Recently completed video games

[Tanukitsune]

Well, NES Remix 2 is so much better than the first game.... I didn't like that Wario Woods was part of the deal and was terrified to see the Lost Levels was also an unlockable, but this game is much more forgiving.... in it's own way.

 

Some levels that include a lot of parts take away the life system and you're only graded on how fast you do them. And I unlocked ALL the levels... except the ones you get for 100%ing the game and I think I actually learned how to play Punch-Out a little better.

 

But the game was created to entice you to buy the games it show cases and yet... I'd rather just play the level were you fight Mother Brain and the levels were you fight the bosses than the whole game, for example.

 

Anyway, while with some game I'm happy to have just played the "best of" with other I could go for more? I really could play a little more Mario Bros. 3.

[Trip Hazard]

There is some good writing in Kotor 2, but with catastrophe looming, it's all too often very serious and long winded speeches. Which is a shame, as when it tries to be funny, it can be really funny. I think Mass Effect got a better balance between shooting the breeze with your mates, and being lectured about what big trouble the galaxy has gotten itself into.

 

My biggest issue with it was just the amount of backtracking that you have to do. On every planet you visit, and every station, and every featureless canyon, there is a shit-ton of running back and forth. Thank god I invested in force run as early on as I did 'cos without it I'd have just given up (probably at Nar Shaddar). I played with the cut content mod and there are also a few sections where you lose control of the exile and have to use party members which you may not be at all familiar with. I lost count of the number of times I reloaded the fight between 

 

Atton and the Twi-lek bounty hunters

 

Also, I was really looking forward to the bit with HK47 and the

assassin droid factory

but with that area, when you weren't running back and forth, you were standing still clicking "power blast" over and over again until the enemies would just fuck off and die already. There were some brilliant interchanges between HK and the other droids here, but mainly it was shooting. 

 

The music was lovely, though. 

[Griddlelol]

Force run is mandatory in both KotOR games. Which one has the speech option:

 

"I hate you old man."

 

after an old Jedi gives you a long ass speech? I think I was literally crying with laughter at that line.

[eot]

For those who don't have the interest to play KotOR II there is a classic written LP for it. Usually not my kind of thing but this one is good and offers quite a lot of commentary on the game.

[Nachimir]

I just crossed Call of Pripyat off my list after neglecting it for about a year. It turned out I was only about three missions from the end, and I found them disappointing. One reason for that was because my past self exploited everything possible until I had so much in the way of cash, railgun ammo, and medical supplies those final missions were kind of easy ¬¬

 

Shadow of Chernobyl really ramped up the tension toward the end, the final mission felt lonely and gruelling, and it led to some genuinely good and affecting endings. CoP just has you kill some stuff in bases very much like mid-game locations in the first game (The presumably meant to be climactic secret research base felt like clearing a standard location in Fallout 3), and the big payoff is "By pure luck, Strelok appears with the information you need, which turns out to be a fairly mundane answer to a fairly low stakes situation, army dudes all heli out" then it gives you a series of epilogues like some cheesy 80s film. SoC had you up against tough, well equipped guys in numbers for the last few parts. CoP throws a few zombies, a psi field and weak humans at you. Pripyat was built up as a really dangerous location for the entire game, but felt safer than plenty of other places visited earlier.

 

From a technical standpoint it was certainly better than Shadow of Chernobyl, and some systems are better designed, but the fuck does CoP come anywhere near the sense of alienation and danger SoC evoked.

