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Cardiovorax posted:Say what you want about stagnation, but at least IGA never stooped down to the level of making yet another tired and formulaic God of War clone. Are you forgetting Lament of Innocence?
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Mar 31, 2014 05:11
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Crowetron posted:Are you forgetting Lament of Innocence? Lament of Innocence was more a Devil May Cry clone than a God of War clone.
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Mar 31, 2014 05:28
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Getsuya posted:Lament of Innocence was more a Devil May Cry clone than a God of War clone. Now, I never played LoI, but what the hell is the difference between those? Guns? edit: I guess DMC doesn't have QTEs, but that's really it.
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Mar 31, 2014 07:15
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Anatharon posted:Metroidvania games were selling acceptably, and OoE was the best selling portable one, iirc. Nah, the handheld games were on a steep decline in terms of sales (and I doubt Mirror of Fate did much to turn it around). They were prestigious and popular but they weren't selling anywhere near what they used to, for a whole bunch of reasons.
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Mar 31, 2014 07:21
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anilEhilated posted:Now, I never played LoI, but what the hell is the difference between those? Guns? That said, older Castlevanias really remind do me more of Dark Souls than either GoW or DMC, you get little variety in attacks and you really gotta make them count, and if you jump you're basically hosed, the oldschool type of combat where every action counts. edit: There was a really unfortunate typo here, it's gone now. Pizdec fucked around with this message at 13:16 on Mar 31, 2014 |
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Mar 31, 2014 07:41
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anilEhilated posted:Now, I never played LoI, but what the hell is the difference between those? Guns? Actually that was the main difference I was thinking of as well. But to me that's a pretty freaking huge difference. It's the main reason I prefer LoI to LoS. That and the fact that the enemies aren't meatwalls. Also the unlockable characters are fun to play as.
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Mar 31, 2014 08:11
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 Update!   Alrighty, finally update time! Point of Interest: This game is ragged on (rightfully so) for being EXTREMELY vague when it comes to the actual plot in the beginning. Reading the lore that we have access to helps, but is still pretty damned vague. However, if you're interested in knowing the sordid details up to this point, I'd suggest thumbing through the Lore in OP, as it mostly serves to keep this game's cluster-gently caress of a story SOMEWHAT in line! I'll try to have the next update up tomorrow wrapping up Chapter 1, (since we skipped one last week, try and make up for it to catch back up). Considering the length of the game, and our scheduling, I'm thinking 2 updates a week will keep this moving along at a nice enough pace. That's about as fast as we can make this work, considering scheduling, recording, and editing; and that should also keep this from being an obnoxiously lengthy thread as well! The various sub-chapters (stages) in this game vary wildly in length, so I'm using the general rule that if I can squeeze in 2 stages and have the video approx. 30 minutes then great, but if not, keep it at a 1 stage video so it's not massively long. Unless you guys would prefer another way?  Also gently caress it, this was just a joke, but now it's the OP image. By the end of the thread, hopefully we can transform Gabriel into the definitive goon, just hope he has enough experience to go Plat.  Anatharon posted:Metroidvania games were selling acceptably, and OoE was the best selling portable one, iirc. I bet they'd have done even better if they got a bigger budget then the average high school science fair project. You'll get no argument whatsoever from me on that. I don't want to give off the wrong impression that I just absolutely hate the IGA games, as it's quite the opposite. I enjoy just about every one, with the exception of Judgement, LoI, and Harmony of Dissonance (gently caress that game looked ugly, even by GBA standards), and no doubt that with a higher budget, he could have probably produced something pretty damned good. Unfortunately that was never the case, and while I think that most of the IGA handheld games were pretty good, for whatever reason, budget restraints, laziness, lunar alignment...they all used not only the same formula, but a good portion of the exact same aesthetics as well. So for the majority of people, outside of the "above average" CV fans, it was just copy&paste, the reason behind it didn't matter. Hence the dropping sales (plus, being handheld only contributed to this a lot as well! Pizdec posted:This game really is the AAA reboot with all its vagaries - playing it safe by cramming as much elements from other popular games/movies as possible, more grim/dramatic story (by