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 Hello yes welcome to Let's Play Titan Souls! So I've sort of been meaning to get back into LPing and this game has sort of really captured my attention in a lot of ways because it's really really good! Developed initially by indie outfit Acid Nerve as part of a Ludum Dare game jam, Titan Souls is a very beautiful, very difficult action game starring an arrow and bow and some guy toting them around, murdering colossal beings of yore. If it sounds familiar, trust me, it is. The entire game consists of sprawling, empty fields and very difficult boss fights meant to achieve somewhat questionable goals. The only thing we're really missing here is a horse. Now before the words "difficult indie game" scare you away, I have to say I find the game really intriguing for a lot of reasons, and that while it received middling reviews (as far as game reviews go, anyway) the gameplay is actually incredibly deep and engaging. While there are unquestionably some totally bullshit encounters, most of the battles become surprisingly complex mixes of quick-trigger shooting, just-barely-made-it dodging, and analyzing just how these giant monsters act and react. It's all very fun if you attack it with the right mindset. It also takes the very Dark Soulsy route of all but hiding its story from you, giving it to you in little bits and pieces and really forcing you to put everything together in the middle of a decaying - but beautiful - pixel art world. I'm kind of flying by the seat my my pants with this whole thing, and I have a lot of Thoughts about game design and storytelling and art direction and so much that I can't really keep it all in my head, so hey, let's get started! Videos 1 - Heart and Soul 2 - Flowers and Shrooms 3 - Ancient Ruins 4 - Lethal Lava Land oh yeah, and please: no spoilers. Like, not even black text asking me if I'm going to show off x, y, and z. Just keep the conversation to what we have seen already, or general thoughts and feelings about the game Vicas fucked around with this message at 17:05 on Jul 23, 2015 |
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Jul 15, 2015 04:46
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I heard a lot of mixed opinions about this game but I've never played it myself. It seems pretty neat though. I like the unique mechanic of "one shot (but not necessarily) one kill".
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Jul 15, 2015 05:04
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When I first heard of this game, I thought it was another entry into the Souls series, like a weird sequel to Demon's/Dark Souls. I'm glad I was wrong, though. This seems far more interesting!
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Jul 15, 2015 05:11
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I love Titan Souls. I just wish it did more to make the titans sympathetic. Or, maybe, that it wouldn't expect you to be sympathetic towards them so much. This is another in the recent trend of indie games that are built with speedrunning in mind, too, which is why just about every single titan is like a puzzle to solve. Once you know how to kill them, it gets really fun to do so really quickly.
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Jul 15, 2015 05:12
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toddy. posted:I heard a lot of mixed opinions about this game but I've never played it myself. It seems pretty neat though. I like the unique mechanic of "one shot (but not necessarily) one kill". I'm not really the kind of person to day "they're playing it wrong," but as a bit of a compromise I will say that almost every review of this game I've read sort of seemed to... miss out on a lot the depth of the combat by boiling it down to "i tried to kill every titan as fast as possible and at some point these boss fights just seemed like random chance, so it's not great." And there are definitely fights that play out that way, but I think if there's one thing that really holds this whole game together, it's that if you're really paying attention, there's a ton of little details and weird quirks that you can abuse or even that you'll just feel really clever when you figure out, like that last titan's squashing hands swapping depending on where you are on the field It's a really frustrating game at times, but what I think it does better than almost any other game I've played is that beautiful catharsis that comes from finally making the One. Perfect. Shot. It's what's kept the game in my mind ever since I first played it a few months ago God, I should save this for a video
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Jul 15, 2015 05:14
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I really enjoyed this game when I played it. I beat it on PS4, but I ended up buying it again on Steam so I could get the soundtrack. I'm kind of sad that it seems to have dropped off everyone's radar fairly quickly, at least as far as I can tell, but I do understand why.
