Together Retro, Jan 20: 2010 RETRO!

[BoneSnapDeez]

You forgot to mention that Felghana originally came out in 2005 on the PC.

Have you played Ys III? It gets a mixed reception, though I enjoyed it (well, the PCE port) more than Felghana.

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Finished a single-player run of Epic Yarn yesterday afternoon. Such a good game. I wish there were more zero-difficulty atmospheric games like this that still feel like action titles, as opposed to artsy fartsy shit.

[noiseredux]

I enjoyed Felghana quite a bit. Though, I've only played it and Ys I, so I'm not really an expert on the series.

...

Other M is turning out to be a FASCINATING game. There are moments where it is baron and boring; moments where it is genuinely thrilling; moments where its story is a baffling mess; and moments where I'm cursing the controls. And all of these moments may present themselves in the span of just ten minutes. It's mind-blowing. I'm not sure what happened. And I think that Team Ninja had good intentions. And there are some truly great things in this game. Unfortunately, they tend to be buried under poor design decisions and an overall mess of a game.

I played another hour or so last night, and could feel my brain having a tug-o-war trying to decide if I like this game or not. Back and forth, back and forth. I'll run down an empty hallway and feel the tedium, get to a boss fight and think it's awesome, feel the frustrating set in because the controls aren't doing what I want, or I'm not realizing I need to switch to first person mode, hit another boss fight and think it's awesome... Everything about this game is baffling.

For instance, last night I hit a room that had a sort of boss battle against three flying drones. They move FAST and can only be hit when they telegraph a certain beat; this makes auto-aim feel useless because you'll continually target the WRONG drone instead of the one you want to hit. Ugh. They drop a scattershot upgrade. Immediately after that battle, I go into a save room, and then the next room is... a boss battle. This time against two big snake things. I dodge their attacks and try to use the new scattershot I JUST received which would seem obvious. But nothing's working. Finally I check a walkthrough and learn that this battle requires going into first person mode. Ugh.

A bit later, I hit another boss battle. I drop into a hive and the game sort of freezes me in first person mode. I spend FIVE MINUTES just looking around trying to figure out how to start the battle. I eventually think the game's bugged. I check a walkthrough again and find I'm just missing the specific little spot on the screen I need to target to start the battle. Ugh. It's like one of those hidden image puzzle games. Ugh. But then that battle ends up being awesome and fun. It's a mess!

I think I'm sort of enjoying how bad it is, honestly. I can't stress this enough: the vast majority of the game makes NO SENSE. Like, there's a little fuzzy alien thing that you keep spotting in cut scenes. It looks like one of those puffin things from The Last Jedi. Anyway, it's obviously meant to be cute in a Moogle kind of way. And then Samus says something about "this disgusting creature..." and I'm like, "what even IS this story it's trying to tell me?" Wow.

[prfsnl_gmr]

Yes! Other M is a hot mess. It does so much wrong - the first-person hidden object parts are the worst, IMO - but some parts are absolutely amazing, and I found some of the combat immensely satisfying. For many of the reasons you stated, I was entertained until the very end, and I’ll be curious as to what you think about the game after you’ve beaten it.

[lordb0rb4]

Almost screwed my build by focusing almost solely on Strength but in the end managed to finish the game.


I enjoyed Gladiator Begins A LOT, it's a arena brawler shallow in history but as deep as you want in combat, loot management and fashion

[Sload Soap]

That Gladiator Begins does look pretty cool. Shame my PSP is long gone.

I started a 2010 game I have played before but thought it might be worth revisiting for two reasons: one, it was one of the first 360 games I got when I properly got back into gaming and two, it's an installment in a franchise I now have a lot more affection for. It's Castlevania: Lords of Shadow of course. And it's not great so far to be honest.

My main issue is the combat which is no way near as tight as it should be. The fixed cameras which make platforming and combat harder than they need to be. It also starts really badly, the first real level is a trudge through a bog and it looks bad and plays worse. It gets better later and the game still looks really nice in places, with the art design being really good, if a bit too indebted to Guillermo Del Toro. It's not very Castlevania and the music opts for a more subtle orchestral score which also isn't very Castlevania.