high school fanfic writer standards of drama), beautiful graphics, standard mix of combat-platforming-puzzles, fairly polished gameplay, varied but simplistic action setpieces and of course QTE's up the rear end. it's a competent brawler, but for me Castlevania, for all of its supposed stagnation, is still one of the most unique experiences in gaming, and it's a shame it was replaced by something so bland. LoS copies so much from so many sources that it should start feeling fresh again by way of being such an eclectic mish-mash, but somehow doesn't. GodDAMN the QTE's are obnoxious in this game. I'm not a big fan of them in any respect really, save for very, VERY select situations, and this game abuses them to no end. Which is hilarious, as when they began development, they had the intention of specifically AVOIDING QTE's. I'm still emailing around trying to get some official answer as to why here, as well as some other hopefully interesting things to possibly set up for the thread. And I think you hit it. This game plays well, no major bugs with any of the systems, and while I don't think this game in particular failed as a reboot (the series? Oh hell yes, LoS 2 brought this little house of cards tumbling down quickly), it wasn't a blinding success either. That said, I still enjoy the hell out of it. As far as the combo's go, this game is almost entirely beatable by abusing nothing but the basic direct attack combo. Couple that with some adept synch-blocking, and you've got a winning game. The combos you can unlock are generally HIGHLY situational, BUT, in those specific situations, most of them can really shine and make you wonder why you never tried them before instead of just mashing Square. And yes, after LoS 1, I'd like to go through MoF as well, and hopefully LoS 2, if this little gig doesn't pull an IGA and stagnate!......Let me save you all the trouble with that one "  ".......I'll show myself out......quote:Devil May Cry vs. Lament of Innocence vs. God of War vs. Lords of Shadow I honestly never really understand these arguments to an extent. If the system that they're using works well, and a game comes along that uses the same system and either improves upon it in ways (I much prefer the combat in LoS as opposed to GoW), or simply utilizes it for the game, I don't understand just automatically counting that as a bad mark. Now let's get into some technical mumbo-jumbo. Calling a Castlevania game a ripoff of God of War is basically going full circle, as the designers of God of War stated that their combat system was influence in part by Lament of Innocence's. Then of course Devil May Cry was released before either of these games, so I guess they all completely cloned DMC. You can go on with arguments like this for a while, and eventually it'll come back to how MegaMan ripped off certain platforming elements from Mario and other nonsense like that. "MEGABUSTER?!?! gently caress THAT FIRE FLOWER COPY BULLSHIT!" BMS fucked around with this message at 06:52 on Apr 4, 2014 |
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Mar 31, 2014 18:32
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Both videos are set to private.
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Mar 31, 2014 18:34
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DeliciousCookie posted:Both videos are set to private. Fixed. Too much coffee, too little attention to what I'm doing!
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Mar 31, 2014 18:36
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BMS posted:
YES! I was about to post that you should make this the new OP image, and I'm glad you've already gone and done so. Awesome. EDIT: Pizdec posted:Faster combos and gameplay, larger variety of weapons and deeper combat in general, more focus on dodging and mobility, more focus on direct instead of area attacks, bigger rewards for mixing up your moves and of course harsher difficulty. Specifically, DMC is faster, has a larger variety of weapons and deeper combat in general (unless you're playing DmC, narf!), is more focussed on mobility, dodging, and direct attacks, and has bigger combo rewards and harsher difficulty. GoW tends to have less weapons, is slower, can be more a button masher/brawler-type game, has a larger focus on blocking and area attacks (less ranged weapons too), and tends to become more difficult by just ramping up enemy health. That said, GoW tends to look way nicer than DMC games, though Kratos is an infinitely less likeable protagonist than Dante. Least I think I got all that straight. It's been a while since I've played either series--barring the new DmC, which is kind of its own thing. Sally fucked around with this message at 19:31 on Mar 31, 2014 |
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Mar 31, 2014 19:26