[Cordeos]

I just crossed Call of Pripyat off my list after neglecting it for about a year. It turned out I was only about three missions from the end, and I found them disappointing. One reason for that was because my past self exploited everything possible until I had so much in the way of cash, railgun ammo, and medical supplies those final missions were kind of easy ¬¬

 

Shadow of Chernobyl really ramped up the tension toward the end, the final mission felt lonely and gruelling, and it led to some genuinely good and affecting endings. CoP just has you kill some stuff in bases very much like mid-game locations in the first game (The presumably meant to be climactic secret research base felt like clearing a standard location in Fallout 3), and the big payoff is "By pure luck, Strelok appears with the information you need, which turns out to be a fairly mundane answer to a fairly low stakes situation, army dudes all heli out" then it gives you a series of epilogues like some cheesy 80s film. SoC had you up against tough, well equipped guys in numbers for the last few parts. CoP throws a few zombies, a psi field and weak humans at you. Pripyat was built up as a really dangerous location for the entire game, but felt safer than plenty of other places visited earlier.

 

From a technical standpoint it was certainly better than Shadow of Chernobyl, and some systems are better designed, but the fuck does CoP come anywhere near the sense of alienation and danger SoC evoked.

 

The ideal stalker game is the story and map of Shadow of Chernobyl, the gameplay mechanics of Call of Pripyat  and the faction system from Clear Sky.

[SecretAsianMan]

I beat Shovel Knight.  Mostly good.  Definitely hits a lot of nostalgia points without resorting to super blatant references.  The controls felt a little sluggish to me.  You can sort of explain that away as part of the nostalgia but I feel like it wouldn't have lost anything with a bit more modern movement control.  Maybe I've just been spoiled by games like Spelunky though.  Also the majority of the items were pointless to me other than the section of the level you get them that forces you to use it.  Those are relatively minor gripes and I'd still recommend it overall.

[Cordeos]

I beat BioShock Infinite today. It had the same solid shooter gameplay I have come to expect from a BioShock game. Wasn't a huge fan of the story line, multiple dimensions and time travel have always turned me off storylines. I feel like they are constantly trying to recapture the magic of BioShock 1 and they just can't do it.

[coaxmetal]

I just finished The Fall. At least, the first episode, but the game gives no indication from the outset that it is episode, and, even were there not more forthcoming, I would have been entirely satisfied with the experience i had. It was incredibly well done. I want to discuss it more, but I think I am going to make a thread for it since I haven't found one.

 

e: as I threatened, I made a thread about The Fall https://www.idlethumbs.net/forums/topic/9513-the-fall/

[Yasawas]

Strider (PS4). Nice wee Metroid-style action thing that I would never have bought but am grateful to PS+ for putting in front of me. Starts out to be pretty underwhelming but give it half an hour and you'll have seen a couple of boss fights and picked up some skills and to revisit old areas with and you'll see what type of experience they're going for. It's only about six hours which is perfect for me and except for one fiddly bit at the end never gets as difficult as I'd feared a game so steeped in old 2D Japanese game design ideas might. Good stuff.

 

I haven't posted in this thread in a while but this is somehow the 43rd game I've finished this year, here be the others:

 

Game 1: Proteus (PS3) - Completed 1/1/14. About an hour.

It was alright I guess but I liked the idea and the sound of it more than the reality of playing it. The audio, which people had raved to me about, was so simplistically done I found it difficult to enjoy and not what I'd expected - I'd delusions of it being one giant Boards of Canada track that built as I walked around an island but instead it was just bloops and squinks that changed depending on whether I was near a tree with pink blossoms or a tower or whatever. Eh. Not worth the £10 I paid for it.

Game 2: Gyakuten Saiban 2 (NDS) - Completed 4/1/14. 25:12

I usually find howlongtobeat.com is very accurate for me but somehow I'm about eight hours over their estimate assuming this is the same game as AA: Justice for All?! I started this last summer having played the first back when it first came out on DS and enjoyed the first case enough but thought the second was awful and shelved it. I'm now 30 hours into Bravely Default and needing a rest from that so I picked this back up again for my commute toward the end of December and have really enjoyed finishing it off. That last case! I have the sequel too so I'll be tackling that in the near future I think.

