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Spelunky!

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This game is fantastic. I played it every day for at least an hour over a span of maybe 2 months straight. Now that the PC version is coming out, there's a lot more excitement in the community that is sure to send me back to it.

 

I think the best part of this game is somewhat connected to the popularity of Dark Souls and the like, in that execution is everything and every mistake is yours. Sure, there may be a particularly weird cascade of cause and effect in the game due to physics or interesting interplay of enemies/environment, but if you had just hit that button to deploy the rope one second faster you would have been fine. This is only reinforced by the repetition and generally short game times, where you constantly feel like you're learning and tightening your skills even though there are so few persistent indicators of progress built into the game.

 

I've watched a ton of let's plays for this game for this reason - the progress is palpable over many episodes and there is a lot of drama mixed into relatively short bursts of gameplay. I recommend NorthernLion's series in specific for this purpose, if you're interested in seeing how the game works/you like LPs - 

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I'd never heard of this game until it got slammed in the latest Feminist Frequency Tropes video. Looks great!

 

Haha, I often wondered why this game wasn't in the Feminist Frequency videos. It's almost impossible to save a damsel without roughing her up a bit, something that always makes me a bit queasy.

 

It's a really great game though, for all the reasons JonCole listed.

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I'm glad they can be replaced with dogs, though I'd kinda rather they were just dogs rather than people.

 

Doug Wilson has been streaming every night this week. The last time is tonight at midnight GMT. Highlights from last night:

 

Doug spectacularly screws up his daily challenge (His face as it happens is really excellent).

A particularly good teleport.

The entire teleporter speed run that came from.

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Looks right up my alley. Why have I not been playing this? Clearly I must be a bad person. Gonna fix that right away!

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Yeah I personally think rescuing bitches is better than rescuing damsels.

...oh dear.

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I played the trial on XBLA and it really didn't do anything or me. Am I a bad person? Perhaps it'll be better suited to the vita

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I'm glad they can be replaced with dogs, though I'd kinda rather they were just dogs rather than people.

 

No no no, having an option for this is necessary: to me a game where you accidentally throw innocent pugs onto spikes is far more offensive than one where you do the same thing to Kate Capshaw.

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I played the trial on XBLA and it really didn't do anything or me. Am I a bad person? Perhaps it'll be better suited to the vita

 

I found the original free PC version of the game far more punishing than charming.  Reading a list of changes from the old version to the new revealed that the only changes were to make the game even crueler. ("Arrows are too easy to dodge!")  I've given up on Spelunky.  It isn't even challenging; it just hates to be played.

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I'd be curious to see a list of changes, because that seems like a rash judgment. I'm going to sound like an apologist because I clearly enjoy the game, but just taking your example into account ("Arrows are too easy to dodge!") makes it seem a little silly. I don't think it's an unreasonable game mechanic to require that you trigger a line-of-sight trap by throwing something in its way. Or in other words, why should you have been able to dodge a flying arrow to begin with?

 

Anyways, Spelunky (like other unforgiving games that I mentioned, like Dark Souls) will certainly float different boats. I don't ever feel cheated when I play the game, but that may because I appreciate the mechanics more than others.

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I played the trial on XBLA and it really didn't do anything or me. Am I a bad person? Perhaps it'll be better suited to the vita

If you manage to get to the end of that demo (finish world 1-4) and you aren't enamored with the game mechanics by then, I can't imagine that it would be worth your money.

I'm not sure how to explain what I love about the game. It has something to do with its tendency to have a long chain-reaction after a small mistake. But it's not just that. There is a great sense of risk and reward; "Should I use this bomb to get into the snake-hibernaculum where the damsel is? I don't have any rope left and if there is no exit, I'll be stuck. But I only have one heart." I make these kinds of decisions frequently. I like that. Yesterday, there was a cape and a glove in the first store. I bought the glove and ran through the level gathering as much money as I can, I even delivered the idol to the exit. Then I used the glove and my ropes to get back to the store, bought the cape and floated down to reach the exit before I felt a shiver down my spine. I felt accomplished.

Of course, in the next level a monkey knocked me out and I landed next to a spike-totem. But you know: personal bests.

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Oh wow, the XBLA version is HARDER than the free PC version? I don't think I'll pick it up once it hits Steam. I enjoy the free version, but regularly get my ass totally handed to me. I'm right on the edge of frustration and reward, I imagine any more tweaks that make the world harder would push me right over into the "hate it" camp.

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I've played both versions, and I disagree that the XBLA version is harder. It's different, and I think the changes made were for the better.

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Trust people that have played both versions and ignore me, especially because I can no longer find any mention of what changed for the Xbox version.  I remember reading a list of changes, though, hoping for a Baby Mode, and the only changes mentioned were things that were considered the player's fault, "We now consider the way you played the game to be wrong, so we are shortening the whip, increasing the hit box on the arrows, etc.  You took advantage of our generosity for too long!"

