Your 2024 Gaming Diary

[Hero-of-Time]

38 minutes ago, Glen-i said:

It's weird, I know full well that Mario Wonder is the better game of these two, but that game left me quite disappointed, while Sonic Superstars exceeded my expectations. It's a pleasant surprise! 

I came to the same conclusion when I played it last year. There's more to do in this game (loved the post game content and true final boss) and it offered more of a challenge. Most of Wonder's levels I could do in my sleep and it was over far too quickly.

[Glen-i]

43 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

I came to the same conclusion when I played it last year. There's more to do in this game (loved the post game content and true final boss) and it offered more of a challenge. Most of Wonder's levels I could do in my sleep and it was over far too quickly.

See, difficulty is whatever to me, my issue with Wonder is that the levels outside of the Wonder Seed sections just don't have anything imaginative or interesting to them.

And the Wonder Seed sections are over far too quickly for it to make an impact. I prefer it when they make whole levels designed around an idea and gradually develop it. That barely happens with Wonder.

Spoiler

Meanwhile, Egg Factory is an absolute masterstroke. Bit of foreshadowing with the timers in-level counting up, before the reveal that Robotnik has a time reversing machine, forcing to you back right out of the level before that timer counts down, and when enemies literally reverse their attacks and platforms fall up, it's a truly genius idea.

 

[Hero-of-Time]

Knocked out a few more games before the end of last month.

Spoiler

This caught my attention at the back end of last year. It's an indie game that released on the Switch that draws inspiration from the dungeons in Link's Awakening. Lot's of people spoke highly of it and so I snapped it up.

As you can see, the visuals are very much a call back to the GBC era. The game captures the charm of that era perfectly. Unlike the Zelda games, there's no real overworld to explore and instead you have a hub that houses all the levels you can play through. Each of these stages/dungeons plays like a 2D Zelda game. They vary in length but they are all puzzle orientated, with very little combat outside of the boss fights. The puzzles in these dungeons are great and some of them definitely feel straight out of a Zelda game.

The game is a little short for my liking (you can finish it in around 3-4 hours) but that's probably because I was enjoying it so much. The tight level design also makes the game flow very well and there's pretty much zero busy work or padding in the game, which is much appreciated. The developers have done a great job in recreating the 2D Zelda feel with such a little adventure.

Any Switch owners who want a cheap (under a fiver) but great little indie Zelda type game should check this out.

Next Up was...

Spoiler

After finishing Warioware, I was inspired to play through WarioWorld on my GameCube. Looking at my last save file, it was Feb 2004 when I last played through the game. I don't remember much about it other than I thought it was pretty average. Has my opinion changed in the last 20 years? Not at all. The game is still pretty meh. I think the problem is that the game doesn't really know what it wants to be. The controls aren't tight enough to be a true platforming game and the combat is so bare bones that it can't really be classed as a brawler.

The fighting aspect of the game is quite strange. It's only really there for you to gain coins from enemies and these coins are used to buy continues. The problem is, the game lacks any real challenge and so the coins themselves are pretty worthless. Had they been tied into the game's ending, much like the currency was in Luigi's Mansion, then that would have encouraged the player to collect them. As things are, I never really went out of my way to collect them or engage with the enemies if I didn't have to.

One thing that was pretty frustrating was the fact that when you fall down a hole you don't just lose a piece of health and spawn back to the place you fell from, you instead land in some weird pit where you need to find a spring to jump back to the main game. It's a baffling addition that adds nothing to the game other than to create something that is tedious and annoying for the player. Of course, the main way to avoid this would be to not fall down any holes but, as I mentioned earlier, the platforming isn't that great and so it's something that occurred quite often.

The one bright spark in the game were the trapdoor levels/games. Some of them are pretty similar to Super Mario Sunshine's special stages. Some of them do require thinking a little outside the box and there are some great ones towards the end of the game where you need to time your jumps from a pole that fires Wario across the screen. There can be a little trial and error here but thankfully you don't lose any health if you fail and you instantly restart from the beginning again.