Game 3: Super Mario Land 2: Six Golden Coins (GB) - Completed 5/1/14. 1:55

Funny how some people bitch and moan when a game is shorter than 10 hours long but back in '92 this was acceptable and it cost the same, more with inflation probably. I really enjoyed this, I was expecting level design akin to a ROM hack but it surpassed my expectations in that regard (space world!), the music was great and as someone who never owned a GameBoy and only got wee shots of one a few times back in the '90s it was very surprising to discover just how nice games on it could look. There's slowdown at times (and it helped me more than once), but the sprites are big and clear and it's smooth for the most part. Fun!

Game 4: Super Mario 3D World (Wii U) - Completed 8/1/14. 14:00

100%'ed right up until the last level where I still have a couple of stars to get but I've seen the credits. What an insanely polished, tight, fun experience. I've been thinking about this for a few days as I approached the end and as someone who grew up with these games (I was about 10 when SMB3 came out here) I'm constantly surprised by how they manage to make it as fun and varied as it is. This is the fifth time by my count that Nintendo have thoroughly decimated any cynicism I had towards the series and any doubts I had that they'd run out of steam, it's a staggering achievement and very probably my favourite of all the 3D games.

Game 5: Naya's Quest (Flash) - Completed 18/1/14. 1:31

I was iffy about counting this when I started with it but it's definitely a game and I did finish it so here we are. Took me longer than anticipated too but maybe I'm just a bit slow. I loved VVVVVV with all of my shitty heart and Terry Cavanagh apparently has so many great ideas for games he can just give them away for free like this. It's an initially awkward-feeling isometric environmental puzzle game where the perspective is constantly playing tricks on you, you have a button to flip between two views to help you work out where you can stand, and once you're a wee bit in and feeling cocky big Terry adds a number of twists on this to make it a bit more challenging. Some are a bit rubbish (the hexagon one, the one where the directions become straight compass points) but it never goes on long enough to drag the game down and the ones that do work, which is most of them, are fucking rad. I had a great time with this, and would happily chuck him a fiver for three or four hours worth of this on 3DS. It's like what I thought Echochrome was going to be before I bought it and found out it was boring and awful. Nice one Tel.

http://terrycavanaghgames.com/nayasquest/

Game 6: The Room (& Epilogue) (Android) - Completed 20/1/14. About 2:30

I've had smartphones since the piece-of-shit OG iPhone but there are only about five games in that time I've enjoyed and this is the first one I've ever finished. It's 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors without the talking and it's great (I adore 999 btw). The controls can be a bit fiddly now and again on a Nexus 7 (I would rather have had a button to zoom out rather than do a goatse motion) and it loses steam towards the end of the main game but those are harsh criticisms for a game that cost a couple of quid. Fantastic stuff and I eagerly await the Android release of the sequel which I hear is even better somehow.

Game 7: Professor Layton & the Azran Legacy (3DS) - Completed 23/1/14. 16:52

Utterly superb. My favourite of the series and a massive improvement over Miracle Mask which was slow to get going, then slow once it did get going and had kid kind of a rubbish plot all through it too. Despite reservations at the start over how many sliding block shenanigans it doles out initially (not my strong point) it zips along and delivers varied and strong puzzley goods time and again. As a series where the story has always felt to me like an afterthought to tie the puzzles together I did not see an ending as strong as that last two or three hours here coming at all - magical stuff L5, well played. You will be missed Professor.

Game 8: Bravely Default (3DS) - Completed 25/1/14. 73:02

I was feeling a bit guilty about having some short games up there but this balances things out. Not the true ending because 1) I really can't be fucked and 2) this actually feels like the direction I'd have gone if I didn't know the true ending was a thing.

This is a frustrating game for me, someone who has doesn't really play JRPGs but has latched on to the big ones like FF7-9, Persona 4, and enjoyed them to varying degrees. The job system is fantastic and allows so many permutations of characters and abilities, the autobattle and speedup thing makes grinding quick not that it's really required, it's staggeringly beautiful in places, the music is great. It's soured by a twist halfway through that I can't believe anyone thought was a good idea for a game this long, I did get over it and got back on with it but if you're kind of casually interested in this style of game and you have a backlog I could easily understand putting it down and never coming back. I forced myself through now because I have so many 3DS games to start that have had to wait because of this but I didn't want to have this nagging away at me every time I saw it on the shelf.