LoS also has an element of rebootitis that plagued films in the 10's where they tried to give "layers" to characters from what was essentially high-grade schlock. See the Total Recall and Robocop reboots for this. Here the story is trying to get to the heart of a Belmont but it's like, why? It's Castlevania guys. The motivation is dead simple: I'm here, Dracula is over there and unless you're a cute girl or a metrosexual dhamphir I'm cutting you down. Done.

Anyway, at least the characters are voiced by Patrick Stewart and Robbie Carlyle who add weight to some absolute bunkum dialogue. There was a bit of a 10's mini-trend of pointlessly expensive voice talent reading boilerplate videogame dialogue. See also here, Syndicate and Rage with Beyond: Two Souls going nuclear with it. Skyrim as well. Probably some others.

I'll continue onwards but I do remember this game being very long and sort of hard so I may jack it in and play another 2010 game.

[TheSSNintendo]

Played some more of Oath in Felghana over the last few days. Defeated the crystal monster at the bottom of Tigray Quarry, now headed to the Elderm Mountains.

[noiseredux]

I started a 2010 game I have played before but thought it might be worth revisiting for two reasons: one, it was one of the first 360 games I got when I properly got back into gaming and two, it's an installment in a franchise I now have a lot more affection for. It's Castlevania: Lords of Shadow of course. And it's not great so far to be honest.

My main issue is the combat which is no way near as tight as it should be. The fixed cameras which make platforming and combat harder than they need to be. It also starts really badly, the first real level is a trudge through a bog and it looks bad and plays worse. It gets better later and the game still looks really nice in places, with the art design being really good, if a bit too indebted to Guillermo Del Toro. It's not very Castlevania and the music opts for a more subtle orchestral score which also isn't very Castlevania.

LoS also has an element of rebootitis that plagued films in the 10's where they tried to give "layers" to characters from what was essentially high-grade schlock. See the Total Recall and Robocop reboots for this. Here the story is trying to get to the heart of a Belmont but it's like, why? It's Castlevania guys. The motivation is dead simple: I'm here, Dracula is over there and unless you're a cute girl or a metrosexual dhamphir I'm cutting you down. Done.

Anyway, at least the characters are voiced by Patrick Stewart and Robbie Carlyle who add weight to some absolute bunkum dialogue. There was a bit of a 10's mini-trend of pointlessly expensive voice talent reading boilerplate videogame dialogue. See also here, Syndicate and Rage with Beyond: Two Souls going nuclear with it. Skyrim as well. Probably some others.

I'll continue onwards but I do remember this game being very long and sort of hard so I may jack it in and play another 2010 game.

I'm glad to see some Castlevania in this thread! Look, I agree with everything you said. Everything. And in reality, LOS really wasn't even meant to be a Castlevania game at all, right? The license was attached later wasn't it? I think. Anyway, as 'bad' a CV game as it is, I did manage to have some fun with it back in the day. I don't think it's horrible. Just y'know, not a great CV.

I guess to some degree, I feel an analog in your playing LOS and me playing Other M.

[alienjesus]

Played some more of Oath in Felghana over the last few days. Defeated the crystal monster at the bottom of Tigray Quarry, now headed to the Elderm Mountains.

This is pretty much exactly where I am after my commute home yesterday and into work today. I've just arrived out the Eldern mountains and am hoping to clear that area on my journey home today.

I don't know how long this game is, but I feel like I'm past the halfway point now. Maybe I'll manage to finish it on my travels in and out of work tomorrow? That'd be nice, I have to get back to FFXII at some point

Then again, didn't Ys Seven come out in 2010 too? Maybe I should go on to that one next.

[lordb0rb4]

Played some more of Oath in Felghana over the last few days. Defeated the crystal monster at the bottom of Tigray Quarry, now headed to the Elderm Mountains.

This is pretty much exactly where I am after my commute home yesterday and into work today. I've just arrived out the Eldern mountains and am hoping to clear that area on my journey home today.

I don't know how long this game is, but I feel like I'm past the halfway point now. Maybe I'll manage to finish it on my travels in and out of work tomorrow? That'd be nice, I have to get back to FFXII at some point

Then again, didn't Ys Seven come out in 2010 too? Maybe I should go on to that one next.

Yes, 2010 in NA.
I'm lining up some more games and planning on starting FF XIII later, i'm torn between Wii's and PC's POP Forgotten Sands

[prfsnl_gmr]

I thought some of you guys were going to play Alan Wake with me...