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Jul 15, 2015 05:27
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Really the complaint I hear the most was just the walking back to boss fights, and while I can understand it since it can be tedious to go two seconds into a boss fight, die, and then have to walk 20 seconds back....I just took it as a part of the game after a while. I mean if people were using the Souls comparison, there was a poo poo ton of walking and dealing with respawning mobs in that, and people just learned to deal with it. Sigh, I need to go back and finish this game because there was just a point that I hit a brick wall pretty hard; hopefully maybe I can pick up some pointers. Also, were you planning on trying any of the challenge achievements for the boss?
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Jul 15, 2015 05:29
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Vicas posted:It's a really frustrating game at times, but what I think it does better than almost any other game I've played is that beautiful catharsis that comes from finally making the One. Perfect. Shot. That's absolutely one of the best parts of the game. It's like backstabbing/parrying a black knight, plus getting two tetrises in a row, plus beating an entire Meat Boy world without letting go of the run button. Niggurath posted:Really the complaint I hear the most was just the walking back to boss fights, and while I can understand it since it can be tedious to go two seconds into a boss fight, die, and then have to walk 20 seconds back....I just took it as a part of the game after a while. I mean if people were using the Souls comparison, there was a poo poo ton of walking and dealing with respawning mobs in that, and people just learned to deal with it. The people who complain about that tend to point out that there was at least something to do in the run back of the Souls series, but I still don't agree with it. A key part of Shadow of the Colossus that most people miss and that this game also captures is the juxtaposition of being utterly alone in a vast, empty world and the excitement of each boss fight, and the 20-50 seconds of solitude in each run back is necessary to emphasise that.
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Jul 15, 2015 05:52
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toddy. posted:I heard a lot of mixed opinions about this game but I've never played it myself. It seems pretty neat though. I like the unique mechanic of "one shot (but not necessarily) one kill". There was one single boss that had such a small hit window I was convinced I was doing something wrong, but it turned out I was just a few frames off, so I got really frustrated. Other than that one incident this game ruled all the way through.
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Jul 15, 2015 06:20
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like most of the posts so far, this game sounds like a mix of two of my favourite games... but has bad reviews (they especially harp on the fact that the game is short). I'm excited to see if this game lives up to how excited I was when I first learned about it. how hard is this game? (I know that's a terrible question, but I'm not sure how else to ask it)
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Jul 15, 2015 06:38
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This game really blew me away when it first came out. I'm not usually big on hyper-difficult, constant-insta-death games but something about its atmosphere pushed me on- very reminiscent of Shadow of the Colossus, which is something I can never get enough of. I'm kind of shocked and saddened to hear that it wasn't very well-received!  Had no idea. Couple frustratingly finnicky bosses, and I never quite finished it, but... drat, I should really go back and finish it!
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Jul 15, 2015 07:02
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From what I've seen this looked like a really cheap attempt to cash in on the fame of Dark Souls and Shadow of the Colossus, here's hoping I'll be proven wrong.
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Jul 15, 2015 08:17
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Good news, I was able to admit I was just terrible at the game. Bad news, terrible at the game. Even without a growing collection of Xbox 360 controllers that gaining the habit of drifting slightly to the left on the left stick instead of remaining neutral. So it should be nice to watch somebody at least get through the trip 
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Jul 15, 2015 10:41
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Ok so I will fully admit that my main impetus to buy this game was because the lead artist managed to make TotalBiscuit all pissy and whine for 5 solid minutes about "ethics" on soundcloud, but this game is actually really good, even if I didn't beat the final boss.
