Magical_Isopod wrote: ↑January 5th, 2020, 11:42 pm #3 Rocket Knight Adventures:

This game is great, but a frustrating play. Without the Retron 5's cheat features (infinite lives in particular), this game is legit just not playable. I do not miss the arbitrary difficulty of these older games. That being said, if you have infinite lives and lean on the checkpoints, it's still very hard and very playable. In the second half of the game though, there's a lot of bullshit. Everything has to be memorized, and several sections basically require flawless timing. Lots of one-hit kills too. As such, it's crazy to me that they expected people to beat this thing with a finite number of 1-Ups.

All the gripes aside though, I did love this one. It's got a phenomenal soundtrack, and really great setpiece moments. The bosses are really cleverly designed too - but I like I said, they rely entirely on memorization. Play this one, but play it with cheats.

Totally agree with you - Rocket Knight Adventures is brilliant and bullshit in equal measure, and I love it!

Spoiler: show

Jan - Blasphemous
Jan - A Short Hike
Jan - Dear Esther

Jan - Luigi's Mansion 3

Magical_Isopod wrote: ↑January 5th, 2020, 11:42 pm #3 Rocket Knight Adventures:

This game is great, but a frustrating play. Without the Retron 5's cheat features (infinite lives in particular), this game is legit just not playable. I do not miss the arbitrary difficulty of these older games. That being said, if you have infinite lives and lean on the checkpoints, it's still very hard and very playable. In the second half of the game though, there's a lot of bullshit. Everything has to be memorized, and several sections basically require flawless timing. Lots of one-hit kills too. As such, it's crazy to me that they expected people to beat this thing with a finite number of 1-Ups.

All the gripes aside though, I did love this one. It's got a phenomenal soundtrack, and really great setpiece moments. The bosses are really cleverly designed too - but I like I said, they rely entirely on memorization. Play this one, but play it with cheats.

I remember playing Rocket Knight Adventures ages ago at a mate's place and was blazing through it until I came across the robotic fish boss. That thing absolutely destroyed me and it was pretty damn annoying having to start over again! Would love to see this remade with a slightly more fairer difficulty (or at least have it be an option). However there is absolutely 0% chance of that happening with modern Konami being what it is now but one can dream. Because unfair nonsense aside, Rocket Knight Adventures was one of the best mascot platformers of the 16 bit era and when it was good, it was really bloody good. If I remember correctly, I think the SNES sequel Sparkster is a bit easier (some fans not being as much into it because of the lowered difficulty!) so that could be one to check out. Never tried it myself but ought to someday.

Spoiler: show

03/01 - Need for Speed: Most Wanted (2005)
08/01 - Need for Speed: Carbon

12/01 - Devil May Cry (Normal)

With the news of a Switch port for DMC3 on the way that adds in a bunch of new features, I thought now would be a good time to finally have another stab at getting these old PS2 entries off my pile of shame. I was pretty surprised how quickly I made progress through this time, considering how hard I bounced off before. But to be honest my impressions of the game still aren't much different from what I got out of my meagre attempt at it years ago. As much as the later games in the series are among my all time favourites, this one is nowhere near that. It's really rough. I suppose I have to give it some credit though, for basically being the first ever game like this. And for that, most of the core ideas are already here, which is impressive in a sense. But damn, have things come light-years since this game. It feels very stiff, and the variety of tools you have to play with is extremely limited. Enemy readability is often very unclear, and the fixed camera is a nightmare. Speaking of, bosses are very hit-and-miss, more often the latter. Nightmare in particular is terrible. Nelo Angelo is probably the only one approaching good. I do appreciate the atmosphere of the game though. Despite the very old and rudimentary graphics, it still managed to create a moody Gothic tone pretty well. Environment design was quite nice. But while I have to respect this game for its place in history, and how many of the design concepts were in the right place even at this early stage, I can't say I'm a fan of the execution. While one might say it's unfair to compare this against 4 and 5, I probably would have never been able to make any significant progress at this game if it weren't for playing a lot its successors.

Jobobonobo wrote: ↑January 12th, 2020, 8:55 pm I remember playing Rocket Knight Adventures ages ago at a mate's place and was blazing through it until I came across the robotic fish boss. That thing absolutely destroyed me and it was pretty damn annoying having to start over again! Would love to see this remade with a slightly more fairer difficulty (or at least have it be an option). However there is absolutely 0% chance of that happening with modern Konami being what it is now but one can dream. Because unfair nonsense aside, Rocket Knight Adventures was one of the best mascot platformers of the 16 bit era and when it was good, it was really bloody good. If I remember correctly, I think the SNES sequel Sparkster is a bit easier (some fans not being as much into it because of the lowered difficulty!) so that could be one to check out. Never tried it myself but ought to someday.

