Cube Posted yesterday at 08:02 AM Share Posted yesterday at 08:02 AM 40 minutes ago, nekunando said: Genuinely interested to hear why 🙂 Sure, the game resonated with me completely. The atmosphere and story were absolutely compelling. Which is odd for me, as I'm not big a fan of horror games (other than Remedy's titles, Eternal Darkness is the only the only other one for me). I think it's that it's more psychological horror, which is greatly enhanced by the deep characters in the game, not just Wake himself, but those around him. Unravelling the mystery is captivating. The core gameplay itself isn't the most groundbreaking thing, but is enjoyable enough throughout the course of the game, and works well with the vibes and horror of the game. Then there's the music. The game's use of music is phenomenal, using it to set the tone while also having some genuinely amazing songs made just for the game. The game is responsible for me discovering Poets of the Fall, who are my favourite band. Every part of the game just clicked with me in a wonderful way, and the way it does horror feels unique. The sequel improved every single aspect. The whole connected universe (Alan Wake, Quantum Break and Control) are games I massively love. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nekunando Posted yesterday at 08:37 AM Share Posted yesterday at 08:37 AM 18 minutes ago, Cube said: Sure, the game resonated with me completely. The atmosphere and story were absolutely compelling. Which is odd for me, as I'm not big a fan of horror games (other than Remedy's titles, Eternal Darkness is the only the only other one for me). I think it's that it's more psychological horror, which is greatly enhanced by the deep characters in the game, not just Wake himself, but those around him. Unravelling the mystery is captivating. The core gameplay itself isn't the most groundbreaking thing, but is enjoyable enough throughout the course of the game, and works well with the vibes and horror of the game. Then there's the music. The game's use of music is phenomenal, using it to set the tone while also having some genuinely amazing songs made just for the game. The game is responsible for me discovering Poets of the Fall, who are my favourite band. Every part of the game just clicked with me in a wonderful way, and the way it does horror feels unique. The sequel improved every single aspect. The whole connected universe (Alan Wake, Quantum Break and Control) are games I massively love. That's great! I wish I could say the same 🥲 The gameplay was definitely the biggest issue. It felt clumsy throughout but shining a torch at random objects flying through the air just brought out a sigh in me every time. If the story captivated me I could have perhaps overlooked that a little more but I wasn't engrossed by that or the characters. The game often issues mundane tasks and objectives in the corner of the screen. It is nice to know where to go but when it's constantly 'go to this room.. speak the this person.. pick up glasses.. pick up tablets..' then it just never feels particularly compelling for me. I do think it would have had more of an impact had I played it back when it originally came out but it just hasn't resonated with me at all in 2024. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WackerJr Posted 16 hours ago Share Posted 16 hours ago 21 hours ago, Dcubed said: They only published/distributed the physical releases, well after their original respective digital releases. They had nothing to do with their development. Anything funded and actually developed under GameMill's tenure as a publisher inevitably ends up being irredeemable rubbish. That makes sense then, and the fact that you could guess the publisher based solely on how atrocious the game played gives a great indication of their reputation! I’d been keeping an eye on ‘Outright Games’ for the shortcuts they take in their family-friendly games (although reading reviews it sounds as though they’re at least improving… possibly!). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glen-i Posted 4 hours ago Share Posted 4 hours ago Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow is an action adventure game that originally released on the Game Boy Advance in 2003. I've never actually finished a single Castlevania game before, but with the Dominus Collection recently released, I wanted to at least try this one before committing to it. Speaking of, this game isn't part of that collection. I played this on the Advance Collection, which came out in 2021. The game takes place in the year 2035, and follows Soma Cruz, a Japanese exchange student who is magically teleported to Dracula's Castle for some reason. Soma is attacked by monsters, and after beating them up, he absorbs their souls. You see, Soma has a special power called the "Power of Dominance" which allows him to absorb the souls of monsters and utilise their abilities. So, you know, like Kirby, but nowhere near as cute. Using this power, he has to explore Dracula's Castle, and find a way out. This is one of those Castlevania games that are structured more like a Metroid game (Hence the term, Metroidvania). Instead of various stages where you have to get to the end, it all takes place in one massive castle, and it's surrounding areas. Much like Metroid, the goal is to find your way through this labyrinth, find new abilities and use said abilities to get to even more areas. Rinse and repeat, until you get to the final boss. The key