The game itself is very short, with only 8 levels on offer and a boss fight after each. There are also an additional boss that needs to be fought upon the completion of a world. Most are pretty straight forward, with the last boss being very easy and disappointing. That fight reminded me a little of Banjo Kazooie but instead of the Jinjo's you collected coming to help you, this time it was the Spritelings.

The game once again reinforces my opinion that Treasure were never a top tier developer. They had a couple of great games and then the rest were pretty average, this being one of them. 

As a side note, playing through the game highlighted that my GameCube's internal battery has died. The date and time will only change when the Cube is powered on. I'll have to look into seeing how hard it is to replace.

My final game for March was Gravity Circuit.

Spoiler

Along with Bat Boy, this was another indie game that got high praise when it released last year and yet another game on Sacred Symbols Colin's GOTY list. Like Bat Boy, this certainly deserves all the praise it received. The game is essentially an indie version of Mega Man X, a series which I love. The main difference is that instead of shooting things with an arm cannon, you now use your fists/melee attacks to dispose of enemies. You also have a hook shot to help navigate the stages but also grab enemies and throw them around.

The platforming in the game is so tight and responsive, which was like experiencing whiplash when coming from playing WarioWorld.

Like the Mega Man games, there are 8 main bosses to take care of and then a few more end levels to finish, before taking on the final boss. The developers certainly weren't shy about their inspiration when it came to the fight battle. It was essentially like Sigma from the original Mega Man X.   Again, like the Mega Man games, once you defeat a boss you will have the opportunity to gain extra powers/moves. However, these need to be bought in the main hub but this really isn't an issue due to how much of the currency is kicking about as you go through the stages. You can also rescue NPCs, with 8 being hidden on each stage. These will reward you with other power ups that will make you life much easier if you do the leg work.

I enjoyed the game so much that I ended up going through the game 3 times in a row in one sitting. The trophies required multiple play throughs, with things like not buying any upgrades, rescuing every NPC and not getting get hit by anything at all in a single stage. Really fun and really challenging. I actually topped the leaderboard for being the person who earned the platinum in the fastest time. Go me.  

Fantastic game that gets a big recommendation from me to anyone who loves the Mega Man games.

[Dcubed]

Never heard of Chico before, looks cool.  Might need to check it a look while the interminable wait for Mina The Hollower continues

Edited May 1 by Dcubed

[jayseven]

Recently got through Horizon: Forbidden West as I was hankering for an openworld game. Problem is that after playing Elden Ring the 'joy' of exploring a map only to find shitty shit is really... Shit. 

This game suffers with overdosing on weapon selections and endless upgrading of all of the gear you accumulate. I basically stuck with "freeze 'em, then shoot wit big damage bow" plan the entire way through. Same as the first game, I felt strung out dealing with all of the generic fights going from A to B, especially because my ADHD brain said I had to engage every time, and using any form of travelling faster was a cheat. Sure, dealing with the big bads it's sensible to use the right rock/paper/scissors ammo-type approach, but in general just douse them with the swampy soup water then freeze and bang and you're good.

Story-wise I really appreciated how they dealt with the tutorial section, and how they built up your family. Of course, playing it on steam years after original release means I am comparing it unfairly to other games, but honestly I think gameplay-wise this is on the same level as Mad Max when that first came out.

Most recently, though, I am replaying through Nier Automata. The soundtrack alone puts the game amongst my favourites of all time. The unrolling story is a wild ride. An utter tapas of a game with so many moments to savour - and I haven't even (re-)finished the C/D endings yet!

[lostmario]

The next game in my GBA lunch time gaming was completed today.

Rock n Roll Racing

I played this so much on the SNES back in the day. Remember being blown away by the soundtrack and the commentator so it was a pleasant surprise when I saw this while browsing for my next GBA game to play.