I played Sparkster immediately after, and that one's got a lot of problems. It's good, but it's just not polished. One of the late bosses, for instance, is basically down to pure luck whether you win or not. I made commentary on it in Whatcha Been Playing?

Just an FYI (for those who don’t know) that Sparkster on SNES and Sparkster on MD are completely different games (as was Konami’s 16-bit wont).

ratsoalbion wrote: ↑January 12th, 2020, 11:27 pm Just an FYI (for those who don’t know) that Sparkster on SNES and Sparkster on MD are completely different games (as was Konami’s 16-bit wont).

Yes I remember that at the time, and that in general the sequel (either version) was definitely not as well received as the original.

There's also the 2010 digital-only Xbox 360/PS3/PC reboot 'Rocket Knight', from Climax Studios. It's a 2.5D side-scroller that got fairly decent reviews on release but seemed to come and go without much fanfare. I've certainly never played it, but it is backwards compatible on Xbox One for anyone that's interested, although sadly not on Game Pass.

Produced by friend of Cane and Rinse Tomm Hulett, that one.

Jan 2nd - Riverbond Crystal Caves DLC - Xbox One (100%)

Not much to add from my previous comments on Riverbond from last year - this remains a harmless voxel shaded action game that wears it's indie roots all over.
Better with friends but don't expect anything too deep

5 - 1 - Bubble Symphony (SEGA Saturn)

Totally forgot, me and my kids "completed" this game. Well, we credit fed our way through it, to be precise. Not my fav way to play arcade games, hence me not really seeing it as a completed game.

13th Jan - The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

My first playthrough of this game, completed on Switch.

All in all, I'm a big fan. The music, mood, writing, variety of side quest, locations and Witcher contracts are all brilliant. I clocked 80 hours and ended the game at almost level 34.

The opening 15 hours or so felt revolutionary to all other third person open world adventure games I've played. As if my actions had consequences. And the final 25 were even better, taking me to many incredible destinations and taxing my decisiveness.

I did flag in the middle though. Novigrad felt long and repetitive, whilst the combat became tedious and landscapes harder to navigate due to errant wayfinding and surfaces that simply ended me many many times. Which in a world that now has BOTW is beginning to age.

But I found much to love and I grew to care for these characters.

I was a bit baffled by what my choices had led to though; I googled what decisions you had to make to get a good ending as MAN, MY ENDING WAS BLEAK. Seemed to ace most of the calls (though few are black and white in truth, more varying shades of grey) but got caught out by what I thought were small dialogue options and ended up with

Spoiler: show

my wooing of Triss and general fatherly niceness to Ciri eventually seeing me alone, tortured and possibly dead. Sorry Geralt…

Would be tempted to replay it and maybe live happily ever after IF I had a spare 80 hours. But been left feeling a tad hollow tonight for purely suggesting

Spoiler: show

Triss may not want to board a boat with me headed somewhere she'd be persecuted and letting Ciri decide her own fate rather than emotionally blackmail her.

Geralt would have failed modern leadership training days!

Still, branching storywise it's a big step forward. Can't decide if the same can be said for the way the female characters are portrayed. Sure, they're strong and wel written, but almost all of them fawn over Geralt and are highly sexualised.

Compared to the PS4 Pro version I'm sure it's an ugly mess on Switch, but it never stopped my enjoyment of it. Even tempted to start Hearts of Stone tonight rather than have a small gap.

Got the podcast downloaded to listen to tomorrow. Excited to hear the community view!

13th Jan - Dishonored 2

Builds on the original very successfully, with bigger, more open levels, more cool powers, and a completely stunning game world. The levels are all structured in a clever way, so that you can take your time to power up and gather resources, plus do more stealth/ combat in a vestibule area before you head to the kill-box (or mercy box, as the case may be). Or you can quickly make your way past and go towards your objectives. My mission completion times varied between just over an hour to nearly four and a half hours, depending on how I approached the objectives and how thorough I wanted to be.

Individual levels had some truly magnificent moments that stand out in gaming, not just in the series - A Crack in the Slab, The Clockwork Mansion, The Good Doctor. I can't wait to play through again.