My meaningless JRPG-noob scale has this somewhere below Persona 4 but above any FInal Fantasy, which means precisely fuck all as I've only played the PS1 titles that weren't ports and I loved Mystic Quest on the SNES. It's good, but don't go nuts over it because it's deeply flawed. I got my money's worth and look forward to a sequel though.

Game 9: Touch! Kirby (DS) - Completed 26/1/14. 3:39

AKA Canvas Curse/Power Paintbrush. Adorable wee platformer, great touchscreen controls and use of inertia make it a joy to fling Kirby around the levels, none of which are hugely difficult but it does get tricky towards the end. Final boss was a nice throwback to the 16-bit era too. Good game that I have absolutely no desire to ever play again.

Game 10: To the Moon (Mac) - Completed 29/1/14. about 4 hours

A recent Humble purchase. Nice story told via the medium of irritatingly clunky indie game. Not bad but hugely overrated and the actual game bits - collect five of these, solve the origami puzzles - felt pointless to me. Glad I never paid £10 for it like I nearly did.

Game 11: Gyakuten Saiban 3 (NDS) - Completed 12/2/14. 27:51

AKA Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: Trial and Tribulations. Amazing to think I tried the first game back in 2007 and didn't like it, tried the second one last year again and gave up after the second case and only picked it up again over Christmas out of exasperation about hearing how good Dual Destinies was. I loved the second half of 2 and this was a big improvement on that - so well written, wonderful characters, great music. I was really sad to see it end today but at the same time very excited about the prospect of two more games in the main series, neither of which are GBA conversions so my expectations for animation and music have been raised appropriately. I'm not going to get them both done by the 28th March though so I hope there's nothing in Professor Layton vs Phoenix Wright that spoils it.

Game 12: Disgaea D2: A Brighter Darkness (PS3) - Completed 20/2/14. 52:02

The fifth game in the series I've bought and the first one I've ever got into, I knew my perseverance would pay off eventually. Absolutely loved it - got to the final boss last night at a leisurely pace and without too much trouble and was amazed at how poerful he was and thought I'd never do it, couple of hours grind later I went back and handed him his arse. Apparently there's a ton of post-game stuff I can do now to give my PS3 something to do until Dark Souls 2 too which is cool. Bought this expecting to not finish it so I'm very pleased I have, superb game.

Game 13: Portal 2 (PS3) - Completed 23/2/14. about 9 hours

It's alright I guess. Had nowhere near the effect the first one did on me although that was a lofty expectation. The puzzles are well done for the most part considering how restrictive their formula is. Stephen Merchant was much less irritating than I'd anticipated. I could live without a third.

Game 14: Dangan Ronpa - Trigger Happy Havoc (Vita) - Completed 24/2/14. 20:21

Really enjoyed this. Slow start and not as mindblowing as VLR (will anything ever be?) but another very strong title from Spike Chunsoft. The ending was a lot smarter than any of my guesses at it with a couple of hours to go, I got a couple of bits of it but they tied it all together better than my dumb brain could. I thought the trial sequences were especially well done once I'd got the hang of them and enjoyed how in the investigative bits the game didn't let me proceed until I'd found everything I needed - it seems like it's going to be restrictive but I felt it let the story take centre stage and never let the player get lost looking for the next item to select to advance the game. Hype for the sequel.

Game 15: Tomb Raider 2013 (PS3) - Completed 9/3/14.

Wanted some mindless fun until Dark Souls II and the this showed up on PS+, what a wee treat it was. It's basically all the bits I like about Uncharted but it trades level variety and quality of script for good combat and less of it which is great because the godawful combat in the Naughty Dogs games is why I don't like them that much. <10 hours + not too hard = my kind of thing. Did not expect to get on with this for some reason but really enjoyed it.