Soundtrack and the commentator are still fantastic after all these years but do get a bit repetitive after a few hours of playing.

The graphics and course design are spot on with as expected more challenging courses as you work your way through the different worlds in the game.

Had to do a bit of grinding in the last couple of worlds as I maxed out my vehicle thinking it was the last one to unlock only for the last vehicle to pop up so I screwed myself over.

The vehicle upgrade system is simple but works so well and is so rewarding when you start putting wins together and the cash starts rolling in.

Now what do I play next on the GBA...

[Hero-of-Time]

21 minutes ago, lostmario said:

Now what do I play next on the GBA...

What's on the list/backlog?

[lostmario]

9 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

What's on the list/backlog?

Everdrive so any game released on the GBA. if you have any recommendations, let me know.

I'm thinking Super Mario Bros.3 and playing through all the e-reader levels first.

[drahkon]

Man...last year I've finished 22 games by May.
This year...the count is at 7.

Not really complaining, as 2024 has been pretty eventful for me (and will likely continue for a while) but it's still crazy to me.

[Hero-of-Time]

After finishing SO:FDR, I was still in the mood to play another JRPG and decided on playing Wild Arms.

I played and platted this last March (PS5) and decided to go through it again for the double platinum (PS4).

It's such a breezy experience. Like Star Ocean, it's pretty much all killer and no filler. With a completion time of around 20-25 hours, it makes for a breezy experience.

It's probably one of my favourite JRPGs of that generation, which is high praise given the quality of the genre on the PS1. At times, it can be ridiculously pretty for a game that is 25+ years old. It can look a little rough when it transitions into 3D during the battles but the 2D stuff is gorgeous.

Lovely stuff.

I've still got a hankering for the genre and may jump straight into another one. Wild Arms 2, Star Ocean: The Divine Force, Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth, Trails of Zero, Ys VIII, Dark Chronicle, Legend of Mana, Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth....plenty of options to choose from. 

[bob]

Managed to finish Mass Effect 2 a couple of nights ago.

It was pretty good. I've already said how superior it was to ME1 - the writing and plotlines are some of the best i've ever seen in a game. Some of the decisions it has you make are just so cleverly constructed, and go so far beyond most games' "Do choose to kill the bad guy, or let someone else kill the bad guy?". There were some missions where I knew what I was going to have to choose between by the end, but the difficulty of the choice was so bad, that i was dreading making it. The one where you have to decide between destroying all the Geth with the virus, or cure the virus and let them return (but end up sharing their corrupted memories with the other half of the Geth) was such a good one. Or destroying the genophage research, or keeping it. I can't wait to find out how those decisions affect the story in ME3!

I don't think it was a perfect game however - I thought the gunplay was a bit crap, and I came to actually dread having to fight anybody. The guns felt ineffectual and imprecise, and all of the biotic powers seemed to be mostly the same.

I think i'd give it a 8/10 overall. 

 

Games completed in 2024

Mass Effect 1

Uncharted 3

Mass Effect 2

 

I'll overtake Drahkon at this pace.

[Hero-of-Time]

25 minutes ago, bob said:

Games completed in 2024

Mass Effect 1

Uncharted 3

Mass Effect 2

Quality over quantity right there.

Are you jumping straight into the 3rd game or taking a break with another title?

[bob]

5 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

Quality over quantity right there.

Are you jumping straight into the 3rd game or taking a break with another title?

Definitely not starting ME3. Need a break from the format.

 

I might go with Uncharted 4, or I've got Far Cry 4 sitting unopened, or maybe even Tears of the Kingdom? Haven't decided yet.

[drahkon]

34 minutes ago, bob said:

I'll overtake Drahkon at this pace.

Definitely possible

*starts another Balatro run instead of playing a different game*

[Hero-of-Time]

Just like I done last year, it was once again time to earn a Star Wars platinum on this the holiest of days.