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BMS posted:I honestly never really understand these arguments to an extent. If the system that they're using works well, and a game comes along that uses the same system and either improves upon it in ways (I much prefer the combat in LoS as opposed to GoW), or simply utilizes it for the game, I don't understand just automatically counting that as a bad mark. So when I say "I like Castlevania," what I mean is "I like the action-y explore-y jump-and-run-y sidescrolling Metroidvania gameplay that Castlevania has had since Symphony of the Night." It does not mean "I like every game that has the name Castlevania attached, no matter what it actually does." I never understand people who go "yeah, right, they changed it now it sucks.  " whenever someone points that out. I'm a customer, I want to buy a product that appeals to me. If you tried to sell me a piece of lettuce labeled "steak" I'd obviously not care for it, because it isn't what I want to buy.So the first reason I don't like LoS is because I don't want to play yet another God of War clone and am disappointed because I didn't get the gameplay I enjoyed in previous entries of the series. The second reason is that I think it doesn't even do it well. It doesn't innovate at all. LoS main distinguishing gameplay gimmick is the Light/Dark magic thingy, which is basically nothing of consequence whatsoever. You can use it for maybe a minute at a time and then you're back to bare-bones GoW gameplay. The plot is incoherent and terminally boring and the movement puzzles are unchallenging and bland. It's basically not worth playing on its own merits, in my opinion.
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Mar 31, 2014 20:56
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I love the commentary setup for this LP.  I laughed like an idiot whenever RSCNyx lost his poo poo at the game's hand-holding ways. It really is an atrocious tendency of modern gaming.The Bog is the closest this game has to a sewer level and it boggles my mind that they decided to use it as the first proper level. You get a taste of the game's combat in the tutorial, then an awesome chase scene, and you're all pumped up to whip some skeletons... and instead you get some slow, annoying platforming punctuated by "press X to stop zombie chicks from grabbing your holy rear end". Also, holy poo poo are goblins grenade-happy on higher difficulties, there is no way cutscene-Gabriel would survive with his sloth-like reflexes if the enemies behaved during that cutscene like they do during the gameplay. I also remember the grenade-throwing mechanic being kinda wonky, which is weird in an otherwise polished game, but it comes into play only a couple of times so it doesn't even matter. BMS posted:I'm using the general rule that if I can squeeze in 2 stages and have the video approx. 30 minutes then great, but if not, keep it at a 1 stage video so it's not massively long. Unless you guys would prefer another way? BMS posted:Which is hilarious, as when they began development, they had the intention of specifically AVOIDING QTE's. I'm still emailing around trying to get some official answer as to why here, as well as some other hopefully interesting things to possibly set up for the thread. I kinda have trouble believing that the developers were so adamant against putting QTEs in the game, since LoS wears it's GoW-clone mantle so proudly and blatantly. Maybe Kojima talked them out of it at some point and then they retalked themselves back into it, I don't know. BMS posted:Then of course Devil May Cry was released before either of these games, so I guess they all completely cloned DMC. Pizdec fucked around with this message at 21:59 on Mar 31, 2014 |
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Mar 31, 2014 21:44
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Regarding the Warg mention: in SotN, they're one of a myriad Lord of the Rings (well, Hobbit technically) references, and it basically carries over to any other CV from there. As for their were-horsedom, I... have no idea. I guess they're horses that turn into wolves at full moon?
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Mar 31, 2014 22:02
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I really hope the dude that designed the level got fired and can never find a job in the video game industry again. There is really no excuse for that kind of poo poo.
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Apr 1, 2014 03:21
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IGA isn't an acronym or an initialism, it's just the first 3 letters of his last name capitalized as per the old zany Japanese videogame end credits rules, much like Megaman's creator Keiji Inafune kept calling himself Inafking. Just pretend he's the current leader of a clan of ninjas.
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Apr 1, 2014 07:29
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It's interesting how the game handholds the poo poo out of you throughout the actual gameplay but they don't hold your hand at all for the story. They did actually give you enough story at the start to work out that Gabriel is some kind of church related monster-killing elite (A Witcher Inquisitor if you will) who is on a quest for revenge for a woman he once loved and possibly to try and bring her back from the dead because fantasy, maybe rescue her soul or something. This was technically explained in that little cutscene, it just didn't actually explain anything and instead threw a bunch of visual metaphors at us. It's like the game devs trusted the players to make complex intuitive narrative leaps but were unable to accept that those same people would be able to work out that if a ledge is glowing we can jump on it without being explicitly told.
