ratsoalbion wrote: January 21st, 2025, 9:16 pm
Sure, Ellie was so grateful he slaughtered dozens (including some of the only living humans capable of saving humanity) to prevent her from doing what she had clearly stated that she wanted to do, and this action definitely didn't contribute in any way to the death of dozens more in Part II either. What a ledge!
Understandable and believable? Absolutely -humans are selfish and self-destructive.
Justifiable? Not for me, Clive.
I was waiting for that Perhaps saying he was categorically 'in the right' was the wrong choice of words. I suppose what I meant was, 'did what I probably would have done'. Having said that, I'd have probably been shot to death in the first gun fight, so...
My reasoning would be that there was no guarantee it would help anything, and it was a literal sacrifice of a life. I know Joel isn't his daughter, but she very much fulfils that role in the game, or at least she did for me, and I'm not sure whether how the player views Ellie affects that choice, not that it's a choice in the game (and I'm absolutely not making any comment regarding whether the player is a parent or not because I think that's a completely redundant argument), but in his situation, I'd have done the same.
I've been playing through some retro games recently.
Ridge Racer 4: This still holds up! The racing, visuals and music are sublime! The only major downside is that the unlock system is totally confusing and VERY repetitive. You have to play the Grand Prix mode about 130 times over to unlock every car! Completed with every combination of team and manufacturer once, then moved on. Great stuff.
Parasite Eve: So, I'm basically going through my childhood memories of PS1 'classics'. This is NOT a classic, but holds a place dear in my heart. I have to say though, in the year 2025, it's a very SLOW game. Aya walks at an absolute snail's pace and grinding takes and age. Still, loved my time with it. AM NOT going to do the New Game+. Does not look worth it...
Ever since this first got announced I was pretty sure I would love it, and to no surprise, I did. A fantastic game with really fun, well-crafted gameplay with a unique twist. It’s got great art design with a bright colourful aesthetic and strong personality, with very high quality animation. The cel shading looks so clean and sharp, and little touches to the shading giving it a bit of a comic book/pop art flourish to things adds a lot as well. It really nails the look of those 90s/00s western cartoons that were inspired by anime, in an ironic turn. The goofy slapstick tone is a lot of fun too, with a bunch of genuinely funny comedic bits throughout. The characters are all really fun and charming as well of course.
There’s a lot to dig in to when it comes to the combat. It has all of the things you would expect from a good character action game like this, with loads of moves that all have different functions and string together naturally, on top of a bunch of secondary abilities with unique effects and such. It’s all super responsive and gives you a deep set of tools to play around with. Enemy design is also very varied and puts you up against a lot of opponents with interesting and distinct behaviour that keep you on your toes in trying to overcome. But of course on top of all that is this game’s signature gimmick of having all actions synced up to the music, which recontextualises the whole experience in to something very unique. It’s really fun, and I found the rhythm wasn’t too hard to get to grips with, and it gives the whole game an enthralling sense of constant energy and momentum. That said, it can end up being a bit overwhelming at times. It adds another chunk of mental load on to a kind of game that already demands a good amount of attention. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, as it’s a novel and rewarding thing to wrap your head around. But at times it can just get to be a bit too much, especially in some of the harder boss fights. I think that may be why the scoring system seems to be rather lenient though, at least on this difficulty. As long as you stay on beat and do at least a little bit more than the bare minimum of combos, high scores aren’t hard to achieve.
On a similar point, I did find this game to be a bit hand-holdy. It explains things laboriously, especially near the first half of the game when they are still introducing new stuff all the time. It can make the pacing feel a little bit sluggish occasionally, but it’s also understandable why they did this given how much they need to explain in this game. It doesn’t really hurt the experience overall. It also feels like this game was intended to be something of an introduction to the genre for people not as familiar with it, which is a good thing to have too.
Another slight criticism I have is that at times it becomes a bit too easy to see where certain things that might have been planned were cut. A boss here, a level there. The game lampshades these moments too, which I’m torn on. Doing that once I actually appreciate. It humanises the game, making it clear that it’s a creative work by actual people who also wanted to do the cool thing but are showing some vulnerability in admitting that it just didn’t make the cut for whatever reason. But the game does it multiple times, and the more it does it, the more it shines a spotlight on what could have been. I mean, it’s not something that I actually think hurts the game in any significant way, but repeatedly pointing it out might not have been the best idea. That said, I do like how the game pokes at the fourth wall every so often in other ways. It adds to that feeling of this being an organic creative work by people with a sense of humour.