This is a game many Star Wars fans rave about but I've never had the opportunity to play it. That was until Nightdive Studios decided to remaster and release it on modern platforms.

The game is definitely a product of its time but not necessarily in a bad way. The maps are very maze like in structure and its very easy to get lost. You really have to take note of where you are going and where you have been. I ended up getting lost a few times but I actually didn't mind all that much. Most FPS games these days are very linear and guide the player to the next objective, whereas here it's all about being aware and learning the layout of the level you are in. I enjoyed the challenge of it.

The game really took me back to the era of the original Doom and Wolfenstein. It certainly has the same feel as those games but with a Star Wars coat of paint applied.

The enemies could have done with a little more variety. It was mainly Stormtroopers and Imperial Officers that were the fodder, with the occasional Dark Trooper making an appearance. Oh, and the Gamorrean Gurad show up as well. What they were doing on Imperial ships and bases I have no clue. 

Enemy encounters are pretty fair at the start but by the end you'll be engaging with waves upon waves of enemies in tightly packed corridors. Now I know how Han felt as he ran around that corner in the Death Star.

Fun game and one I will probably return to at some point to earn the double platinum.

Happy May the 4th, y'all.

[lostmario]

Credits have rolled on Donkey Kong Country Returns

It's been well over 10 years since I last played this so it felt like a new game playing through it.

Also, it's been so long since I sat down and put a few hours into a Wii Game with the Wii remote still being really comfortable to play with horizontally.

Anyway, onto the game

I really enjoyed playing through this again after so many years. Not the most challenging game but I wasn't going back and collecting everything to unlock the 9th island. I can imagine that's where the proper challenge comes in.

Graphically, it looks fantastic on my Sony Trinitron CRT TV, vibrant colours and some stunning graphical styles on display on certain levels.

Controls, apart from waggle controls, which are horrible, Donkey Kong controls perfectly.

Music, I like how it borrows sound bites from the iconic DKC tunes as you would expect but there's nothing really memorable here.

Humour, there is none. A couple of the cut scenes got a chuckle out of me but the Rare sense of humour is really missing here. Cranky Kong acts like a completely different character. 

It feels very safe at times compared to the DKC Rare Trilogy but Retro probably didn't want to take any risks or Nintendo just wouldn't let them.

Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze will be played but it won't be my next game.

[Hero-of-Time]

9 hours ago, lostmario said:

Music, I like how it borrows sound bites from the iconic DKC tunes as you would expect but there's nothing really memorable here.

This was always a gripe of mine when it came to Returns. The series is known for its fantastic soundtrack and it's here where it falls completely flat. Thankfully, Tropical Freeze has David Wise back at the helm and delivers one of the best gaming soundtracks ever made.

[bob]

On 03/05/2024 at 10:37 AM, bob said:

Definitely not starting ME3. Need a break from the format.

 

I might go with Uncharted 4, or I've got Far Cry 4 sitting unopened, or maybe even Tears of the Kingdom? Haven't decided yet.

After playing a game with possibly some of the best writing ever (and some naff gameplay), I decided to go with the complete opposite. A game with possibly some of the worst writing ever (and some pretty addictive gameplay) - Pokemon Arceus

I got reasonably far with this the first time i played it, then trailed off a bit as I couldn't stomach any more of the crap dialogue and cut scenes. I thought i'd come back and try and finish it off (the story at least). I got as far as defeating the 3rd angry pokemon, and had 6 stars, so i'm maybe around halfway through? Not sure how far i'll bother trying to fill out my Pokedex. Probably just keep playing until I get bored.

