Games Beat - 2024 - The Something Awful Forums

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > Imp Zone > Games Beat - 2024

Bicyclops: Aug 27, 2004

i think i have to finish infinite wealth and dq11 before taking on another jrpg, lol. by the time i get to rebirth, the imps will laready have unlocked all the cool strats

# ? Feb 15, 2024 21:25

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? May 20, 2024 19:46

ArfJason: Sep 5, 2011

Alien Isolation (hard mode)
What a cool videogame lol. Some technical flaws, some annoying gameplay decisions, and kind of a nothing plot with nothing characters, but everything else, the art and sound design are firing on all cylinders. Incredibly engrossing, even though it wasnt very scary.

I only ever jumped twice at the alien getting me, and the other times were insanely loud explosion jump scares. The fact that the alien was more annoying than scary speaks to the fact the the game is kinda slow to start, but once you get some gadgets to play around the xenomorph it gets a lot more dynamic and you can be on the move more often while still not being safe. I think they might give you the flamethrower a tad too early, but its good to have a tool to push againat the ai.

Theres a section after lining up the satellite dishes qhere the alien is like pissed off and hunting you through a series of rooms, and if you memorized the vents, the desks you could crawl under and use the gadgets smart its smooth but full of cool close calls and improvisational tactica. I got it in one go and felt like a mastermind lol. I dont think i ever used smoke bombs once, and i had my inventory full 90% of the game, which is making me think of someday replaying this on nightmare mode.

The save points are absolute genius, and i wanna see this type of thing on more games. I died once while saving and it was at the evry last encounter with aliens. They finally got me lol.

----------------
This thread brought to you by a tremendous dickhead!

# ? Feb 16, 2024 10:53

MeatwadIsGod: Sep 30, 2004; Foretold by Gyromancy

One of my favorite design choices are the hacking minigames that are just demanding enough that you'll panic and mess them up while the Alien is in the next room over.

# ? Feb 16, 2024 11:08

ArfJason: Sep 5, 2011

Yeah the lil hacking minigames are great. I never failed any nor died while performing them, which means i never got to see that sick getting stabbed from behind by the alien death animation

E: now that i think about it i never encountered the alien in vents either.

----------------
This thread brought to you by a tremendous dickhead!

# ? Feb 16, 2024 11:10

Aston: Nov 19, 2007; Okay
Okay
Okay
Okay
Okay

9. Orwell

This is a kind of? puzzle game about surveillance, where you're an "inspector" in the Orwell project, a huge surveillance program that can find webpages, listen in on telephone calls and electronic communication, and let you remotely access PCs. I went into this expecting an experience along the lines of Obra Dinn where you're cross-referencing these different sources to solve crimes or whatever, but it's not really that. The gameplay consists of being provided with the sources and uploading snippets (called datachunks) from them into the program by dragging and dropping highlighted words. Occasionally there will be some that contradict each other and you have to decide which is correct, but mostly the decision making is only whether or not to upload a datachunk. It's more of an interactive story than a puzzle game, and for that it was fine although nothing special, and it wasn't really what I was looking for, but if you're interested in a commentary on invasive surveillance it might be your thing.

# ? Feb 16, 2024 13:48

Punished Chuck: Dec 27, 2010

Beat Etrian Odyssey 2 last night with Protector/Ronin/War Magus in front row and Gunner/Hexer in the back. Party building and classes are much better in this one, the new classes are cool and the old ones have been rebalanced so you can be a lot more flexible with your build than 1. I loved the artwork too, all the redrawn portraits for party members and monsters are great and the environments are great to look at, the first four strata are all forests but representing a different season each and i really loved the Sakura blossom spring and the autumn ones.