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Apr 3, 2014 11:16
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To be fair "narrative leaps" is a pretty good way to describe the way this game's story works. Near the end it turns into narrative plunges.
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Apr 3, 2014 11:19
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Crowetron posted:Are you forgetting Lament of Innocence? That comparison might work if LoI didn't come out a full year and a half before God of War. Flytrap fucked around with this message at 19:55 on Apr 3, 2014 |
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Apr 3, 2014 19:53
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Neruz posted:It's interesting how the game handholds the poo poo out of you throughout the actual gameplay but they don't hold your hand at all for the story.
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Apr 3, 2014 22:13
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Feeling like you don't have a clue what's even going on or why you're even doing what you're doing is kind of a bad thing to most people. It's not about the mystery, it's that there isn't even a mystery. The game just pretends that it doesn't even have a plot for like the first half of it.
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Apr 3, 2014 22:27
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The game does give you a very general idea of what you doing, a deliberate stream of clues steady enough to keep you intrigued and a sense that the questions will be answered (and boy, will they). The beginning of LoS is nowhere near as confusing as, say, the whole of DMC2, which more closely fits what you're describing. It's a decent, if clumsy attempt at in medias res.
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Apr 3, 2014 23:36
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Pizdec posted:I really don't get the criticism that the slow build-up hurts the game, I honestly liked the mystery better than the retarded infodumps the plot vomits on you later on. Especially since the lore is interesting and the scrolls/info pages are far better writing-wise than the overblown cutscenes. It's not so much the slow build up, it's more, "Here's a bunch of terms. Now, go ahead and guess what they mean while we throw more obscure curveballs at you." Trust me when I say I'm really interested in seeing how it all ties together. Can't wait for that day to come! DMC2 is confusing in every way, not just the story. It's also really bad. A big problem with DMC2, though, is that hardly anyone talks. If I recall, Dante mostly speaks through horrible one-liners. Also, spoilers: Next update should be coming up tonight! I'M PUTTING PRESSURE ON BMS. RSCNyx fucked around with this message at 23:49 on Apr 3, 2014 |
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Apr 3, 2014 23:47
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DMC style combat is very different to God of War. There's much, much less focus on spectacle in visuals and far more in spectacle of what you can do. The controls offer a much greater variety of moves and it moves at a much faster pace, partially due to blocking being restricted to a style and being more of a parry mechanic then a real block. There's also a much bigger emphasis on your moves linking together in a natural way. GoW combat is a means to an end, a thing you do as part of the journey to the end of the game. DMC is the combat. That's what the entire game was built around and it really shows how different the two styles of brawlers are.
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Apr 3, 2014 23:49
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Pizdec posted:The game does give you a very general idea of what you doing, a deliberate stream of clues steady enough to keep you intrigued and a sense that the questions will be answered (and boy, will they). The beginning of LoS is nowhere near as confusing as, say, the whole of DMC2, which more closely fits what you're describing. It's a decent, if clumsy attempt at in medias res.