Of course I have to talk about the music too. It has a great soundtrack of hard rock bangers that drive the action really well. The original music that you hear in most encounters does a good job of dynamically changing to suit the intensity of the situation. When you’re just making your way through the levels or dealing with some lower level enemies, it doesn’t stand out that much. It’s got some serviceable riffs that you can nod along to, but they keep things pretty standard. But as you get deeper in to levels, and as your combat rankings climb during a battle, more layers get added in, building the tension and excitement super high, and belting out some pretty awesome jams. The licensed tracks are all really good too of course, punctuating certain moments with a bit more of a distinct audio character. The particular songs they picked were all really good choices too. Although I think the game could have used a couple more of them. They were well used, but felt a bit less frequent than would be ideal. Maybe that was just a licensing cost thing.
I do want to replay this game as well. That’s often one of the biggest things indicating whether a game like this did things right. Although I got a great experience out of what I already played, I feel like there’s still more I can get out of it. I haven’t got anywhere near mastering the combat system, even though I did manage to have a lot of moments where it felt like I was in the zone and performing some really cool stuff in this first playthrough. The game gives you loads of reasons to come back too, beyond just higher difficulties. There’s a multitude of different challenge modes, and areas locked off in the normal levels before NG+ too. I doubt I’ll do absolutely everything this game has to offer, but I’m definitely going to attempt hard mode at least, and maybe some of that bonus challenge stuff.
I was also very interested in seeing how this game shaped up against No Straight Roads too. That game has almost the exact same concept as this one, and shares a lot in common in terms of art style and story elements too. As I expected, this game is a far better execution of these ideas than NSR. Having every part of the gameplay tied to the beat of the music is much more effective and intuitive than how NSR does it with just enemies. HFR seems better in general at simply keeping to the beat as well. I took a look back at what my thoughts were when I first completed NSR, and they were more negative than I remember. Over time I’ve remained somewhat fond of the game. I guess the strength of the music/art design, and just a lot of the neat ideas that game had, stuck with me over the years, while the memory of the rough execution faded. I was also thinking about replaying it to compare more closely, and as they released a new version of the game since I last played it that supposedly improves a lot of the issues it had.
I played through this together with my daughter and it's unlike anything else I've ever played. What a ride it has been. I'm hosting a CaR podcast about it tonight!
Michiel K wrote: January 25th, 2025, 2:56 pm
25 January: Segare Ijiri (PS1)
I played through this together with my daughter and it's unlike anything else I've ever played. What a ride it has been. I'm hosting a CaR podcast about it tonight!
Genuinely impressed you managed to get anywhere with this!
Jan 2: Shantae: Risky’s Revenge
Jan 20: E.V.O.: Search for Eden
Jan 22: Super Smash TV
Will give further thoughts for the podcast but this was a fun little time killer. Funny, Acclaim had a pretty shoddy reputation but they occasionally put their name to some good stuff back in the day. I would certainly count this as one of them!
Michiel K wrote: January 25th, 2025, 2:56 pm
25 January: Segare Ijiri (PS1)
I played through this together with my daughter and it's unlike anything else I've ever played. What a ride it has been. I'm hosting a CaR podcast about it tonight!
Thanks for mentioning this. I'm 38 years old and consider myself fairly in the know when it comes to obscure PS1 games.
I've literally never seen this title in my life! Added it to my Backloggd catalogue, for sure!
Michiel K wrote: January 25th, 2025, 2:56 pm
25 January: Segare Ijiri (PS1)
I played through this together with my daughter and it's unlike anything else I've ever played. What a ride it has been. I'm hosting a CaR podcast about it tonight!
Thanks for mentioning this. I'm 38 years old and consider myself fairly in the know when it comes to obscure PS1 games.
I've literally never seen this title in my life! Added it to my Backloggd catalogue, for sure!
My pleasure! Yeah, it's really interesting how it can be so well known in Japan and so incredibly obscure outside of it. I suspect the main mechanic of composing sentences with words and phrases in Japanese has prevented a lot of people from looking into it.