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Jul 15, 2015 11:24
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Well I'm sold after how clever an idea the cube boss was.anilEhilated posted:From what I've seen this looked like a really cheap attempt to cash in on the fame of Dark Souls and Shadow of the Colossus, here's hoping I'll be proven wrong. It's kind of okay in the context that the original version was made for a contest where you make a game from idea to finish in One Day. Inco posted:Ok so I will fully admit that my main impetus to buy this game was because the lead artist managed to make TotalBiscuit all pissy and whine for 5 solid minutes about "ethics" on soundcloud, but this game is actually really good, even if I didn't beat the final boss. Why was this totalbiscuit mad, how is this game unethical
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Jul 15, 2015 12:47
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Section Z posted:Bad news, terrible at the game. Even without a growing collection of Xbox 360 controllers that gaining the habit of drifting slightly to the left on the left stick instead of remaining neutral. A fun game to play with this LP will be noticing when my old-rear end 360 controller is doing that
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Jul 15, 2015 13:43
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The frozen brain is maybe my favorite moment in the game, just because of how hilariously definitive the fight tends to be the first few times. *tink* SPLAT I'd disagree with the whole "dark souls cash-in" thing - I mean it's a difficult game (that final boss! - actually, that second to final boss!), but other than souls being something you can absorb, I dunno, I don't really see it as a carbon copy. And I feel confident that the statute of limitations has run out for Shadow of the Colossus. Maybe the tone is somewhat the same? It doesn't feel lazy to me. And the totalbiscuit thing isn't really anything besides "tb said he didn't like it, one dev said 'good, I don't like tb', and tb went WELL I'M NOT REVIEWING IT THEN". It was just a childish whinefest all around.
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Jul 15, 2015 14:53
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Bacter posted:I'd disagree with the whole "dark souls cash-in" thing - I mean it's a difficult game (that final boss! - actually, that second to final boss!), but other than souls being something you can absorb, I dunno, I don't really see it as a carbon copy. And I feel confident that the statute of limitations has run out for Shadow of the Colossus. Maybe the tone is somewhat the same? It doesn't feel lazy to me.
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Jul 15, 2015 15:07
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Bacter posted:The frozen brain is maybe my favorite moment in the game, just because of how hilariously definitive the fight tends to be the first few times. Yeah, I kinda let that happen in the videos but it does happen so fast that you literally will die if you're not already moving as soon as you fire your arrow. It's the kind of thing that could totally feel cheap but when it first happened to me after I was all hyped up from beating the slime all I could really do was crack up. Like alright, that's how you wanna play, game UseBees posted:like most of the posts so far, this game sounds like a mix of two of my favourite games... but has bad reviews (they especially harp on the fact that the game is short). I'm excited to see if this game lives up to how excited I was when I first learned about it. This game requires a combination of very fast reflexes, very keen observation, and very quick plan making. All of these can sort of be circumvented by just banging your head against the titans enough to get one extremely lucky shot, but it's an extremely frustrating way to play the game. All in all the game really straddles that line between "incredibly bullshit hard" and "too simple to be engaging because everything dies in one hit" and while there are certainly titans on either side of that divide, I'd say that (for me, at least) most of them fall into a really nice middle ground that makes for extremely engaging gameplay quote:<TotalBisquik talk> Let's just not talk about this Niggurath posted:Really the complaint I hear the most was just the walking back to boss fights, and while I can understand it since it can be tedious to go two seconds into a boss fight, die, and then have to walk 20 seconds back....I just took it as a part of the game after a while. I mean if people were using the Souls comparison, there was a poo poo ton of walking and dealing with respawning mobs in that, and people just learned to deal with it. Sigh, I need to go back and finish this game because there was just a point that I hit a brick wall pretty hard; hopefully maybe I can pick up some pointers. I actually spend nearly much half the next video talking about why the salty runbacks to boss fights are actually a really important to the overall structure of the game, so we'll definitely have time to talk about this anilEhilated posted:It's more the name and the fact they even use a similar logo - guy in weird armor standing under the letters, difficulty as a selling point and so on. It also looks like an RPG maker game which definitely doesn't do it any favors. It is absolutely a game that borrows hugely from the feel and play of both Dark Souls and Shadow of the Colossus and doesn't even attempt to hide it, but I think what sets this game apart is that the actual experience of playing the game is very different from either. In Shadow of the Colossus, bosses are puzzles and while they can kill you, you're given the necessary time and breathing room to actually think everything through and plan your route of attack. In Titan Souls, once that battle starts you're going to be 100% focused on surviving the opening onslaught and getting your arrow back; any thinking time you get afterwards will be scant small and limited to "where should I be moving next, should I be running or trying to roll, should I shoot at it or try to hit it by pulling my arrow back (which is an option)?" Meanwhile, where Dark Souls does have grand, epic boss fights, the overall push of the game is about fighting the levels you're in, being able to beat series of mobs and push farther and farther until you finally make it to another respite. Titan Souls condenses all of that, maybe 10 rooms of endurance, into single fights that can last anywhere from 3 seconds to several tense minutes, and the rush you get from pushing all that way and finally seeing a bonfire gets pushed into that single moment where you hear the unmistakable sound of your arrow striking true (the sound design in this game is incredible, by the way) Again, I have lots of thoughts about this game, and hopefully I'll get the chance to get them all out in video form over the course of this LP
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Jul 15, 2015 15:55
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Yeah, as I said, looking forward to be proven wrong about this one since the concept of a boss rush game seems interesting but very dependent on the actual design.