Game 16: Ace Attorney: Apollo Justice (NDS) - Completed 16/3/14. 23:01

For your enjoyment.

I've seen a few people on the forum recently mention they've been playing this and thought it was pretty good and I played this and thought it was pretty good too. The graphic and audio upgrades were nice, the characters were just as good as usual and the way it tied all the cases together at the end was damn sweet. I have Dual Destinies waiting to go but I think I might hold off until the 28th and play Professor Layton X Phoenix Wright first.

Game 17: Dark Souls 2 (PS3) - Completed 30/3/14. 71:35

A worthy sequel to my favourite game. Played it blind, took my time, explored everywhere, and in my first wee glance at the wiki I can see I missed at least three bosses Planning to respec as a STR build, mop up the trophies I can then start a NG as a magic user as I didn't do any of that on this playthrough. A magnificent achievement from FROM.

Game 18: Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes (PS3) - Completed 5/4/14. 1:50

I'm not going to complain about the length because I'm an adult and I've paid the same to see properly shite films before but either these games have changed or my taste has as I didn't find much to like here. Technically impressive, not especially interesting, no desire whatsoever to play it again. Tanker chapter it ain't.

Game 19: Fez (PS3) - Completed 9/4/14. 5:05

Just the 32-cube ending, I will definitely be back for more later on though. Really enjoyed it this time around after owning it on 360 and putting a lot of time into it but not really getting much from it. I have no idea what the significance of the bell or the clock is, or how to do the Tetris puzzle and this excites me. A unique game and I'm going to savour NG+ knowing we'll never get a follow-up.

Game 20: Demon's Souls (PS3) - Completed 21/4/14. 15:58

I have two platinums for this already so it was inevitable I'd buy the US version at some point and go for the hat trick. First run done and it's every bit as good as I remembered and False King Allant is still a beast however many times I fight him. Fantastic.

Game 21: Sayonara UmiharaKawase (3DS) - Completed 5/5/14. 1:55

Didn't think Europe would get this but we did in the end and it's probably my favourite version. Rock hard, lots of levels and some great touches like online leaderboards and the stop-time mechanic make this probably my favourite Kawase title. One of those games I'm actually glad is a download as it's great for firing up on the train here and there.

Game 22: Mario Golf World Tour (3DS) - Completed 5/5/14. 6:30

That's six and a half hours in the twenty four that I've owned it. I like this. The online side bodes well for Mario Kart (although I hope the DLC trend doesn't), nice and easy to play with randoms and friends and communities and nobody can really be a dick to you. I like Everybody's Golf but this has much mroe charm and I've barely scratched the surface.

I only have two issues and they are thus: WHERE the FUCK is my crazy golf from the N64 game? That was my favourite mode! Also the layout of where game modes are and how you progress are poorly signposted, a chore to navigate and just generally awful. Nintendo are great at games but a lot of their UI work is really unintuitive these days in my opinion. Everything is nested several menus down and you have to walk around this big complex to find it and just ugh.

Game 23: Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze (Wii U) 10/5/14. 9:36

I thought this was a disappointing follow-up to be honest, it looks gorgeous but I didn't enjoy it nearly as much as the previous game on 3DS. Too many water levels and rocket barrel bits, nowhere near enough minecarts.

Game 24: Duck Tales: Remastered (Wii U) 14/5/14. 2:47

Never played this before so no nostalgia but man, what an enjoyable wee game. Pretty and fun and that theme tune YES.

Game 25: Monument Valley (Android) 15/5/14. about 90 minutes

Really enjoyed this. It spends most of its duration being quite simple, albeit very charming, but towards the end when it knows you've got the hang of it they show glimpses of just how tough they could make it if they wanted. Or maybe I'm just a big dope but I spent a good twenty minutes on that final chapter. A sweet, pretty distraction and well worth £2.50.