Jan 2: Shantae: Risky’s Revenge
Jan 20: E.V.O.: Search for Eden
Jan 22: Super Smash TV
Jan 26: Demon Turf
Finished this in just under 40 hours. Had a tough time at first as you really need to master the move set to get through the levels which requires an understanding of what move to use when. If you really know what you are doing you can skip certain obstacles by finding an alternative route such as by wall jumping. So, while I was hitting a wall in certain sections in the beginning the more I played the more I got to grips with the controls and the better it got. When you start getting new abilities and you revisit previous worlds, levels that gave you trouble earlier are now much easier to deal with. The levels are just the right length, with enough hidden spots with collectibles/easter eggs to satisfy those who like exploration and tricky platforming sections to satisfy connoisseurs of the genre.
The presentation is also unique with all characters represented as crude 2D drawings in a blocky 3D world and the soundtrack is solid with a range of genres from electronica to hip hop. One particular highlight of the soundtrack is the boss fight against Capn Damp, a giant hermit crab. It starts as a typical sea shanty that as the fight progresses introduces more and more heavy metal into it and the final phase is just great to listen to while you are beating this guy up.
I said at the beginning I hit a bit of a wall and the reason for that is that there can be a bit of jank sometimes. For example, a common occurrence is that if you jump into a small gap between platforms the game thinks you are falling and you go into your fall animation unintentionally which can screw you over sometimes. The hookshot is introduced to you before you fight your first boss and since you are still mastering how to use it, I died way more at this first boss than I would have liked. You really need to be good at not only shooting across gaps but using the camera to angle your next shot and that fight really throws a lot at you for the first boss. Lots of swearing at that part. However, the more I played my mastery of these moves improved greatly and the game just became a fun challenge. Lastly combat is alright but the weakest part as you can only push enemies into traps or off platforms to defeat them.
Most of the new movement is a real joy though with the lizard wheel and crow glide really adding to your navigational repertoire and levels and bosses which emphasise these were especially fun to do. Even though the game had plenty of tough moments the ability to set your own checkpoints throughout the levels was a nice compromise to satisfy hardcore platforming experts and casual players. You have a limited number of checkpoints, so the difficulty is nicely balanced, so it is never a cakewalk or insanely unfair. Just clever design. This was much more packed with content than I was expecting as I tried to collect everything as I went through each level, take photos throughout my adventure to give to an enthusiast for rewards, play secret levels at an arcade among other side distractions. Demon Turf was a real grower for me, I enjoyed it but struggled at first, but I grew to appreciate the tricky platforming and generally moreish vibe the further I got in. If you are someone who appreciates complex and versatile movement in your platformers, Demon Turf comes highly recommended.
Raced through this after enjoying the original so much. The best part by far for me was exploring each brilliantly crafted level. Each area retains the map marking, unlocking feel of the original, expanding and adding some useful but not overbearing guidance. The look and feel of each area is easily the highlight. I loved the town’s early overcast, melancholic feel, the deserted and haunted apartments, the shifting and unnerving otherworld and labyrinth. Just tentatively exploring and soaking in the atmosphere kept me going.
The story and acting is well done. Playing through it again so soon obviously it wasn’t as impactful, but I did enjoy it. There were a few scenes where the voice acting felt a bit flat. James and Maria’s relationship in particular fell flat for me as they didn’t really have much chemistry. But everything else was very well done, especially all of the climactic scenes. Boss fights are mostly great, with the Abstract Daddy fight being the best. Great fight and really impactful, memorable story telling. Angela is really well acted here too. Eddie’s fight surprised me too, probably the biggest character improvement over the original.
My one major dislike of this remake was there are just far too many enemies and non stop, pointless jump scares. It just becomes a slog at times, ruining the atmosphere and putting me in a bad mood. Even on easy combat! Remove half the enemies, stop having them hide behind corners and get rid of those stupid ceiling crawlers, and the game would improve significantly for me. Overall I’m very happy I gave both games a try though, and am eager to try more Silent Hill games or anything similar.
Not much new to say about the main game this time around. Still loved it for all the same reasons as the first run. The earlier levels went a bit more smoothly as I came in more familiar with how the game works, but otherwise it felt more or less the same. Any increase in difficulty was nullified by experience and upgrades I had already acquired.
I did attempt to dip my toe in to the side content as well. It didn’t go too well to be honest. I’m guessing that most of it is intended as endgame content that I’m still not really ready for yet. Although I attempted every Spectra door I found, I only managed to beat a single one. Which is strange considering I don’t have anywhere near as much trouble with the analogous secret missions in DMC. I did fine on the early levels of the Bloody Palace-like Rhythm Tower, but I figured that it probably wasn’t worth trying to complete it just yet. The similar Rougelike mode in Power Up, Tower Up was just way too brutal though. It starts you off against high level enemies, that I haven’t even seen in the main game yet, right from the jump with no upgrades to help you. BPM Rush was the only one of this batch I actually had a good time with, as the escalating tension from the increasing tempo was really fun, but not too difficult. I’m not sure how many times I care to repeat that mode though. Doesn’t seem like it has that much variation to it.