It was hard as hell though, maybe that�s mostly a function of medic not having the full-party buff from 1 that makes your whole team essentially invincible anymore, but there�s lots of enemies with instant-death moves on the last stratum, bosses that seem based around binding them so they can�t use insane party-wipe moves and you just have to pray they don�t use it if your bind spell doesn�t proc or it does but they break out of it the next turn, and sections where you just have to try and maneuver around a maze to avoid FOEs much stronger than you and a single wrong step can put you in an unwinnable battle (and a really wrong step can make it so you can�t flee from it). And i really don�t like that their solution to the question of �how do we keep them from getting over leveled if they can kill all these FOEs we�re throwing at them?� was to make it so FOEs don�t give XP anymore lol. Money and XP feel much tighter too and i always felt behind on gear until the very end of the game. None of these are complaints exactly, it was just a much more hardcore experience than i was expecting after 1 became a breeze once you get your party setup locked in and leveled up, and my blood pressure was probably through the roof the last couple days of playing lol.

I started 3, made a party (currently Hoplite/Buccaneer/Monk in front and Zodiac/Farmer in back), and did the first few missions but I might give dungeon crawling a bit of a break for a few days to prevent burnout. Looking forward to getting back to it though.

# ? Feb 16, 2024 16:25

Vadun: Mar 9, 2011; I'm hungrier than a green snake in a sugar cane field.

6) Aliens: Fireteam Elite

The Smartgun was fun to use, but the flamethrower felt underwhelming. Seems like you need a real solid squad of dudes to play on higher difficulties

# ? Feb 16, 2024 22:45

extremebuff: Jun 20, 2010

metroid prime - hard mode - 100% items 99% scans. no idea what i missed and its NOT the ice shriekbats.

love this game.

----------------
This thread brought to you by a tremendous dickhead!

# ? Feb 17, 2024 00:27

ArfJason: Sep 5, 2011

oh yeah i forgot to mention i beat metroid prime 3 before i started playing the bomberman games

i wasnt expecting a lot, so it managed to beat those expectations by being solid enough, but still not particularly great or interesting.
hypermode felt like a cheat, and youre never truly starving for health. i didnt die once in the game, but maybe thats due to rebalancing in the trilogy.
the ability to fly between different points should make the maps the most interconnected theyve been yet, cause each landing zone would, in theory, be like a room with 10 doors leading to any other landing zone, with a loading screen in between. sadly in practice this means that between each landing zone theres a series of rooms back to back in a hallway, with few hubs that branch off in different ways, and then one of the branches goes on into a dead end with a landing zone. this helped ease some of the backtracking, which by the end of prime 2 felt like a bit of a drag.

one of the things i knew going in was that this game features Text Boxes, so theres more character and dialogue than ever, which feels antithetical to metroids lone exploratory feel. i guess that bridge has already been crossed with the constant interruptions from scan visor, which in this game are taken up to eleven, with multiple identical terminals that function as on/off switches having a separate scan for each state. this gets old fast, but is optional so whatever.

for how much more of a focus there is on characters, they all fall very flat because theres no time to know them. maybe for you thats a blessing, but given theyre a sort of focus i think they needed to work them better. they dont even say something when they die, no mid battle barks, nothing to give them the slightest bit of extra characterization they sorely need. they become juiced up on the phazon and thats it. dark samus has a cool design and some neat animations, and i think they could have made her scarier, like the sa-x, but she does not feel threatening at all, especially given the game is super easy. at least she has a very cool theme song. thankfully, despite being easy, all boss fights have multiple stages that add some flavor, but it feels predictable knowing that at half health they do a new thing, and at about a quarter they enter hypermode. whatever, they commit to having more attack patterns, im down for it.

for some reason they make beams a linear upgrade path which was really disconcerting after 1 and 2, and as such the fighting becomes a bit more simplistic, but thanks to wii remote aiming, theres is more actual fps mechanical skill involved, which is welcome given im playing it with primehack. this results in fairer hitboxes on enemies, and more creative shooting challenges. i guess thats the reason they didnt focus on alternate beams.

the only really visually cool area is the skytown, and this comes at the cost of it being the most linear metroid area ive seen yet without playing other M. the fuel gel planet had some cool and clever puzzles, and the pirate homeworl was kinda neat but it does not have the creativity of the fortress from 2. music in general is not very catchy either.