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Apr 3, 2014 23:57
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RSCNyx posted:Trust me when I say I'm really interested in seeing how it all ties together. Can't wait for that day to come! Chickenfrogman posted:DMC style combat is very different to God of War. There's much, much less focus on spectacle in visuals and far more in spectacle of what you can do. Cardiovorax posted:It's still kind of an admission of failure if you have to compare a game to a turd like that to make the writing seem good, though. Pizdec fucked around with this message at 00:13 on Apr 4, 2014 |
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Apr 4, 2014 00:11
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Update!   And with that, Chapter 1 is done! We're finally starting to get a bit of a handle on the plot, which is still very, VERY vague, but at least we're given SOMETHING after 5 stages in! Plus that boss fight....wow. I had been one to use the excuse, "well, at least this design is only used 3 times in the game", but looking at this, and then watching a video of the game which this boss is molded after...I'm fairly confident that is not a valid excuse. For that matter, I'm not sure if there IS a valid excuse for that! To top it all off, the way the boss is finished off, and the following cutscene, Gabriel just strolls along with this extremely pleased look on his face. I find this poo poo (Happens at the end of most every chapter, with minor differences here and there), to be hilarious given the context. What is Gabriel thinking about that's causing him to look so  Even so, with as many holes in the way this game is written, and the way it presents itself, I still enjoy the hell out of it. But enjoying it just isn't enough for me to overlook some of the glaring flaws of it. Although, it is pretty! The Artwork acquired for Chapter 1 is now in the second post of the thread. That's how I'll be releasing the artwork that's un-lockable, on a chapter by chapter basis. Secondly, the video of the trials on Paladin difficulty will be released at the END of their respective Chapters. The kicker with the Chapter 1 trials, is that one of them requires you to use a skill that we don't pick up until the end of Chapter 2, therefore I'm going to wait until we acquire said skill before releasing the video. Along those lines, since Lastly, upgrades. Since by the end of the game we'll have MORE than enough points to buy everything, I figured I'll let the thread decide which upgrades I get when available. There's a video below this paragraph detailing the skills that are currently available to us, and at the moment we have 1980 points to spend. So I'll leave upgrading Gabe's moves to the sole discretion of the thread. When we reach the approx. 2000 point mark, I'll post in the thread to decide another skill to get! DEMOCRACY HO! (Plus, I don't HAVE to buy an upgrade at each 2000 mark. If you want me to save up for a more expensive one, that works too!) I'll wait a couple of days after putting the upgrades to a vote before recording the next video, so there should be more than enough time to MAKE YOUR VOTE COUNT. It really doesn't, as 90% of the combos in this game aren't exactly stellar, and won't make a huge gameplay difference one way or the other, but it's the THOUGHT that counts! Skill/Combo Choices quote:Plot related discussion/DMC2 I think that, the bare bones premise of this story had a real chance or being The GoW clone view though. For me the system is different enough from it that I don't FEEL as though I'm playing a cloned combat system, and it's solid enough in it's own right for it to work well for me. The DMC2 thing though. Saying this game outshines that would be like stating the sun outshines the moon. Not really getting any high marks for this accomplishment...haha. BMS fucked around with this message at 00:47 on May 13, 2014 |
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Apr 4, 2014 06:55
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Haha, the moment I saw his face I was like "Sean Connery? ...In heavy makeup?  "
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Apr 4, 2014 07:41
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PaletteSwappedNinja posted:(and I doubt Mirror of Fate did much to turn it around)
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Apr 4, 2014 07:46
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BMS posted:The GoW clone view though. For me the system is different enough from it that I don't FEEL as though I'm playing a cloned combat system, and it's solid enough in it's own right for it to work well for me. I hope you get to show this off soon. There's been a dire lack of glowing chains and fancy twirls. BFC posted:If it did I would be floored to an incredible degree. Mercury Steam should be ashamed of themselves for MoF. I was actually considering picking up MoF HD, since it's sidescrolly and figured that would be closer to the Castlevania I know. What's wrong with it? Granted, I don't think Mercury Steam knows what shame means.
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Apr 4, 2014 14:23
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Having Patrick Stewart narrate is fine and everything but I really just wish that he wouldn't sound like he's about to cry when he says every line.
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Apr 4, 2014 15:19
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Pelican Dunderhead posted:Having Patrick Stewart narrate is fine and everything but I really just wish that he wouldn't sound like he's about to cry when he says every line. He is about to cry, you really think Patrick Stewart can't see where this is going?
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Apr 4, 2014 16:04
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You'd cry too if you had to be a part of this game's plot. Anyway, what's with the games with Patrick Stewart and killstealing? It's not like it wasn't completely loving idiotic in Oblivion - I guess there's some sort of reasoning saying that if you want to have a really cool NPC, at some point they got to be cooler than the player?
