Knights of Krynn - PC
13. Dark Queen of Krynn - PC
14. Into the Breach - PC
15. Lords of the Realm - PC
16. Dark Sun: Shattered Lands - PC
17. Lords of the Realm II - PC
18. The Alliance Alive - 3DS
19. Shattered Steel - PC
20. Guacamelee! Super Turbo Championship Edition - PC
21. Battletech - PC
22. Pillars of Eternity: The White March Part I - PC
23. Pillars of Eternity: The White March Part II - PC
24. Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon - Switch

Technically, I beat this on PC, but it's only the temporary code and I'm getting the Steam copy for reals. So for my end of year accounting I'm calling this a Switch game. Curse of the Moon is an 8-bit rendition of the upcoming Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, and draws heavily from Casltevania 3. However, it does its own thing so it doesn't feel like a complete ripoff; most notably, there are branching paths.

You start off with a character who has a short range sword, then after each of the three bosses you unlock the next character. First you get your whip user, then your caster, and finally your Alucard stand in. Each character (except the last) has their own sub weapons, while the final character causes candles that would drop subweapons to instead drop a large weapon energy. You can freely switch between characters rapidly, in both directions, and each character has their own HP (and differing max HPs). Switching between characters gives you different mobility options and the different subweapons are important for getting through areas. This is what leads into the branching paths; you'll find that certain paths can only be accessed by certain characters. One interesting thing the game does is that when a character dies, you respawn with the rest of the characters at the nearest checkpoint with the dead character unavailable until you finish the stage. You only need to dip into your collection of lives when everyone is out for the count. This makes the game easier to get through than CV3, as you have a lot more tries. However, losing characters also forces you onto what are generally the slower paths.

The game also has some permanent power ups; an increase to max energy in a couple spots, an increase to everyone's max health in a couple spots, a damage increase, and a defense increase. Play control is just like Classicvanias; you better be used to those committed jumps. There's definitely some enemy traps designed specifically around the jumping mechanics and they will get you the first couple times. The boss fights are a real treat; they all have long patterns with good periods of vulnerability along with periods of needing to dodge attacks; the sort of things Inti Creates is really great at. The bosses also take a cue from Rondo of Blood in that they have a desperation attack when they die that can't kill you, but if you dodge it you will get an extra life. The game is a couple stages longer than the original Castlevania, and there are a few extra game modes available (one after your first playthrough, one probably after that, and an alternate play made for the basic mode), so there's a fair amount of replayability (which is extended with the alternate paths). An extremely solid title for fans of retro games.

[Exhuminator]

For some reason the damned PC version of Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon keeps crashing on two different computers I own. I get to the first boss and start fighting it and then BZZZT! game crashes. That's what I get for using Steam. Oh well, looks like I'll go with the 3DS version then. I'll try to beat it tomorrow.

Really like what I played so far though. Inti Creates are rad dudes.

[Sarge]

Wow, that's really weird. I played through Steam myself, on a eight-year-old laptop to boot.

Anyway, working through Nightmare mode now. It's definitely harder. I don't think it's Castlevania 3 hard yet, but I just hit the castle, so... we shall see. Also, I can't really play in fullscreen; the game gets really laggy on me, probably because it's trying to run at 1080p on this old laptop. 3x windowing at a 720p resolution works fine, though. It's almost full screen.

I think Miriam is probably the most balanced of the characters, but I have had a lot of occasions where Gebel's attack pattern is more handy. Alfred has been useful a few times, but is my least favorite character to use.

I think with this Nightmare playthrough, I'm willing to say it's a great game; there's some teeth there now. Still not settling on a final score yet, though.

[MrPopo]

Alfred alternates between being utterly amazing and completely worthless, and it's always down to what subweapon he has and how much weapon energy you have.

[Exhuminator]

However, it does its own thing so it doesn't feel like a complete ripoff; most notably, there are branching paths.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding you, but Castlevania III has branching paths. From Wikipedia:

Castlevania III abandons the action-adventure game and role playing game elements of its immediate predecessor Castlevania II: Simon's Quest and returns to the platform game roots of the first Castlevania title. Unlike Castlevania, however, Castlevania III is non-linear: Trevor, the main character, can be assisted by one of three possible assistant characters, and after completing the first level, and at several other points throughout the game, the player is given a choice of two branching paths to follow. The player can obtain multiple endings depending on the choices they make throughout the game.