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Jul 15, 2015 16:13
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The game is really fun and challenging but I can't ever get myself past the fact that the design concept was basically "Shadow of the Colossus but with sprites"
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Jul 15, 2015 16:50
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I don't get how it resembles SOTC beyond the aesthetic. I finished SOTC, and so far this game's gameplay itself doesn't have you searching through a massive forest to find giant stone totem animals that you climb on and stab on a series of weakpoints. Well maybe if you miniaturize the concept until the resemblance is meaningless (walk to a door to shoot a big thing in one weakpoint somehow, but no climbing or anything). And so far the bosses are pretty original anyway, there was nothing resembling cube puzzle boss or sludge heart in sotc.
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Jul 15, 2015 17:34
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Acne Rain posted:I don't get how it resembles SOTC beyond the aesthetic.
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Jul 15, 2015 17:41
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Acne Rain posted:I don't get how it resembles SOTC beyond the aesthetic. You are a lone adventurer, wandering a peaceful, beautiful world in order to encounter giant boss monsters, who you almost always deliver the first blow against, before fighting them armed with only a bow and your wits, puzzling out the boss's weakness before defeating them with a precise blow, after which the boss's essence or something is absorbed into you and you're not quite sure what just happened, as the game only ever feeds you small tidbits of information.
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Jul 15, 2015 17:55
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I've been very interested in this game, just not picked it up at all yet. The previews kinda jazzed me and I'm fine if it's derivative, because it's derivative of two games I really love. It'd have to suck in other ways to be disappointing.
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Jul 15, 2015 18:28
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I am really diggin' everything about this game thus far. I really enjoy the art, aesthetic, game-play, and tone. It does seem like it is some sort of 2D pixel Shadow of the Colossus style game and that is probably one of my favorite games I have ever played.  Thank you for bringing to my attention this beauty.I am really thinking about buying this game right now, but I would much rather wait for the next video to come out before I make a solid decision. I also would like to know if this is a long game that I should invest a bit of time into or just a quick game to play over a weekend.
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Jul 15, 2015 19:02
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This is decidedly not a long game. I won't give you an exact total of titans you fight in the game but it's in the teens. If you go in with forward knowledge (such as watching this LP) you can really complete the game quite quickly because a lot of time that goes into fighting titans is just figuring out what the best way to get that perfect shot off is. I'm actually deliberately taking my time on some of these to show their behaviors a little better, and there are definitely some bosses you'll actually be able to beat first try with a little bit of luck I would recommend waiting one more video if $15 seems too dire to just blindly throw at it, since the four titans we handled in this video really are just the tutorial, and the ones in the next video will give you a better idea of what the game comes to
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Jul 15, 2015 19:22
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Bacter posted:The frozen brain is maybe my favorite moment in the game, just because of how hilariously definitive the fight tends to be the first few times. It was very comforting to see "Boss fight starte  " represented in a natrual manner in this LP, yes. Though I also see he did not get crushed by the brain once it thawed out like I did  While I'm terrible at (Beaten does not = Good At) Dark souls, I can see where you are coming from. Though the SotC stylistic vibe gives them more DS credit than a lot of games screaming "It's like dark souls  " at the top of their lungs purely for PR reasons. So at the very least, the comparisons are not unwarranted even if there are no significant mechanical similarities not long in use before DS came along.