Game 26: New Super Luigi U (Wii U) 18/5/14. 4:36

This is actually a great wee game but has a huge flaw that tainted my enjoyment of it quite a bit - like all the New titles, you can't save when you feel like it. Unlike the rest of them, I found it very difficult to build up a stockpile of lives and saw a continue screen a few times so I couldn't go for the star coins in every level with the constant threat of losing everything and starting back at the last save with five lives. Whyyyyyyyyy. Fantastic level design throughout and plenty of content but points off for the needless limited saves. Or just remove lives entirely!

Game 27: Professor Layton vs Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (3DS) 25/5/14. 23:06

Was really excited for but left disappointed by this. Two of my favourite DS serieses together at last! How could I lose!? Well the setting is really dull for one, and the characters are no better. This is what gets me through Ace Attorney games, the wit and energy, none of which is here and the puzzles which would punctuate the average Layton game are present, and on the whole of the best quality but spread sooo thinly. Add in the most excruciatingly drawn-out ending to a game I can recall finishing in the last several years and you have this. Not bad but easily the weakest entry from either series in my view.

Game 28: Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan (DS) 26/5/14. 1:24

This is the best DS game, cannot believe it's been nine years since I bought this and beat it for the first time. I still remember the songs, it's still great and I have Osu 2 which I've never played sitting around here somewhere so I'll get into that later.

Game 29: Guacamelee! (PS3) 27/5/14. 5:30

I bought this at launch and played right up to the last level at which point I found the combat became too hard and tedious to be worth persevering with to reach more platforming sections which I had greatly enjoyed. Picked it back up yesterday and somehow stumbled through to the final boss who's taken me about an hour in two sittings to beat and it's a real stretch to remember how much fun I had in the first half of the game (and I really loved it!) compared to what it became at the end. And then it gave me a bad ending. In conclusion - fuck this game.

Game 30: Mario Kart 8 (Wii U) 30/5/14. 4:43

It's Mario Kart in HD! And I got a free Monster Hunter! The best.

Game 31: Tearaway (Vita) 6/6/14. about 5 hours

It was cute and nicely gimmicky and pretty fun but I don't get the overwhelming love it inspires in others. Maybe I am dead inside. It's also not one to play on the train. I think it's the only 3D platformer not made by Nintendo that I've ever finished though so that's something.

Game 32: Limbo (Vita) 13/6/14. about 4 hours

Played this upon 360 release and really enjoyed it but not so much this time. For every clever puzzle and lovely atmospheric touch there's a trial-and-error death that frequently feels unfair and offputting, I ragequit a few times.

Game 33: Sound Shapes (Vita) 17/6/14. about 2 hours

This was a nice surprise. I'd heard good things but found the first few levels a bit weak, once the complexity increases later on though it really comes into its own, the Beck levels in particular are superb. Great fun for under a fiver.

Game 34: Okami HD (PS3) 17/6/14. about 34:05

So this is what Kamiya did before Twitter. Imported it on release but took a break after the first third and only picked it up again a couple of weeks ago. Ludicrously pretty, great music and packed with ideas.

Game 35: Wolfenstein: The New Order (PS4) 28/6/14

Well this was a big, balls-out surprise. I don't much care for shooters and only picked this as it was the bundled game I was offered with my PS4 that had the highest resale value but I stuck it on for a wee go and fell for it completely. Just dumb fun from beginning to end with some really spectacular moments, I will hang on to this as I fancy going for the platinum at a later date.

Game 36: Valiant Hearts: The Great War (PS4) 2/7/14

I thought this was OK, didn't love it as much as a lot of others. I thought it overstayed its welcome by at least an hour and some of the action bits were poor and at odds with the rest of it. The ending was nicely done though and they handled the potentially weird mix of cartoony presentation and serious subject matter very well.

