|
 Super Time Force is a side-scrolling shooter that not only expects your untimely death, but encourages iterative play through a veritable menagerie of playable characters. Originally released for the XBox systems as Super Time Force May 2014 by Capybara Games, most notably known for Superbrothers: Sword and Sworcery EP. In August the PC saw the updated Ultra edition and gave the PC Master Race 3 exclusive characters and the ability to STFU. There is also a PS4 version in the works and slated for a 2015 release. I'm playing the PC version for this LP. This game has me going in completely blind. From the time I start all I know is that the game has pixel art and not much else. After some time in the game I know the following: - There are time puns. The game is very silly and I love it for that fact. - The game is broken up into several time zones with four stages apiece. Each zone should take about an hour to beat. - There are 50 challenge maps that I'd like to do as well. These will typically be done in sequential blocks as characters unlock. - Spy Kids 4D called. They want their time puns back. The game's pretty light on plot but since there's some fun surprises I'd like to keep the discussion to just updates. Now then, let's get to it! Updates Playlist EP01: It's 198X And It's Time For Tutorials EP02: It's 198X And A Metal Gear Appears EP03: It's 3072 And Cat Still Not Haz Cheeseburgers EP04: It's 3072 And You Should Check Out My Myspace EP05: All Hands On Helladeck Challenges 1 To 15 EP06: It's 199X And Miss Cleo's In My Future EP07: It's 199X And A Green Dog Cage Match Sounds Fun EP08: It's 673 And Merlin's Hurling Magic EP09: It's 673 And The Holy Grail Doubles As A Martini Glass EP10: It's 9600 BC And The Waterslide Is Mined EP11: It's 9600 BC And The Sewer Level Has Fiery Poops EP12: It's 1000000 BC And Sometimes Dinosaurs Do Kickflips EP13: It's 1000000 BC And Jetpacks Are A Thing EP14: All Hands On Helladeck Challenges 16 To 25 EP15: All Hands On Helladeck Challenges 26 To 35 EP16: Looking For a Looker In All the Right Places EP17: It's Doctor Infinity And Time For Puns EP18: It's Doctor Infinity And Time To Get Badges EP19: All Hands On Helladeck 36 To 40 EP20: All Hands On Helladeck 41 To 45 EP21: All Hands On Helladeck 46 To 50 Characters As updates come in I'll expand on this section.  Jean RamboisJean Rambois is your man if you want bullets. His normal attack is spammable for a single bullet per press and his special is 3 chains of bullets flying forward and in two angled tangents. If you want a guy who plays like Serious Sam with a machine gun, Jean's got your dakka.  Aimy McKillenAimy is all about tricky shots. Her normal attack is a bullet that can ricochet multiple times and her special is a powerful straight shot with piercing capabilities. The ricochet shots don't see much use outside of puzzles but the special is her bread and butter.  Shieldy BlockersonShieldy is all about making defense an offensive weapon. His normal attack swings out his shield for a melee swipe capable of reflecting bullets. His charged move when held down allows him to move and deflect bullets in his view direction. When released, his charge creates a force field that lasts about 3 seconds and provides protection from bullets, but not missiles or grenades. He's a good guy to play when you need to retrieve a past life or you're dealing with some hard hitters that require backup to kill.  Jef LeppardJef's your munitions man. His normal attack is a physics based bouncing grenade that can manage some good kills when you're behind cover. His charged is a straight shot bazooka blast that works very well on bosses. Give him Shieldy's force field for protection and you're set to spam this guy on any heavy hitter you see.  Lou Don JimLou is a Jedi, plain and simple. His normal attack is a lightsaber swing capable of reflecting bullets like Shieldy. His charged move allows him to throw his sword forward during which time he can only evade until the sword boomerangs back. If you want to play as a melee then Lou's one of the first characters available.  ZoeyZoey is an interesting mix of rapid fire and big damaage. The normal attack fires bullets from her two handguns and is spammable. Her charged attack throws a large red propane tank with an explosion radius akin to Jef's charged attack. Getting the tank to explode when you want it to can be a challenge given its default timer to detonation, but enough munitions fire on the tank will preemptively detonate it. The best feature, of course, is the fact that with a bit of luck if the explosion occurs below your person it acts as a significant jump upwards. Have fun with that.  Melanie GibsonMelanie is your shotgun toting badass with a heart of gold and one of my favorite characters. Her normal attack is a short range level shotgun blast. Her charged attack fires 6 bullets in a 45 degree arc wherever she's aiming. In a game about hitting a bunch of things at the same time her charged is fantastic.  