finally, i felt there were a lot of bullshit one or two use case items in prime 1 and 2, but this game takes the cake, with the phazon overcharge whip which is used a grand total of 3 times. the hypermode morph ball area of effect attack that is used like 5 times, etc. at least the xray visor has some neat uses when you get the nova beam which phases thru walls, but overall, this feels more artificial barrier like than most metroid before it. and they bring back the worthless fuckin multirocket thing, and take away the sick as gently caress charge beam combos.

a bit bland, but i wouldnt say its bad. also they really tried hard to show the wii is NEXT GEN by having so much goddamn fuckin blur and bloom and browns.

# ? Feb 17, 2024 02:11

absolutely anything: Dec 28, 2006; ~As for dreams, she has enough and more to spare~

18) jumping flash! 2 (ps1, cleared normal and extra mode)

this is the same drat game as jumping flash 1 which is to say it's delightful

# ? Feb 17, 2024 02:20

Plebian Parasite: Oct 12, 2012

ArfJason posted:

oh yeah i forgot to mention i beat metroid prime 3 before i started playing the bomberman games

i wasnt expecting a lot, so it managed to beat those expectations by being solid enough, but still not particularly great or interesting.
hypermode felt like a cheat, and youre never truly starving for health. i didnt die once in the game, but maybe thats due to rebalancing in the trilogy.
the ability to fly between different points should make the maps the most interconnected theyve been yet, cause each landing zone would, in theory, be like a room with 10 doors leading to any other landing zone, with a loading screen in between. sadly in practice this means that between each landing zone theres a series of rooms back to back in a hallway, with few hubs that branch off in different ways, and then one of the branches goes on into a dead end with a landing zone. this helped ease some of the backtracking, which by the end of prime 2 felt like a bit of a drag.

one of the things i knew going in was that this game features Text Boxes, so theres more character and dialogue than ever, which feels antithetical to metroids lone exploratory feel. i guess that bridge has already been crossed with the constant interruptions from scan visor, which in this game are taken up to eleven, with multiple identical terminals that function as on/off switches having a separate scan for each state. this gets old fast, but is optional so whatever.

for how much more of a focus there is on characters, they all fall very flat because theres no time to know them. maybe for you thats a blessing, but given theyre a sort of focus i think they needed to work them better. they dont even say something when they die, no mid battle barks, nothing to give them the slightest bit of extra characterization they sorely need. they become juiced up on the phazon and thats it. dark samus has a cool design and some neat animations, and i think they could have made her scarier, like the sa-x, but she does not feel threatening at all, especially given the game is super easy. at least she has a very cool theme song. thankfully, despite being easy, all boss fights have multiple stages that add some flavor, but it feels predictable knowing that at half health they do a new thing, and at about a quarter they enter hypermode. whatever, they commit to having more attack patterns, im down for it.

for some reason they make beams a linear upgrade path which was really disconcerting after 1 and 2, and as such the fighting becomes a bit more simplistic, but thanks to wii remote aiming, theres is more actual fps mechanical skill involved, which is welcome given im playing it with primehack. this results in fairer hitboxes on enemies, and more creative shooting challenges. i guess thats the reason they didnt focus on alternate beams.

the only really visually cool area is the skytown, and this comes at the cost of it being the most linear metroid area ive seen yet without playing other M. the fuel gel planet had some cool and clever puzzles, and the pirate homeworl was kinda neat but it does not have the creativity of the fortress from 2. music in general is not very catchy either.

finally, i felt there were a lot of bullshit one or two use case items in prime 1 and 2, but this game takes the cake, with the phazon overcharge whip which is used a grand total of 3 times. the hypermode morph ball area of effect attack that is used like 5 times, etc. at least the xray visor has some neat uses when you get the nova beam which phases thru walls, but overall, this feels more artificial barrier like than most metroid before it. and they bring back the worthless fuckin multirocket thing, and take away the sick as gently caress charge beam combos.

a bit bland, but i wouldnt say its bad. also they really tried hard to show the wii is NEXT GEN by having so much goddamn fuckin blur and bloom and browns.