Game 37: Another World: 20th Anniversary Edition (PS4/Vita) 4/7/14

This is superb. You have to go in knowing that it's quite trial-and-error and very unforgiving but I think they've added more checkpoints over the original release so it's nowhere near as frustrating as it could have been. Back when I was a kid I used to see this mentioned a lot in magazines for the 16-bit computers (I had a Spectrum ) and thought it looked incredible, it still does to me but it was also interesting how many puzzle solutions and bits and pieces I'd picked up and retained from so long ago for a game I had never played. Great stuff, and having played it through now I can appreciate the influence it's had all the more.

Game 38: Resogun (PS4) 5/7/14

I have nothing to add other than this is really fucking good and makes me want a bigger telly just to envelop myself in the particle effects.

Game 39: Battlefield 4 (PS4) 6/7/14

I get now why people say this shouldn't exist and they should focus on the multiplayer. Not awful, just really bland and repetitive. Thoroughly competent and unexciting. That said I don't really care for the MP at the moment and so the six hours the campaign took might well represent the bulk of the time I spend with the game. Oh well.

Game 40: Transistor (PS4) 11/7/14

Shite.

Game 41: Child of Light (PS4) 14/7/14

I adored this even though I can see the blatant flaws in it - it's too long, it would be nice if the loot actually meant anything, it's easy - but as Pulp Fiction taught us personality goes a long way and this won me over completely with the sheer force of its charm. Beautiful, great music, and if repetitive and easy then at least the JRPGesque combat was different to what I'd expected in a game that looked like this, with some nice ideas of its own. If only they'd made it a little more varied this would be one of my games of the year, as it stands it's still pretty fucking sweet.

Game 42: Ketsui: Kizuna Jigoku Tachi Extra (PS3) 15/7/14

This was a manyCC. I can get to the third stage on one but I wanted to see how much crazier it gets - the answer is significantly. Woof. Practice required.

Game 43: Strider (PS4) 18/7/14

This was surprisingly fun, thank you PS+. Starts out really simplistic but once you pick up some more powers the combat becomes surprisingly enjoyable. Quite easy too, which I like, except for one bit right at the end which I found a little frustrating. Also it surely wouldn't have killed them to include the sword noise from the original, it was the best bit ffs.

[eot]

Nice going.

Doing the 52 game 1 year challenge eh?

I'm only on game 18 or 19.

[Yasawas]

Yeah!   It's turned out to be surprisingly enjoyable as focussing on playing one game until it's beaten isn't how I used to go about it but it's definitely satisfying, as is the dent it's made in my backlog.

[Badfinger]

Curious if you'd be willing to expand your thoughts on Transistor.

[Merus]

If I was going to hazard at a guess, I'd say it'd have something to do with Transistor's build creation being the star attraction and the story and characters essentially just being flavour. Yasawas strikes me as a person who really, really enjoys strong characters and storytelling, and isn't particularly excited by games that give you all these options go ahead and pick some!

[Yasawas]

Curious if you'd be willing to expand your thoughts on Transistor.

 

I was hoping no-one would ask as I didn't want to get into a big debate but essentially I was incredibly disappointed how it gave you seemingly so many choices for the combat but never made you get good at it so it felt to me like they might as well not have bothered since it wasn't balanced anyway. I had no idea what I was doing, I was just abusing the same few options from beginning to end, and at no point did the game require me to be smart about it or think about what I was fusing together because as long as you have the dash one you will never ever be in trouble. On top of that it has about half a dozen enemy types maybe, repeated endlessly, and a narrator who outstays his welcome in about half an hour. It has some nice ideas and it looks pretty but I was happier with the £15 in my pocket to be honest. Maybe the story is great, I stopped trying to follow it after about an hour.

 

If I was going to hazard at a guess, I'd say it'd have something to do with Transistor's build creation being the star attraction and the story and characters essentially just being flavour. Yasawas strikes me as a person who really, really enjoys strong characters and storytelling, and isn't particularly excited by games that give you all these options go ahead and pick some!

