Author Topic: Video Games? (Read 35486 times)

Hawkstar · « **Reply #465 on:** September 29, 2017, 10:20:21 pm »

Gave the Octopath Traveler demo a shot recently. I wasn't sure what to expect as I'd never played either of the Bravely games, but I really enjoyed it. The retro sensibilities combined with current-gen hardware made for a really nice aesthetic and turn-based gameplay is always appreciated given how much big companies seem to want to distance themselves from it these days. My only concern is that, in the final game, your party will likely be made up of the eight playable characters when I'd rather have each character have their own party and leave all the stories separate (though even I can admit that may not be feasible from a development standpoint).

I also replayed Metroid and Metroid II: Return of Samus to celebrate the release of Samus Returns and oh boy, has Metroid 1 aged poorly. While I can handle the lack of directional aim and the inability to crouch, the lack of save stations and the fact that dying or just continuing via password leaves you with a mere 30 energy and forces you to waste time grinding back your health five pips at a time borders on dealbreaking, especially in a game that so incentivises speedrunning. It's still a good game, but it can sure get tedious whenever you need to continue. On the flip side, I was immensely pleased to see how well Return of Samus held up. It has problems (increased linearity, one of the few uses of impossible space in games I don't care for, and a few other things), but I still really enjoy it (more than Fusion, even!) Curious to see how Samus Returns compares once I get to it.

Quote from: Graystripe on September 21, 2017, 09:06:46 pm

My video game life recently has been pretty much just replaying all of Dark Souls and Bloodborne over and over again. I'm completely in love with those games now.

Yo, those are good games. Been meaning to run through Dark 1 again myself.

Neon Skylite · « **Reply #466 on:** October 01, 2017, 05:15:42 am »

Quote from: Hawkstar on September 29, 2017, 10:20:21 pm

Gave the Octopath Traveler demo a shot recently. I wasn't sure what to expect as I'd never played either of the Bravely games, but I really enjoyed it. The retro sensibilities combined with current-gen hardware made for a really nice aesthetic and turn-based gameplay is always appreciated given how much big companies seem to want to distance themselves from it these days. My only concern is that, in the final game, your party will likely be made up of the eight playable characters when I'd rather have each character have their own party and leave all the stories separate (though even I can admit that may not be feasible from a development standpoint).

Ah, remind me to play that soon! I wanted to try it when I saw it in the direct but I haven't actually got onto downloading it and playing it.

hyperadam · « **Reply #467 on:** October 11, 2017, 07:29:20 pm »

I finished Xanadu Next and I really liked it. It's a shame it didn't sell very well and I don't see any talk about it even among Falcom fans, since it's a really good game.

It's pretty different on the surface from all the other Falcom games I've played, but its got a lot of fundamental similarities to Ys. It's got the same great dungeon design, where dungeons seem really confusing and overwhelming at first but they very quickly start to make sense as you explore them, except taken even further. Whereas in post-Napishtim Ys you can eventually freely warp from save point to save point so dungeons can mostly exist independently of each other, here you can only freely warp back to town one-way so every dungeon has to have a point that can become easily accessible from town so everything has to eventually loop back together in some way (i.e. at the end of the first floor of the eternal maze, you can unlock a door that allows you to get to the second floor directly from the town). It's neat and makes things feel all connected.

Honestly, there is a lot of Ys-like stuff, too. The way the story focuses on a long-dead civilization, and how you can collect and translate records from that time to learn about the past which ties into the main plot... Hell, there's even an accessory that's literally just the Mask of Eyes, only is actually gets more use than the Mask of Eyes ever did in Ys.

The combat is pretty different, though. It's a lot slower since it's more focus on exploration than action, but I enjoyed all the dungeon crawling and puzzles. I really liked a lot of the RPG elements as well, I feel like out of the Falcom games I've played this is probably the closest to a "traditional" RPG as far as character building goes. I never really used it, but the ability to go down a level to respec your character is pretty neat.

I'm planning on tacking the very daunting bonus dungeon next week, but for now I'm just taking a break. Still no release date for Zwei II, so I might have time to eventually pick up 7th Stand User before then.

Graystripe · « **Reply #468 on:** November 06, 2017, 02:46:43 pm »

Anybody here every played Riven? I finished it a couple weeks ago and it's probably one of the best puzzle/adventure games I've ever played.

Hawkstar · « **Reply #469 on:** February 12, 2018, 06:08:08 pm »

Finally got around to going through Bloodborne (The Old Hunters included) after buying it around launch and not really touching it. It was good and I enjoyed it (even if I didn't care for it as much as I do Souls). I definitely think Shadows of Yharnam is the best boss fight of its type though that might have more to do with Bloodborne's faster combat style being better suited to that kind of boss than Souls' slower, more methodical feel. The Old Hunters was really nice, its length particularly, but I don't think it dethrones Artorias of the Abyss in my eyes as From's best DLC (discounting Ashes of Ariandel and The Ringed City as I haven't played them). The "Surprise, Innsmouth!" moment with the reveal of the Fishing Hamlet was a delight and the way they reimagined the Cleric Beast into Laurence completely redeemed a boss I hadn't cared for the first time around.

Yo @Graystripe, wanna swap pictures of our Hunters?

Ivypool · « **Reply #470 on:** February 14, 2018, 08:47:31 pm »

I don't post much here, especially since I mostly just play Pokemon and its spinoff, but Puyo Puyo Tetris is a lot of fun... even if my hands hurt at times.