[Jonnas]

On 12/04/2024 at 12:53 AM, Jonnas said:

This is not the end of my Shmup journey, but it is a good place to pause

Pause over. It's time to tackle a couple of more recent takes on the genre:

Enemy Mind

So! This 2014 game is actually one of the reasons I wanted to tackle this genre in full. I first heard about it several years ago, in an Extra Credits video. The game sounded interesting, so I bought it on Steam at some point... But a problem came up. The game was clearly designed to be played with a gamepad, which I did not have at the time. I could still play it with a keyboard, but I eventually ran into a level that required me to move with precision, and my laptop keyboard at the time didn't even recognise diagonals that well, so I couldn't beat that level at all. I ended up dropping the game and marking it with a shameful "Unfinished".

Time passed. I eventually got better keyboards, a proper pad... But I never revisited this curious little game. Well, one of my resolutions this year involved tackling my "Unfinished" games, so it was time to put this one to rest, once and for all. And that's enough backstory, let's get to the game.

At first glance, it seems like your usual shmup fare, controlling a ship, shooting some enemies... But there's this unique mechanic: you can mind control and "take over" any enemy ship. One at a time, sure, which means you're constantly "hopping" from ship to ship. This clever mechanic truly transforms how the game is played, not just because you can move from ship to ship in a skirmish, but because you can escape into a healthier ship whenever your health is low.

Furthermore, there are no power-ups or extra guns, only various types of ships with different stats and weaponry. Some craft is lighter and faster, others are large and bulky, some contain a spreader gun, others contain lasers, etc. There's like 20+ ships in the entire game, and they all feel wildly different. This includes alien ships, by the way. One thing to keep in mind is that each type of ship, without fail, contains limited ammo. At some point your bullets run out. I presume this is meant to encourage you to mind-hop more often, and yeah, it does that quite well.

Game-feel is pretty pleasant. A bit slower than most shmups I played, but that does mean I relax a lot more with this game. It's not a bullet hell at all. The only times I felt a difficulty spike was during certain bosses, and I can excuse those. One cool thing in this game (that I wish more shmups would adopt) is that you can actually turn and shoot left with most of the available ships. So good, I'll definitely miss it in other games in the genre.

Art style is pretty pleasant, and the aliens in particular are quite memorable. More importantly, each ship is visually distinct, and the sprites are large for the most part, so you'll never really find yourself confused over which type of craft can do what.

Story is fascinating. It's told in small snippets at a time, every time you complete a level or wave. The twist is that the snippet itself depends on whether you finished that level as a human or as an alien. You could potentially only see human snippets for an entire playthrough, and you'd be missing a lot of vital context from the aliens' perspective. Same thing if you only ever finish levels as an alien. The more likely scenario is that players see a few snippets of one, and a few of the other. It's a narrative choice that piques the curiosity of any player, and there's plenty to find for those who look.

Overall, this brilliant little gem is a solid 4 star game. If I liked the genre properly, I probably would've given this a fifth star, but if there's anything I realised after so much exposure to the genre, is that it's not quite my type. I can at least guarantee that this is the best dang shmup I've ever played, even better than MUSHA.

EDIT: Upon thinking about it some more, this is not a good reason to hold back on its grade. Enemy Mind is a 5 star game.

 

Super Amazing Wagon Adventure

I originally saw the Game Grumps play this 2012 game on a one-off episode. I thought: "What a silly little short game. And so cheap! Might as well take it", and then I proceeded to not touch this very short silly game for years and years. Until now.

So, have you ever played Oregon Trail? Of course not, you're not American. It's a game where you manage a family's migration to the west coast via caravan. A few generations played this game on their school libraries, hence why it's so famous.

Super Amazing Wagon Adventure (SAWA) looks a lot like a more silly and action-y version of Oregon Trail (for example, hunting your own food along the way), and I definitely thought it would be just that, a silly short pew-pew game with references to Oregon Trail. Sure enough, there are levels where you mow down buffalo, where you cross rivers, where you're attacked by wolves and zombies in a snowstorm, and even one where you go to space. Somehow, you run into machineguns and rocket launchers in all of these places. It is all very, very silly, yes, but it is also... a roguelike.