There are two main routes through the game's sixteen stages, which are referred to as blocks - and broken down into several sections. The second stage is an optional excursion for picking up one of the three partner characters, and the main branch occurs part way through the third stage. Each route contains total of nine stages (ten if the player takes the optional second stage). The upper route takes the player across the lake to the main bridge, entering Dracula's castle through the front gate, and is generally regarded as the easier of the two routes. The lower route takes the player through a series of underground tunnels and cavernous areas, eventually scaling the cliff side below the castle, and is generally considered more difficult than the upper route. The lower route also features one short branching section of its own at stage 6. The two paths converge in the main hall of the castle.

Block 1: Wallachia Village
Block 2: Clock Tower of Untimely Death
Block 3: Mad Forest
Block 4: The Murky Marsh of Morbid Morons
Block 4: The Haunted Ship of Fools
Block 5: Alucard's Cave
Block 5A: Curse Castle
Block 6A: Sunken City of Poltergeists
Block 6B: Underground Catacombs
Block 6A: The Moat Bridge of Peril
Block 7: Abandoned Mines
Block 7A: Castle Courtyard
Block 8: The Main Hall
Block 9: The Inner Halls
Block A: Dracula's Final Clock Tower

[lordb0rb4]

Remember that some of Alfred's magics can be used as another character, for example, casting the fire shield and switching with another char does not cancel it.
I think of him as a support, which is amazing BTW.
On my intel HD 4400 it ran flawless, for those who had issues, do not worry, they are patching it for sure.

[MrPopo]

However, it does its own thing so it doesn't feel like a complete ripoff; most notably, there are branching paths.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding you, but Castlevania III has branching paths. From Wikipedia:

Castlevania III abandons the action-adventure game and role playing game elements of its immediate predecessor Castlevania II: Simon's Quest and returns to the platform game roots of the first Castlevania title. Unlike Castlevania, however, Castlevania III is non-linear: Trevor, the main character, can be assisted by one of three possible assistant characters, and after completing the first level, and at several other points throughout the game, the player is given a choice of two branching paths to follow. The player can obtain multiple endings depending on the choices they make throughout the game.

There are two main routes through the game's sixteen stages, which are referred to as blocks - and broken down into several sections. The second stage is an optional excursion for picking up one of the three partner characters, and the main branch occurs part way through the third stage. Each route contains total of nine stages (ten if the player takes the optional second stage). The upper route takes the player across the lake to the main bridge, entering Dracula's castle through the front gate, and is generally regarded as the easier of the two routes. The lower route takes the player through a series of underground tunnels and cavernous areas, eventually scaling the cliff side below the castle, and is generally considered more difficult than the upper route. The lower route also features one short branching section of its own at stage 6. The two paths converge in the main hall of the castle.

Block 1: Wallachia Village
Block 2: Clock Tower of Untimely Death
Block 3: Mad Forest
Block 4: The Murky Marsh of Morbid Morons
Block 4: The Haunted Ship of Fools
Block 5: Alucard's Cave
Block 5A: Curse Castle
Block 6A: Sunken City of Poltergeists
Block 6B: Underground Catacombs
Block 6A: The Moat Bridge of Peril
Block 7: Abandoned Mines
Block 7A: Castle Courtyard
Block 8: The Main Hall
Block 9: The Inner Halls
Block A: Dracula's Final Clock Tower

I'm talking specifically about branching paths within a level. So you get to the end of a hallway, and you can take the stairs up to the next area, or you can slide/bat through a small opening to take a shorter (and potentially easier) path instead. It all still culminates at the same boss of the level, just multiple ways through the level. So sort of like those handful of sections in CV3 where you can shortcut a room if you have either Grant or Alucard. The actual stage to stage progression is linear. And CV3's different level progression paths are all available to a Trevor only run, whereas the paths in Curse of the Moon are gated behind having a particular character available.

[Exhuminator]

Thankfully the 3DS version of Bloodstained - Curse of the Moon didn't crash on me. I beat it tonight. My clear time was 1 hour 31 minutes. I beat it the first time through but was out of lives at the very end. Very solid retro platformer. This is a great choice for NES fans, a retro throwback in all the right ways. Graphics, music, controls, and everything else is done to 8-bit perfection. Level design could be more creative, but branching paths exist for replayability. Initial difficulty's on the low end, but players will have fun alternating between the different characters trying out new tactics. Boss battles are fantastic! If you're a fan of NES classics like Castlevania III (and to an extent Mega Man 2), you owe it to yourself to play Bloodstained - Curse of the Moon. This is a short but very sweet treat. 8/10