difference between this and Metroid, however, is that Castlevania utilises an RPG style level system. Killing enemies will eventually make Soma stronger. Alongside that, you can also find or purchase equippable weapons and armour to boost those stats even further. Or just stumble upon a sword that's bigger than you are, that works too. What's also noteworthy is how the souls work. Every enemy has a corresponding soul, and you have a chance of getting it whenever you kill one. Equipping these souls will allow Soma to use certain abilities. But what's interesting is that some optional areas need a specific soul to access, you could go through the whole game without getting what you need, so I'm not sure how to feel about that. Aria of Sorrow isn't the first Metroidvania I've tried, by the way. That would be Circle of the Moon (Known as just "Castlevania" in Europe), but I bounced off of that game because it was very unforgiving. Aria of Sorrow is far better in it's difficulty curve, and I'm glad I gave the series another crack with this one. Even if the fight against Death was a humongous difficulty spike, but that seems to be a pretty standard thing with Death. Shout out has to go to the animation this game has. Castlevania games since the shift to Metroidvania has some of the most satisfying animation in games. When you can bust out a victory dance at any time, well... The soundtrack is also top tier, but that's nothing unexpected for Castlevania. That series has an amazing batting average for soundtracks. So yeah, my first completed Castlevania game, and I very much enjoyed it, so much so, that I went and got the Dominus Collection afterwards. And speaking of that... Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow is another action adventure game that originally released on the DS in 2005. Like I mentioned before, I played this on the Dominus Collection, which released last week. As the name implies, this is a direct sequel to Aria of Sorrow, you know this because the intro immediately spoils the big twist of Aria. Soma is once again dragged into action when a mysterious cult wishes to create a new Dark Lord to replace Dracula. This is bad, so Soma has to reuse his Power of Dominance to stop this. When it comes to gameplay, this game plays very similarly to Aria of Sorrow. A big Metroid style map to explore, and lots of souls to find along the way to augment Soma's abilities. It's just a simple refinement, but that's totally fine. I will say that the bosses are way better though. They are probably the highlight of the game. OK, bad example, but trust me, they're great. (Seriously though, REALLY!?) All in all, they play similarly, but I prefer Dawn of Sorrow. So I'm gonna use the rest of this post to point how excellent the emulation options are in the Dominus Collection. Being a DS game, Dawn of Sorrow naturally uses both of the screens on the console, but the footage I posted above actually shows three screens. The original game had those two screens on the right as an option for what you had on the top screen, but the Dominus Collection allows you to display both at once. Very cool, and having the stat screen was quite helpful in solving a certain puzzle. As well as that, there's save states, and a rewind feature, which I never used, but the biggest change would have to be the option to draw seals with button inputs. I've heard some horror stories on how imprecise drawing on this game can be, so this is an interesting workaround. It works well enough. Can't imagine what trying touch controls with the imprecise Switch screen would be like. Don't plan on finding out. But yeah, that's it. I'll likely carry on playing through this collection with Portrait of Ruin. 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%) 1000xRESIST Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Switch) (100%) Miitopia (100 flipping per ceeeeent!) Metroid Zero Mission (100%, Under 2 hours, Normal) Chico and the Magic Orchards DX Super Metroid Redux Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster Densetsu No Stafy Densetsu No Stafy 2 Densetsu No Stafy 3 Final Fantasy II Pixel Remaster Final Fantasy III Pixel Remaster Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team Final Fantasy IV Pixel Remaster Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonnas Posted 2 hours ago Share Posted 2 hours ago 2 hours ago, Glen-i said: I'll likely carry on playing through this collection with Portrait of Ruin. It's great that you're discovering such a great series, but take care not to burn yourself out. I see you've played through two of these in a row already. ...That said, if PoR is next, I hope you enjoy the weirdest variant of Marco Polo ever: Charlotte Jonathan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glen-i Posted 2 hours ago Share Posted 2 hours ago Just now, Jonnas said: It's great that you're discovering such a great series, but take care not to burn yourself out. I see you've played through two of these in a row already. ...That said, if PoR is next, I hope you enjoy the weirdest variant of Marco Polo ever: Charlotte Jonathan. Oh, don't worry. Final Fantasy V Pixel Remaster is what I'm focusing on now, I just meant that when I go back to Castlevania, that will be next because it's on the Dominus Collection. Aria of Sorrow was pretty short, so I craved more, and Dawn is a direct sequel, so it was perfect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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