That's right. The levels and bizarre scenarios your caravan gets through are randomly selected. And after a few attempts, you can even unlock some other caravans, with other attributes and weapon types. I didn't manage to complete a run, but I felt like I got close. It's not a cakewalk or anything, but each attempt was leaving me closer to the goal.

It's an enjoyable game, but the humour and aesthetics (and genre) didn't fully click with me. I give my enjoyment 3 stars overall, and for the low price it's at on Steam, I feel like it's a steal, even at a non-discounted price. So here's a shout for roguelike fans, such as @drahkon

 

Starfox

...Wait a sec, this isn't a shmup! Except it kinda is, if you think about it: what are On-Rail Shooters, if not 3D shmups?

This is one I had on my pledge. Not only is it part of a genre I don't usually like, it's a whole series that's very popular and beloved by Nintendo fans... but never really clicked with me. Considering I never put much time into any Starfox game (except Adventures, which is a whole different thing), I figured I owed it, and myself, an adequately deep playthrough.

As it turns out, playthroughs are quick in this game. You pick one of 3 distinct routes, and it's 6 or so levels exclusive to that route (even the starting level, Corneria, is different depending on the route). I appreciate this kind of difficulty system, offers a lot of fun and replayability.

No way around it, the game's graphics were super impressive for the time, but boy do they hurt my eyes now. I appreciate that weak points are colour-coded, but that's pretty much it. Some boss designs work well with the blocky style, at least. On a brighter note, the animal aesthetic for Fox, Slippy, et al. is very charming and memorable, as are the bleeps and bloops for speech.

Gameplay-wise, I appreciate there being a health meter, and frequent health pickups. I appreciate the Arwing's maneuverability. The aiming is wonky as shit, but it's better in the first-person levels, where they include a reticle. It's not super important, as movement is the main thing that allows me to survive, and the game never demands pin-point shooting precision at any moment (even when saving teammates, there's so much leeway).

I managed to finish runs on the easy and normal routes, but couldn't make it even 3 levels on the hard route. That's one for more skilled fans, and I admit I'm not one of them. I also hear there are secret levels, warps, and easter eggs in the game, which is always good, brings depth to any game.

(On a side note, Sakurai must love this game. He's included this version of Andross in every smash game since Melee. It's a memorable boss fight for sure, and now that I'm better versed in the genre, I can't help thinking of Xevious whenever I see his rotating projectiles )

I am happy I gave this game more of a chance. It's still not my style, but it's a very well designed game. I give it 3 stars, it earned that much.

-----

Phew... and Super R-Type is still there for me to tackle!

Edited May 27 by Jonnas

[Dcubed]

Most people consider rail shooters like Star Fox and Space Harrier to be a completely different genre compared to horizontal or vertical shmups, but there is certainly enough crossover that it can at least be considered an adjacent genre.

Personally I get more annoyed when people don’t consider Space Harrier or Afterburner to be in the rail shooter genre, despite them basically being the progenitors of said genre!

Edited May 8 by Dcubed

[WackerJr]

Broken Sword 5: The Serpent’s Curse (PS4/5)


I confess to growing up as fan of point & click games, namely due to the excellent LucasArts titles. Broken Sword was one of the non-LucasArts point & click series I got into, with its more complex stories, witty humour and excellent banter between main protagonists George and Nico.

I missed out on Broken Sword 4 as my PC caused it to churn away as a stuttering, freezing mess, and quite unplayable. I was pleased to see the Kickstarter campaign succeed for this 5th instalment and a chance for me to get back into the series.

Maybe my expectations were a little high, but I came away a little underwhelmed. It was perfectly fine, and played very similar to the original games, but didn’t quite hook me in like I recall the originals doing.

A murder and art theft set the scene up nicely, and there are plenty of standard point & click puzzles to solve along the way. There are also a few puzzles in there that are a little more complex, ideally requiring pen & paper (one late-game one particularly confused me). Thankfully there’s a good in-game help system that gives hints towards the next thing to do, before finally telling you just how to solve the next step, all without any penalty.