Its really telling that one of the things I liked most about MP3 was just doing all the motion control levers and button pressing

# ? Feb 17, 2024 02:49

extremebuff: Jun 20, 2010

ArfJason posted:

oh yeah i forgot to mention i beat metroid prime 3 before i started playing the bomberman games

i wasnt expecting a lot, so it managed to beat those expectations by being solid enough, but still not particularly great or interesting.
hypermode felt like a cheat, and youre never truly starving for health. i didnt die once in the game, but maybe thats due to rebalancing in the trilogy.
the ability to fly between different points should make the maps the most interconnected theyve been yet, cause each landing zone would, in theory, be like a room with 10 doors leading to any other landing zone, with a loading screen in between. sadly in practice this means that between each landing zone theres a series of rooms back to back in a hallway, with few hubs that branch off in different ways, and then one of the branches goes on into a dead end with a landing zone. this helped ease some of the backtracking, which by the end of prime 2 felt like a bit of a drag.

one of the things i knew going in was that this game features Text Boxes, so theres more character and dialogue than ever, which feels antithetical to metroids lone exploratory feel. i guess that bridge has already been crossed with the constant interruptions from scan visor, which in this game are taken up to eleven, with multiple identical terminals that function as on/off switches having a separate scan for each state. this gets old fast, but is optional so whatever.

for how much more of a focus there is on characters, they all fall very flat because theres no time to know them. maybe for you thats a blessing, but given theyre a sort of focus i think they needed to work them better. they dont even say something when they die, no mid battle barks, nothing to give them the slightest bit of extra characterization they sorely need. they become juiced up on the phazon and thats it. dark samus has a cool design and some neat animations, and i think they could have made her scarier, like the sa-x, but she does not feel threatening at all, especially given the game is super easy. at least she has a very cool theme song. thankfully, despite being easy, all boss fights have multiple stages that add some flavor, but it feels predictable knowing that at half health they do a new thing, and at about a quarter they enter hypermode. whatever, they commit to having more attack patterns, im down for it.

for some reason they make beams a linear upgrade path which was really disconcerting after 1 and 2, and as such the fighting becomes a bit more simplistic, but thanks to wii remote aiming, theres is more actual fps mechanical skill involved, which is welcome given im playing it with primehack. this results in fairer hitboxes on enemies, and more creative shooting challenges. i guess thats the reason they didnt focus on alternate beams.

the only really visually cool area is the skytown, and this comes at the cost of it being the most linear metroid area ive seen yet without playing other M. the fuel gel planet had some cool and clever puzzles, and the pirate homeworl was kinda neat but it does not have the creativity of the fortress from 2. music in general is not very catchy either.

finally, i felt there were a lot of bullshit one or two use case items in prime 1 and 2, but this game takes the cake, with the phazon overcharge whip which is used a grand total of 3 times. the hypermode morph ball area of effect attack that is used like 5 times, etc. at least the xray visor has some neat uses when you get the nova beam which phases thru walls, but overall, this feels more artificial barrier like than most metroid before it. and they bring back the worthless fuckin multirocket thing, and take away the sick as gently caress charge beam combos.

a bit bland, but i wouldnt say its bad. also they really tried hard to show the wii is NEXT GEN by having so much goddamn fuckin blur and bloom and browns.

mp3 has a lot of problems, even if the combat is an upgrade everything else takes 2 steps back. agree w everything you said

also not only is the bad multi missile back, there is also a big stupid backtracking fetch quest to go grab it like in 2. just loving pure resent for the player lmao

----------------
This thread brought to you by a tremendous dickhead!

# ? Feb 17, 2024 03:45

ArfJason: Sep 5, 2011

extremebuff posted:

mp3 has a lot of problems, even if the combat is an upgrade everything else takes 2 steps back. agree w everything you said

also not only is the bad multi missile back, there is also a big stupid backtracking fetch quest to go grab it like in 2. just loving pure resent for the player lmao

its such a joke that in all the prime games you get a variant of the xray visor which is entirely there to be used once or twice to see an invisible platform here and there. in 2 its the echo visor so you can view arbitrarily placed points to shoot at, and they make you do a music puzzle twice. such lame progress gating.