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Apr 4, 2014 16:10
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I liked Mirror of Fate well enough. Both it and LoS2 are pretty huge improvements over this first game, even if they still kinda pale compared to the Classic-vania.
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Apr 4, 2014 16:46
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This is the part where the game's obsession with excessive tutorials and QTEs goes against its established gameplay mechanics: there's no other spot anywhere else in the game where you need to use the jump button to trigger a canned animation that's the only way to avoid an attack and where not avoiding it makes the game repeat it until you get it right. This is fine on the first time around, but on repeat playthroughs of the level that the game encourages, the tutorial prompt and the slowdown is gone and you'll most likely have no goddamned recollection what the game wants to at this point since every other Colossus attack is avoided by leaping to another ledge and just requires directional input to do so.
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Apr 4, 2014 18:25
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Neruz posted:He is about to cry, you really think Patrick Stewart can't see where this is going? I've emailed him (his agent), as well as a bunch of others on the production staff, trying to shill for some guest commentary. So hopefully those questions will be answered! They won't. Plus, I'm not sure if I want to be the person that introduces Patrick Stewart to "Let's Play" anyway AnotherGamer posted:This is the part where the game's obsession with excessive tutorials and QTEs goes against its established gameplay mechanics: there's no other spot anywhere else in the game where you need to use the jump button to trigger a canned animation that's the only way to avoid an attack and where not avoiding it makes the game repeat it until you get it right. Yeah, that segment on the Titan just felt really, REALLY out of place. Add that to the HUGE button prompt on screen, and the fact that it requires a different input from a standard dodge (seriously, just the simple dodge input would have been fine), but like you say, they make you use a button combo that has no relevance or function outside of this one segment. Crowetron posted:I liked Mirror of Fate well enough. Both it and LoS2 are pretty huge improvements over this first game, even if they still kinda pale compared to the Classic-vania. Mirror of Fate played well enough for me, and LoS2 played decently (for the most part) as well. However, not to delve too far into it, as I'd like to cover both of these games as well, but story delivery in LOS 2 is 100% worse than this game. The entire last 1/3 of that game just felt completely rushed and poorly thought out. Story AND scenery-wise. Also, while I'm at it, any ideas for a combo(s) you guys would like me to invest in? It's pretty early in the game, and while we can afford a few, you might decide you want me to hold off and build up some more points, especially since we're about to gain access to some more available combos after the next stage. BMS fucked around with this message at 02:42 on Apr 5, 2014 |
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Apr 5, 2014 02:21
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BMS posted:I've emailed him (his agent), as well as a bunch of others on the production staff, trying to shill for some guest commentary. So hopefully those questions will be answered! They won't. Plus, I'm not sure if I want to be the person that introduces Patrick Stewart to "Let's Play" anyway Now I'm imagining a series of Patrick Stewart Plays Games and it is the best thing I have ever thought of. Imagine watching an LP that is narrated by Patrick Stewart.
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Apr 5, 2014 11:03
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Neruz posted:Now I'm imagining a series of Patrick Stewart Plays Games and it is the best thing I have ever thought of. Imagine watching an LP that is narrated by Patrick Stewart.  Patrick Stewart for Dark Souls III
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Apr 5, 2014 11:19
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WaltherFeng posted:
Pat Stew and Ian Mack LP games. Mac & Stew. Someone give me all the youtube LP money because I made them all obsolete. Rigged Death Trap fucked around with this message at 13:07 on Apr 5, 2014 |
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Apr 5, 2014 13:02
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Rigged Death Trap posted:Pat Stew and Ian Mack LP games. Only if Christopher Lee plays the heavy metal intro theme.
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Apr 5, 2014 13:53
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Neruz posted:Now I'm imagining a series of Patrick Stewart Plays Games and it is the best thing I have ever thought of. Imagine watching an LP that is narrated by Patrick Stewart. Patrick Stewart pretty much does whatever he wants nowadays. I wouldn't be surprised if he does play video games in his spare time - the guy just legitimately does not give a gently caress anymore. It's kind of amazing.
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Apr 5, 2014 15:31
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