I guess their previous experiences with death have dulled George & Nico’s reactions to dead bodies, as they do seem eerily calm each time they come across one!


The PS4 version is sadly riddled with a number of visual glitches though that did spoil my enjoyment, and probably contributed towards my overall apathy of it. Sometimes important items just didn’t show on the screen, puzzle pieces were invisible, or vital codes were missing. All of them were there, but if you didn’t realise there was an invisible item somewhere on screen then there was no way to know to click on that particular area, and no way of being able to solve the puzzle and progress. Reloading my game usually caused them to appear, but I got frustrated many a time because I didn’t know if my progress had been halted by a clue or object not being visible, or if I just wasn’t thinking correctly to solve the puzzle.

Beyond the glitches, the story did get a little lost on me at times, a few of the puzzles a little abstract, and I did miss some interactable items amidst the, admittedly nice, hand-drawn backgrounds.

I’m still looking forward to seeing what Broken Sword 6 holds, but with a little more skepticism than before.

 

[Glen-i]

I believe I'm coming up to the end of a certain game, so I should probably make a short post about this game first.

I tried to find a more horizontal image, but they omit the Kangaroo character for some reason. This Australia erasure will not stand on my watch! He's way more prominent then blue-hair girl as well!

Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising is a 2D side scrolling action RPG developed by Natsume Atari that released on all modern platforms in 2022. It served as a small game to tide people waiting for Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes, which came out recently. It also serves as a prequel to that game.

The game follows CJ, a poor treasure hunter who unwillingly becomes crippingly addicted to stamp collecting when she visits New Neveah. New Neveah's acting mayor, Isha (Blue haired girl), is trying to rebuild the town after a devestating earthquake hit it. Isha's trying to get travelling adventurers to help rebuild the town with a stamp incentive. These stamps are meant to provide benefits to the adventurers, but CJ's life quickly becomes consumed entirely by collecting these stamps, which means she travels through very dangerous places gathering materials for New Neveah.
Various events has CJ meet Garoo, a Kangaroo Beastyn (Animal people with the same awareness and intelligence as humans) mercenary with a humongous, girthy, tool in his pouch, and he's roped into being CJ's bodyguard.

He's not exactly pleased with it...

Yeah, OK. The game's not really about stamp addiciton, but it is a recurring joke with CJ doing anything for a stamp, and Garoo griping about it. Reminds me of Banjo-Tooie, actually.

The plot is fine, but it is carried by the characters. They have great chemistry, and even greater designs. I like fantasy settings that really lean into the fantasy aspect to have weird and wonderful characters. The characters in this game all show up in Hundred Heroes, so naturally, this game has more then a few hints to some of the main plot threads that Hundred Heroes has.

The gameplay revolves around exploring various areas to complete a bunch of quests for the town of New Neveah. It does get quite a bit repetitive, as you traverse the same area multiple times to progress the plot. I can totally see people bouncing off of this gameplay loop, mind.
Combat is pretty standard, with the key defining feature being the ability to swap CJ out with other characters at most any time. CJ is nimble, while Garoo has better range, and hits like a truck. If you swap characters right after you hit an enemy, the other character will swap in and deliver a strong attack. As well as this, each character can get various extra abilities to help find new areas.

The visuals are fine, but with this being a bit of a side project, it doesn't look anywhere near as nice as Hundred Heroes. Which, to be fair, is kind of harsh. Because Hundred Heroes is a gorgeous game. The soundtrack is also servicable, not really noteworthy, but not offensive, at least.

I enjoyed this game, it won't be to everyone's taste, but at least you don't need to play this to get the plot of Huindred Heroes.