# ? Feb 17, 2024 04:17

Knuc U Kinte: Aug 17, 2004

Baldurs gate iii Honour mode. Lesbian drow shadowheart romance. Suicide bomber ending. Only took 1000 hours of restarts.

# ? Feb 17, 2024 05:31

Pablo Nergigante: Apr 16, 2002

Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster. Been a while since I played through the first game, this is a pretty good version

# ? Feb 17, 2024 05:43

Roth: Jul 9, 2016

1-20: https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?noseen=0&threadid=4050853&perpage=40&pagenumber=17#post537514857

21. Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island
22. Sonic the Hedgehog
23. Sonic CD
24. Sonic the Hedgehog 2

Way better than 1 maybe a bit better than CD. Death Egg Zone was mostly just frustrating.

# ? Feb 17, 2024 08:49

Bicyclops: Aug 27, 2004

Pablo Nergigante posted:

Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster. Been a while since I played through the first game, this is a pretty good version

I like that all the changes are subtle enough that it still feels like the same game, but it also has a ton less grind.

# ? Feb 17, 2024 15:30

Joey McChrist: Aug 8, 2005

6) final fantasy IX

# ? Feb 17, 2024 21:30

rodbeard: Jul 21, 2005

3. Dark Souls 2

# ? Feb 17, 2024 22:35

extremebuff: Jun 20, 2010

ArfJason posted:

its such a joke that in all the prime games you get a variant of the xray visor which is entirely there to be used once or twice to see an invisible platform here and there. in 2 its the echo visor so you can view arbitrarily placed points to shoot at, and they make you do a music puzzle twice. such lame progress gating.

are you planning to play other m. there is nothing redeeming about that game besides some of the later upgrades look cool, but playing through it was like shoveling poo poo forever

----------------
This thread brought to you by a tremendous dickhead!

# ? Feb 18, 2024 06:36

mbt: Aug 13, 2012

yakuza 0. i held my composure until the post credits scene but that broke me. i just want majima to be happy.

# ? Feb 18, 2024 06:45

ArfJason: Sep 5, 2011

extremebuff posted:

are you planning to play other m. there is nothing redeeming about that game besides some of the later upgrades look cool, but playing through it was like shoveling poo poo forever

There are too many good and or interesting games to waste time on something that seems functional but mediocre

----------------
This thread brought to you by a tremendous dickhead!

# ? Feb 18, 2024 09:04

Wormskull: Aug 23, 2009

ArfJason posted:

There are too many good and or interesting games to waste time on something that seems functional but mediocre

Objectively speaking, all gaming is a waste of time. Now STFU and buy it. You don�t have to play more than an hour, but it would mean a lot to the devs and the community.

# ? Feb 18, 2024 15:59

ArfJason: Sep 5, 2011

I will not hear this from the guy playing free game league who wont buy the horrifying disgusting baby dragon champion that diaper furries love. For all the support soraka youre playing you sure arent supporting the people most in need; the devs..

----------------
This thread brought to you by a tremendous dickhead!

# ? Feb 18, 2024 18:06

Wormskull: Aug 23, 2009

ArfJason posted:

I will not hear this from the guy playing free game league who wont buy the horrifying disgusting baby dragon champion that diaper furries love. For all the support soraka youre playing you sure arent supporting the people most in need; the devs..

I own 15 Soraka skins bro.

# ? Feb 18, 2024 18:06

fadam: Apr 23, 2008

1) A Plague Tale: Innocence
2) Dragon Quest 1 (GBC)
3) HI-Fi Rush
4) A Plague Tale: Requiem
5) Secret of Evermore

Amazing sprite work and music, and the writing make me lol a few times. Playing it sucked tho: 2/5.

# ? Feb 18, 2024 18:12

ArfJason: Sep 5, 2011

Wormskull posted:

I own 15 Soraka skins bro.