 

I love character creation like that! The Souls games are probably the best games I've played in all my years and that's what makes them good. After about 20 minutes of Transistor I was so excited as I started to see how it worked! and that I could fuse all these abilities! and then it turns out there's nowhere near as many as I'd hoped and most of them are not needed.

[Merus]

Weird, because the biography unlock system felt like it was forcing me to use different options, and that subtle nudge was a revelation to me. I ended up dropping the dash move almost entirely by the end.

[Twig]

Most of the choices you can make in Dark Souls aren't needed either. (Can't speak to the other games, but I can only assume they're similar.) You can go the whole game only playing with a sword and board and never touching magic or going two handed or even learning how to backstab or or or. But, of course, your experience can be made better for exploring these different options and finding what's best for you. Transistor's similar, at least in that capacity! You don't have to use everything, but the joy is in experimenting with different combinations. Merus brings up one of the better examples. A lot of people swear by the dash, but you can definitely get by without it. I mixed up my skills a lot as I played through the game twice. Like a lot a lot. Every couple save points I would swap things around. I'M GONNA NEED FURTHER CLARIFICATION ON WHAT YOU MEAN. PRONTO.

[SuperBiasedMan]

In my playthrough of Transistor I kept putting on every limiter and I also sucked pretty hard, so I frequently lost functions and that did well to force me to change up my moves basically the whole way through. I think that was a good system that worked, but only if you weren't the kind of person who was good at the game and would be trying to master things. For those people I think they were banking on the completionism of unlocking the character bios.

[Yasawas]

OH GOD THIS IS WHAT I FEARED WOULD HAPPEN. This is why I stayed out of the thread.

 

Yeah Dark Souls is not a great analogy, I was struggling, but I was wanting to clarify I did like the idea of what Transistor was trying to do but felt the options it was giving me were not sufficiently exciting in and of themselves to make me use them just for the hell of it, and as I was progressing fairly easily without changing things up then I was reluctant to do so for the sake of it lest I forget what combinations I had had working for me. I hated the bit after attacking where I had to scamper around staying out of the way of invisible dogs and angry robots while my bar charged up again, I was crap at that and it felt a bit clumsy.

 

I did like there was a dedicated button to skip gaily through the air and twirl your talking sword though.

[Badfinger]

I was hoping no-one would ask as I didn't want to get into a big debate but essentially I was incredibly disappointed how it gave you seemingly so many choices for the combat but never made you get good at it so it felt to me like they might as well not have bothered since it wasn't balanced anyway. I had no idea what I was doing, I was just abusing the same few options from beginning to end, and at no point did the game require me to be smart about it or think about what I was fusing together because as long as you have the dash one you will never ever be in trouble. On top of that it has about half a dozen enemy types maybe, repeated endlessly, and a narrator who outstays his welcome in about half an hour. It has some nice ideas and it looks pretty but I was happier with the £15 in my pocket to be honest. Maybe the story is great, I stopped trying to follow it after about an hour.

 

I don't own it and haven't played it, so I was asking because I am legitimately interested in your informed opinion rather than to stoke an argument. I don't think it's sparked a big debate, since you're worried. I'm glad for the discussion. Yes I could go to the Transistor thread but the perspectives are different here where everyone is trying to condense their thoughts.

[SuperBiasedMan]

Also the Transistor thread is 60% spoilered text. (I also think it's not a big debate don't worry I was into it but could entirely see it missing the mark for others very easily)

[eot]

Yeah Dark Souls is not a great analogy.

Not necessarily. I find that if I enjoy the mechanics I'll experiment with them even if the game doesn't require me to. Sticking with the same few tricks for an entire playthrough could just mean you're trying to go with the path of least resistance because you're not enjoying yourself. That's what happened for me in BioShock Infinite.

[Twig]

I'm mad though and I think Yasawas should be banned for hating a game I loved.

[Yasawas]

I hate pretty much everything that isn't Street Fighter to be fair.

[Twig]

That's good because I think Street Fighter sucks!