Spoiler

Sea of Stars
Chained Echoes
Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore
Princess Peach Will Star As The Main Character In A Brand New Game
Star Ocean: The Second Story R
Hi-Fi Rush
Sonic Superstars
Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising

 

Edited May 11 by Glen-i

[nekunando]

 

 

[Glen-i]

Theatrhythm Final Bar Line: Premium Digital Deluxe Edition is a rhythm game developed by indieszero that released on the Switch and PS4 last year. It's the fourth Theatrhythm game to focus on the Final Fantasy series (There's also a Dragon Quest and Kingdom Hearts one). Effectively, it's an enhanced version of the Japan-only arcade game "Theatrhythm All-Star Carnival".

Theatrhythm's gameplay is pretty similar to most arcade style rhythm games. A bunch of icons fly towards 4 circles on one side of the screen, and you need to input button presses and stick tilts in time to whatever song is playing. It's pretty standard stuff, but the thing that differentiates Theatrhythm from similar games is that the game asks you to build a party of up to 4 characters from the Final Fantasy series. You see, while you're playing the game, these 4 characters fight monsters in the background. The better you do, the more effectively they fight. Just like most RPG's, these characters can level up, and learn skills to make your life easier.
This is kind of the brilliant thing about Theatrhythm, no matter how bad you might be at rhythm games, the party system provides you ways to clear songs other then just "Getting good". If you're struggling, you can just put healers in your party and use their healing skills to help you survive through the whole song. Contrary to what 8-Bit Theater claims, 4 White Mages will work!

That said, the game has a scoring system, which the party system has no effect on, so you might be able to brute force a clear, but your score will only be good if you're good. It's genius and serves to make it very accessible to all players.
This is helped by every single song (Over 400 in the base game, over 500 if you get all the DLC) having at least 3 difficulty settings, from "Anyone can do this" Basic, to "Some dexterity required" Ultimate. However, some songs have a fourth difficulty called Supreme, and yeahhh...

That's the easiest song! Proper spaghetti fingers going on there. I can't believe I pulled off 9.8 million points here!
Speaking of, the game has a bunch of "Feats". Basically they're achievements, except some of them are way harder then the crummy trophies on the PS4 version. This is why it took me 600 hours to pull it off.

A rhythm game obviously needs good music, and well, this is Final Fantasy, it's kinda known for amazing music (And Final Fantasy XIII is also there). It also has songs from some of the spin-off games, like Mystic Quest! The DLC then introduces songs from non Final Fantasy games like Octopath Traveler and Chrono Trigger. An absolute treasure trove of music is here, and it's insanely good value!

This game's amazing, and despite reaching 100% completion, I'll still be playing this for a long time.

Spoiler

Sea of Stars
Chained Echoes
Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore
Princess Peach Will Star As The Main Character In A Brand New Game
Star Ocean: The Second Story R
Hi-Fi Rush
Sonic Superstars
Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising
Theatrhythm Final Bar Line: Premium Digital Deluxe Edition (100%)

 

[WackerJr]

The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening (Switch)

I’ll keep this quite short as most of the discussion about it took place in its own thread.

I loved the original DX game, with a GameBoy Color being my first handheld console and I saved up and bought it mainly so I could play Link’s Awakening!



The quality of life improvements, while necessary (e.g., having dedicated buttons for your sword, shield, running, etc), are all good and enhance it over the original, plus the graphical updates here bring out the character of the already quirky cast of characters and Koholint Island as a whole.

The only real new addition is the dungeon creator, which I didn’t feel any desire to play through longer than necessary. It’s clever, but being you can only use rooms you’ve already completed it feels rather sterile in comparison to the rest of the game to me.

It’s compact, but gameplay just flows so smoothly, and the island is just so brilliantly designed to follow the familiar Zelda formula to progress from dungeon to dungeon.

I was also able to play this with my family, and seeing my daughter able to and enjoy controlling Link was really heart-warming.

I still really enjoyed Link’s Awakening, even if it felt a little too familiar, with little new added beyond what the original game offered (so no new dungeons, etc).

What do they say? Form is temporary, class is permanent!