Not good enough. The devs need all the help they can get. But the disgusting dragon. Now.

----------------
This thread brought to you by a tremendous dickhead!

# ? Feb 18, 2024 18:22

I got the tude now: Jul 22, 2007

fadam posted:

1) A Plague Tale: Innocence
2) Dragon Quest 1 (GBC)
3) HI-Fi Rush
4) A Plague Tale: Requiem
5) Secret of Evermore

Amazing sprite work and music, and the writing make me lol a few times. Playing it sucked tho: 2/5.

that's accurate lol. what a shame

# ? Feb 18, 2024 18:25

Bicyclops: Aug 27, 2004

I'm pretty sure secret of evermore was purchased almost exclusively by people who thought it was a sequel to secret of mana

# ? Feb 18, 2024 18:50

absolutely anything: Dec 28, 2006; ~As for dreams, she has enough and more to spare~

ArfJason posted:

There are too many good and or interesting games to waste time on something that seems functional but mediocre

mediocre is generous

# ? Feb 18, 2024 18:56

Half of Dracula: Oct 24, 2008; Perhaps the same could be

Bicyclops posted:

I'm pretty sure secret of evermore was purchased almost exclusively by people who thought it was a sequel to secret of mana

That's why I got it

# ? Feb 18, 2024 18:59

In Training: Jun 28, 2008

Wormskull posted:

Objectively speaking, all gaming is a waste of time. Now STFU and buy it. You don’t have to play more than an hour, but it would mean a lot to the devs and the community.

This. And if you don't comply. We have ways of changing your mind

# ? Feb 18, 2024 20:12

super sweet best pal: Nov 18, 2009

Bicyclops posted:

I'm pretty sure secret of evermore was purchased almost exclusively by people who thought it was a sequel to secret of mana

They should've just translated Seiken Densetsu 3.

# ? Feb 18, 2024 20:13

Wormskull: Aug 23, 2009

super sweet best pal posted:

They should've just translated Seiken Densetsu 3.

gently caress off until you have a better avatar. This. Ends. NOW!

# ? Feb 18, 2024 20:39

bees x1000: Jun 11, 2020

I liked Evermore as a kid :shrug:

# ? Feb 18, 2024 20:41

Wormskull: Aug 23, 2009

bees x1000 posted:

I liked Evermore as a kid

That�s fine. Just make sure you�re showing the devs some love too.

# ? Feb 18, 2024 20:46

berenzen: Jan 23, 2012

4)Paper Mario: I started playing this after dropping Jet Force Gemini because the n64 controls on the switch are dogshit and make the game control even worse than on the original n64 somehow. Fun little nostalgic romp, and a classic for a reason. Looking forward to the Thousand Year Door remaster. Gonna have to emulate JFG I think if I want to go replay it.

5)Mario Kart 8+Expansion Pack DLC: 3-starred every race on all ccs. Finally finished this, though it's taken me a while of on and off play. Got the last grand prix while playing with my wife, which was fun to celebrate and exult with her.

# ? Feb 18, 2024 20:53

Pablo Nergigante: Apr 16, 2002

Wormskull posted:

gently caress off until you have a better avatar. This. Ends. NOW!

This. Support the site.

# ? Feb 18, 2024 22:13

fadam: Apr 23, 2008

1) A Plague Tale: Innocence
2) Dragon Quest 1 (GBC)
3) HI-Fi Rush
4) A Plague Tale: Requiem
5) Secret of Evermore
6) Granblue Fantasy: Relink (Final Chapter Credits)

Really fun game. Looking forward to endgame, I hear it is very MH-esque.

# ? Feb 19, 2024 00:08

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? May 20, 2024 19:46

absolutely anything: Dec 28, 2006; ~As for dreams, she has enough and more to spare~

19) super mario 64 (n64, 120 stars)

anyone ever heard of this

# ? Feb 19, 2024 01:39

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > Imp Zone > Games Beat - 2024

«‹›46 »