I still have to examine my feelings on the story and motivations of the characters - even though I got the "good" ending, I don't know if I feel as good about having done all these things, as they felt to do mechanically. But overall - really loved this game.

Clocked in at just over 20h, Low Chaos, playing as Emily Kaldwin.

13/01 God of War

seansthomas wrote: ↑January 13th, 2020, 10:59 pm Got the podcast downloaded to listen to tomorrow. Excited to hear the community view!

Just finished listening and I think I had the exact same playthrough as Leon! Poor Ciri...

Spoiler: show

03/01 - Need for Speed: Most Wanted (2005)
08/01 - Need for Speed: Carbon
12/01 - Devil May Cry (Normal)

15/01 - Devil May Cry 2 (Normal/Dante)

Guess what, it's bad. Extremely bad. Shocking take, I know. I knew that going in, and was considering skipping this one, but I figured I might as well give it a shot for the sake of comprehensiveness. It only took 3 hours, but they were long and excruciating. It really is as awful as its reputation. Combat is completely dull and lifeless, with hardly any abilities to choose from, and pretty much no difference between the choices you have either. Not that it does anything to explain your abilities mind you. Controls are clunky and awkward. Enemy design and variety is trash. Levels are dead and empty. The story barely exists, and the little voice acting that is there is terrible and flat. It feels more like a sequence of unconnected events that happen for no reason in abstract boxes. Or more accurately, the same events over and over. Truly one of the worst games I've ever played, and definitely the worst that wan't a complete technical mess. That's the only thing that it remotely positive about this game. It's a functioning piece of software. In every other sense though, it's a limp and miserable mess. Despite me not enjoying the first game that much either, it is leagues ahead of this one. It retroactively makes me appreciate DMC1 just a little more.

^^^^ Only 3 hours, huh? I might just slog through it myself for comprehensiveness and being able to say that I did it as well.

Ouch. I remember the backlash at the time and having that in my mind going in I thought it was pretty good and didn’t really see all the fuss. I won’t go back as I think I’ll probably hate it too.

I’m not sure whether I deliberately tried to like it to be edgy. I was like that back then so who knows!

Magical_Isopod wrote: ↑January 12th, 2020, 10:53 pm

Jobobonobo wrote: ↑January 12th, 2020, 8:55 pm I remember playing Rocket Knight Adventures ages ago at a mate's place and was blazing through it until I came across the robotic fish boss. That thing absolutely destroyed me and it was pretty damn annoying having to start over again! Would love to see this remade with a slightly more fairer difficulty (or at least have it be an option). However there is absolutely 0% chance of that happening with modern Konami being what it is now but one can dream. Because unfair nonsense aside, Rocket Knight Adventures was one of the best mascot platformers of the 16 bit era and when it was good, it was really bloody good. If I remember correctly, I think the SNES sequel Sparkster is a bit easier (some fans not being as much into it because of the lowered difficulty!) so that could be one to check out. Never tried it myself but ought to someday.

I played Sparkster immediately after, and that one's got a lot of problems. It's good, but it's just not polished. One of the late bosses, for instance, is basically down to pure luck whether you win or not. I made commentary on it in Whatcha Been Playing?

Just seen your comment on it now. That is a shame about that boss. Pity Sparkster did not fix the problems of the original. Might try playing a ROM of the original game with cheats activated someday though, would be great to finish even if it is not legit.

dezm0nd wrote: ↑January 11th, 2020, 12:30 pm
Jan 11th - Sonic CD

Well this was completely average based on my experience but I know there's a decent game in there, somewhere.

I felt the same way about it as well. The only way you know about the time travel mechanic is by reading the instruction manual otherwise you are given no explanation at all. The level design constantly works against you building up enough speed in order to time travel and is just really mashed together. This is far from the streamlined business of Green hill zone. Also the JP/EU soundtrack is miles ahead of the US one you had on. Would have definitely improved things a fair bit to have it on.

Really enjoying the Sonic Adventure playthrough by the way. Was not a fan of it back in the day but I quite like its cheesiness now. The goofy animation and voice acting is so much more fun than the ridiculous dourness of edgy nonsense like Shadow the hedgehog.

Steins;Gate 0

Top class visual novel if you’re into them, doesn’t quite hit the high of the first game but that was an impossible task, just being close to it is a dream. I loved it. I can consider it finished as I’ve had the “true ending” but I’m missing a couple of the other endings so will keep at it as they’re very worthwhile so far.