I just read through the whole Epic Store discussion and I’m disappointed that nobody argued that games should follow the linux model (multiple repositories, but one single installation/upgrading tool). My other extremely spicy take is that I like the æsthetics of Epic’s storefront: Because their selection is so limited, they can spend the time to showcase each game well. Also, if they’re going to give indie devs sacks of money then I don’t blame the devs for accepting them.
In other news, I feel like I’ve played through all of the Stellaris (and Endless Space 2) that I can handle. I’ve seen almost all of the expansion content, and replayed them with most of the major mods. I hunger for more 4x, but both of these spoiled me in terms of presentation and injecting story bits into my space colonialism.
So I got around to finishing the first Phoenix Wright game, specifically the last episode rise from the Ashes. I couldn’t help not hearing Officer Marshall as Jesse McCree the entire time.
Also if ever did a big budget American movie version. They need to oversaturate the main characters sort of like how Sin City only had the color red.
Been marathoning Blasphemous and it’s pretty damn good. I also recognize that this is one of those games that I love because it’s the kind of game I would make, so I don’t think everyone will get the same mileage. I’m at a little over 9 hours with ~80% completion. It’s a great Metroidvania, not so much an Igavania. combat is tight and aggressive, but there are no alternate weapons, you mainly get upgrades that expand your move pool. Spells feel great, they all have feel useful even with zero magic+ augments.Your “build” consists of rosaries that bestow various passives and hearts of sin that have big playstyle focus (like increasing your parry window but also increasing it’s cooldown),
The map is sprawling, but I would also call it “concise”. Each area has about 10-15 rooms that, while quite large, doesn’t give the game the absurd depth of exploration you’ll see in things like SotN or Hollow Knight. Every platform puzzle and combat encounter will happen at most 2 to 3 times, you prove you can beat it and then move on to something new. While there aren’t any weapons or armor to collect there is a wealth of different quest items and martyr’s bones that while having no function, give you juicy lore snippets a la Dark Souls items.
The game does have Souls blood running through its veins. When you die you leave behind “guilt” which creates a stacking penalty to tears (currency) and mana gain. However, there is no health penalty and you keep all your currency which makes it less painful to give up on an area that’s kicking your ass and try something else. There are also plenty of rooms where you can pay a fee to clear your guilt in addition to a free cleanse every boss kill. Enemies also don’t respawn until you hit a rest area, so backtracking is probably the least painful experience I’ve felt in a metroidvania. It also really encourages you to keep exploring because you never second guess yourself and feel urged to return back to base when you’re low on health.
The most standout part of the game is its art and setting. This shit is metal af. It’s a gruesome, dark Catholic fantasy world that gives you Souls vibes but is solidly it’s own thing. Enemy variety is a little light, but each one is given the full treatment of beautiful attack, run, and death animations. The scenery is epic but restrained compared to other entries in that style.
My gripes are minor. Bugs are few to nonexistant, I’ve only experienced a couple crashes and those were on startup. So far have only had to quit and restart once when I got stuck in the walls fucking with an elevator. In the early areas it feels like there a bit too many instant death pits, but now that I’m far into late game they’re almost nonexistant. My biggest complaint is that the camera seems to be designed to hinder your experience. There are more than a few areas where the camera intentionally obscures drops by not panning down, and it feels like it’s there to trick you as much as it’s there to make you descend carefully.
All in all I think it’s awesome. If you’re more interested in a hardcore vania experience this will probably be a little light for you. But if you like heavy metal visuals and gory combat it will more than make up for it.
I recently realized that in under a year I’ve put over 100 hours in 4 games, Breath of the Wild, Xenoblade Chronicles 2, Smash Ultimate and lastly Fire Emblem: Three Houses. And I don’t regret any of those timesinks.
And on topic of this thread, I’m still working on Three Houses as I had to start second play-through immediately after I finished my first one. And while I probably take a break after that as the Switch port of Dragon Quest XI is coming, I’ll be back.
Dragon Quest XI deserves everyone’s time. I played it on PS4, almost platinum, and I am planning on cleaning up my calendar to immerse myself into the world of Erdrea once more.
Definitely excited waiting for DQ. Was going to get it on PS4 when it originally came out, but was busy with something else at the time and then Switch port was announced and I just decided to wait for that.
Picked up Battletech from this months humble bundle pretty good for the 12 dollar price. Game does a really, really bad job of explaining mech archetypes and what should work. I know complete customization is a hallmark of mechwarrior, but as a newbie it feels like there should be archetypes I can just use and then modify if I see fit. As it stands its a little overwhelming. I also wish the range markers in the cone when you are facing your mech had a call out for the weapons in that range and what damage they do so you can more easily keep mechs at ideal distances without memorizing/guessing from memory the best range.
That game was fun for me, but I stopped playing it shortly after it came out. My big issue was that the interface was so bad. Bummer to hear the UI still has rough spots.
And I was mad the mechs weren’t more customizable ~_^
I am also enjoying Untitled Goose Game. Also my girlfriend gave it a go, but it’s impossible to play together if she is trying to solve problems I’ve already solved. Next time we’ll play my save game so we’re doing the problems together.
Battletech is really a love letter to the people who’ve played the Tabletop over the last 35+ years. So the 'Mech construction rules are a little archaic. The fact the game only let’s you modify the various chassis so much, is its attempt at keeping things simple. Honestly, don’t worry about customizing the 'Mechs, until you have a handle on what 'Mechs you like piloting.
wooo I loved the shining force games when I were a wee tike! They’re so much better on emulator because you can speed everything up to bearable levels!
I’ll have to try one of those. Thanks! I’ve been itching to play Dragon Force again for years. I kept hoping that Sega would release a remastered version of the two games but outside of a PS2 remake that never came to the US, I’ve been out of luck. A Shining Force remake or remaster would be awesome as well.
Years ago I tried a Saturn emulator. It worked amazingly well, but was amazingly difficult to make it work. I needed several os roms and some optical drive biz.
There’s been some progress on the tech side of Saturn emulation in the past couple of years but it’s still pretty messy and not all games work well. The way the hardware functions internally is kind of a weird mess. There’s a guy working on a pretty nice CD emulator add on that I’m looking forward to since the drive in my Saturn is dead.