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Jul 15, 2015 20:46
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Section Z posted:It was very comforting to see "Boss fight starte I have been super crushed by the brain before but I had such a good shot while I was playing that I couldn't really help myself. What I like about the ice cube kill is that it really is so fast that even if you know it's coming it can still clip you, so it's very easy to fit it into a video
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Jul 15, 2015 21:00
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I actually think the IceBrain fight being so early is kind of genius. This first area is supposed to be kind of a proving ground, or mini-tutorial. Slimedude teaches you that boss fights can get harder as they go along, and icebrain teaches you to a) use your surroundings and b) never expect to have enough time to scope out a boss once a fight starts.
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Jul 15, 2015 21:06
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That music is absolutely fantastic
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Jul 15, 2015 21:19
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Oh geez, the post boss absorbing scene is incredibly terribad, everything about it, the visuals and sound effects, just seem to clash with everything else we've seen in the game so far. Being subjected to it after every boss isn't doing it any favors in regards to being hilariously out of place
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Jul 15, 2015 22:04
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I thought it seemed alright but I can't figure out what happens to our arrow when we kill a boss. Do we have to absorb it back or do we just get it back somehow? Why does this bug me?
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Jul 15, 2015 22:08
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The main complaint I've heard on this game is that its just not worth the price tag for X bosses and basically 0 other content. I'd tend to agree but I'll be watching.
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Jul 15, 2015 22:19
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Color Printer posted:I thought it seemed alright but I can't figure out what happens to our arrow when we kill a boss. Do we have to absorb it back or do we just get it back somehow? Why does this bug me? The arrow gets stuck in them when you make the killshot. You have to hold your "return arrow" button to yank it out of the dead boss. Or at least, that's how I'm remembering it. The "Tutorial" is as far as I've beaten
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Jul 15, 2015 22:36
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That's one hell of an arrow.
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Jul 16, 2015 00:02
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Sum Mors posted:The main complaint I've heard on this game is that its just not worth the price tag for X bosses and basically 0 other content. I'd tend to agree but I'll be watching. Steam sales, fellow goon, Steam sales.
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Jul 16, 2015 00:03
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Eh, it's like $8 over at Nuuvem right now if anyone wants it. Or you can still try the original prototype for the game: http://clawmark.itch.io/titan-souls VVVVVV Oh yeah, I wasn't trying to say that the game wasn't worth full admission, just that if it was a roadblock to people there are cheaper ways to get it without having to wait till a holiday steam sale. discworld is all I read fucked around with this message at 00:33 on Jul 16, 2015 |
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Jul 16, 2015 00:14
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Niggurath posted:Eh, it's like $8 over at Nuuvem right now if anyone wants it. Or you can still try the original prototype for the game: http://clawmark.itch.io/titan-souls Yeah, honestly, in this age of steam sales on games that are already $15 I find cost/time arguments sort of... maybe not unnecessary but at least not as bad as buying a $60 game and not feeling satisfied I've certainly played the game longer than most people who aren't speedrunners, and I'm only at 10 hours, but I certainly feel like I've gotten a ton of enjoyment out of it and it's made me think a ton about game design and atmosphere and minimalist storytelling
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Jul 16, 2015 00:29
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HenryEx posted:Oh geez, the post boss absorbing scene is incredibly terribad, everything about it, the visuals and sound effects, just seem to clash with everything else we've seen in the game so far. Being subjected to it after every boss isn't doing it any favors in regards to being hilariously out of place How so? I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm just saying I don't see it right away.
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Jul 16, 2015 01:09
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