But I’m not that bothered about those modes right now. It’s stuff that I may or may not get more invested in at some point, but right now I’m still just loving the main game itself. I’m not entirely sure how much more I want to keep playing though. I do want to give a Very Hard run a go, but that might be a secondary concern to other stuff for now.
This game piqued my interest back when it first launched, but I never followed up on it at the time because it didn’t review particularly well. But recently I was reminded of it again, and looking it up I saw one of the major things it got criticised for was its short length, which actually made me more interested in it.
It seems like something that should be up my alley, being a sort of artsy story-driven puzzle platformer, but upon actually playing it I ended up agreeing with a lot of the other things that got this game flack back in the day. The platforming is pretty bad. It’s very sluggish and unresponsive, with inconsistent behaviour that makes it feel like you can never get a proper sense of how your character controls. The puzzles aren’t great either. They’re all very simple and basic, but often do a bad job of conveying what they want from you or what logic they work by. There’s a point later on in the game where the mechanics change slightly, but it ends up making it feel worse to play, despite giving you more direct control. The camera also isn’t great for keeping track of things either. As you play as two characters at once, it has to keep both on screen at all times, which ends up cutting off your view of important stuff occasionally. All this together makes playing through the game feel like you’re constantly wrestling against these unrefined systems.
The game is also pretty buggy. Sometimes scripted sequences will break, making puzzles not function properly. There was also a point where I got stuck in a death loop, dying the second I respawned over and over. The game also has an issue with controller support too, automatically switching to co-op mode and controlling both characters at the same time with a single controller. It turns out this very common issue is caused by using any controller other than a 360 pad, which is the only one the PC version officially supports. This is somehow in spite of the fact the game came out in 2014, on every relevant console of the time except the 360.
One nice touch I have to give credit to however is that the game comes with a series of short interviews with various members of the indigenous Inupiat tribe of Alaska, as the story of the game is based on one of their folk tales. It was nice to see people from this culture talk about their own experiences and way of life, giving context to the real people that this story comes from.
Jan 2: Shantae: Risky’s Revenge
Jan 20: E.V.O.: Search for Eden
Jan 22: Super Smash TV
Jan 26: Demon Turf
Feb 11: Mother (Earthbound Beginnings)
Will save my thoughts for the main show but to sum up briefly, found this to be quite annoying to play through. Dungeons are way too big and are nearly all confusing mazes, inventory is stupidly small and the random encounters just never stop. I can now see why this is the black sheep of the series as the other two games outclass it to a ridiculous degree. The biggest positive I can give this game is that it eventually led to Earthbound and Mother 3. Not the best start to such a cult classic RPG series but good that Shigesato Itoi learnt his mistakes from this and ended up creating one of the most unique video game series out there.
Still a lot of fun. It still didn’t feel like a huge step up in terms of difficulty, although there was actually a noticeable increase in damage values this time. But as far as I can tell, that’s the only thing this game changes between modes. No new enemies or remixed encounters, no change in aggression or attack behaviours. I assumed that if that was going to happen I would have seen it by now. It’s not really a big deal, but when other games in the genre do put in the effort to do stuff like that, I was hoping to see this one do it too. Especially when I know those sorts of tweaks actually do exist in the quasi-roguelike mode.
I also managed to beat every Spectra door this time around too. Or at least the ones in normal levels. They weren’t so tough when I just put my mind to them. Although it is a bit weird it seems like the mid-game ones are the hardest. The single one I did beat on my first attempt at these was the last one in the story too.
I’m not so sure about playing much more of this game for now though. I feel like I’ve more or less had my fill, and it was a great time. I suppose I might attempt that second round of Spectra challenges just to see what they are like, and give Rhythm Master mode a go as well. Maybe that will finally mix up the encounter design a bit, or at least give a meaningfully different experience with the added gimmick of that mode. Not really too bothered about going through the whole game like that though. I have been meaning to get around to Ninja Gaiden too.
Perhaps saying he was categorically 'in the right' was the wrong choice of words. I suppose what I meant was, 'did what I probably would have done'. Having said that, I'd have probably been shot to death in the first gun fight, so... 