 

Doing these things might not make the game harder, but it was a firm statement that the developers considered the original version of the game to be exactly what they want the game to always be: Spelunky is and always will be perfect—it's mankind that is imperfect and must be destroyed.

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I played a ton of the original Spelunky and am playing the new one now. It doesn't seem any harder. To me it actually feels a bit easier, because the physics engine seems better as do the controls. I feel I'm able to control my dude a lot more effectively. Looks great too!

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I browsed the community hub for a moment and had no idea that I was missing so much content. I've put a lot of time into the XBLA version, but when I couldn't figure out what something was for, I just ignored it. People in the forums are talking about certain reactions between game items that I had no clue about. I kinda want to discover it all myself, but the fact that I've played as much as I have without seeing this stuff makes me think that I never will (unless I read the forums).

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I had no idea until watching a ton of Let's Plays that the camera had the same one-hit kill effect against vampires as it does against bats. Basically, it's one of the ultimate hell weapons and I thought it was useless until seeing one specific use case.

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I just got Spelunky on Steam, and so far I'm really liking it, though at times it can be frustrating. I like roguelikes, but they frequently seem to be excessively unmanaged responses to over-managed and over-designed similar non-roguelikes. Or maybe that's just me getting mad because I fell on randomly generated spikes again :( 

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I like roguelikes, but they frequently seem to be excessively unmanaged responses to over-managed and over-designed similar non-roguelikes.

 

What do you mean?

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So for people that have picked up the new PC version of Spleunky, is there any co-op version available?

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Just played some hilarious 4 player local multiplayer coop, haven't looked into whether there's online coop yet.

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What do you mean?

 

Well it's only a small point, but designed games can often have slightly obnoxiously hand-holding design, the latest Tomb Raider popped up a notification that a secret cave was near my current position enough that I was wondering why they called them 'secret', but rogueikes can sometimes swing the other way, where I'm in world 1-1 and _have_ to do pixel-perfect jumps over spikes which will instantly kill me despite my full health because the randomly generated level doesn't respect that there are good reasons I may be here with no ropes/bombs or whatever. It's actually something that only annoys me at the beginning, as the further I get into a game the more I expect the challenge to randomly increase. I just hate finishing the first level of Spelunky with 1 heart because the random generator made it tougher than usual.

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Well it's only a small point, but designed games can often have slightly obnoxiously hand-holding design, the latest Tomb Raider popped up a notification that a secret cave was near my current position enough that I was wondering why they called them 'secret', but rogueikes can sometimes swing the other way, where I'm in world 1-1 and _have_ to do pixel-perfect jumps over spikes which will instantly kill me despite my full health because the randomly generated level doesn't respect that there are good reasons I may be here with no ropes/bombs or whatever. It's actually something that only annoys me at the beginning, as the further I get into a game the more I expect the challenge to randomly increase. I just hate finishing the first level of Spelunky with 1 heart because the random generator made it tougher than usual.

For me, Spelunky is largely about seeing something you want, knowing that you can get it, and then saying "nope." I'm pretty sure that it is incredibly rare for a level to be generated where you require a rope or a bomb to get to the exit, but it might tease you with a damsel that requires three bombs after you just got a crate of rope that required two. It's about prioritizing. You don't get to take everything, often I leave the damsel because he is just in too dangerous a spot. I'm only going to get one heart from him, and that's if I get him there alive. I guess what I'm trying to say is "There is no good reason for you to be stuck somewhere where you need a rope or bomb to get to the exit when you have none, you just got greedy."

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For me, Spelunky is largely about seeing something you want, knowing that you can get it, and then saying "nope." I'm pretty sure that it is incredibly rare for a level to be generated where you require a rope or a bomb to get to the exit, but it might tease you with a damsel that requires three bombs after you just got a crate of rope that required two. It's about prioritizing. You don't get to take everything, often I leave the damsel because he is just in too dangerous a spot. I'm only going to get one heart from him, and that's if I get him there alive. I guess what I'm trying to say is "There is no good reason for you to be stuck somewhere where you need a rope or bomb to get to the exit when you have none, you just got greedy."

 

Yeah, totally agreed. Spelunky inherently gives you the ability to clear a level without the use of any bombs or ropes, granted you take the "main path" and don't get stuck in a hole or something. With the appropriate level of caution and managed level of greed, you will very rarely want for bombs and ropes. But if you say to yourself, "well, I need to get every crate, every damsel, kill every enemy, mine every dense gold square using the mattock, farm every enemy on the altar to Kali, and kill every shopkeeper" or even a subset of three or so of those things, getting killed by the more clearly randomized elements is more or less fair because you were really pushing the limits.

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Shit, this isn't available on Mac. I've played the XBLA version to death, and loved it. The Daily Challenge sounds like a great way to go back to it.

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