Saxton HaleIf you're playing the PC then Saxton is likely one of the first melee characters you'll get, regardless of which zone order you choose. His normal attack is short range punch with enough power to deal with most of the general riff-raff. His charged move makes him rush forward and start rapidly punching. The charged rush also dodges bullets while Saxton is in his rush. If you want to get in the face of everything, no matter what, he's your dude.  MerlinMerlin is what I'd call a mid-range character. His normal fires a small bit of twinkling magic in his aiming direction. His charged move summons a large ball that flies out a little shorter than the range of the normal attack. When the ball hits the end of its path or the first obstacle it finds it will stay in place for about 4-5 seconds, dealing damage to anything that hits the ball. Think of it like a offensive Shieldy orb.  Squirty HarrySquirty is a character all his own. His normal attack is a bullet fired from a Magnum with damage in line with other bullet users. The charged move is where things get interesting. When fully charged Squirty will fart a deadly gas in the opposite direction he's facing. This means in order to continue moving from left to right and successfully use the charged move you'd need to hold down the shoulder button that allows movement but locks your aim direction. Sometimes rear end first is the only way.  Dolphin LundgrenDolph is a hybrid between Melanie and Rambois. The normal attack is a series of sound rings shot at close range capable of phasing through obstacles. His charged is a hailstorm of bullets akin to Rambois, but unfortunately doesn't have the same three way split. Use him if you dig the hybrid style or are perhaps low on lives and want to be able to handle short and long range.  PyroPyro's a pretty good medium range character. His normal attack shoots a flare gun pellet that then splits into smaller flames that go in the cardinal directions. His charged move is a streaming gout of flames capable of following a concave direction should a ceiling or floor bend accordingly. Overall he's fairly well rounded.  ZackasaurusZackasaurus is a interesting melee character. Since he rides a skateboard and wears sunglasses he can jump on enemies to kill them while drinking refreshing Mountain Dew and winning Gold at the next X-Games. The only other person who can jump on enemies with impunity is Shieldy, who has a shield, but no sunglasses. ESPN has not reached out to Shieldy. Zack's normal move is a radical dino-bite at close range for respectable damage. His charged move releases a stream of projectile vomit globules made from the Mountain Dew he recently had. After learning the globules each had their own physics enabled and could get into all sorts of places Pepsi quietly declined to pursue a sponsorship deal with Zackasaurus and instead considered a TV deal with Squirty Harry. Overall, Zack's a decent melee guy that really shines when you have a skateboard combo.  StashLife has been interesting for Stash. One day, he's out in the woods with his friends and the next thing he knows he's in the year 647! Some old guy in a blue loincloth gave him a magnificent mustache to help fight blounbots. Stash decided to keep his manly man hair trimmed with a large chainsaw he uses as a normal attack. When he sees blounbots, though, his fibrous lip-warmer bristles in anticipation of using his charged attack. When charged you levels his boomstick and fires a shotgun blast in a powerful yet small cone towards his target. Truly, he is the king to be hailed to.  RepeatskiRepeatski never had problems making friends. His charismatic nature allowed him to rally many to his cause, no matter how odd his ideas seemed to be. His one weakness, though, is being double-blind which is like normal blindness but doubly so on account of the eye-patches that restrict sight for his blind eyes. He has managed to live on with a normal attack that punches anything in his vicinity. When that doesn't work, he uses his charismatic nature and a charged attack that fires a beam of destructive rainbow friendship at anything in front of him. Unfortunately his lack of dexterity prevents him from firing vertically with reliable success.  DaVinciDaVinci was kind of an odd duck, really. He was hanging out at his place like he does and one day his buddy Ezio shows up in a new outfit and a curious bracelet that said "Free Hugs". Since then the two have been working together to make some very interesting ideas come to fruition. Wanting to be of use, DaVinci set out with a crossbow and a smile. His normal attack fires a crossbow bolt at a medium range that arcs downward due to gravity. His special summons a flying machine that hovers in place and fires gatling arrows curiously unaffected by gravity. This flying machine can also be used as a platform to stand on, but will slowly descend on account of how awesome it thinks his new friend is.  LookerThe Looker is a odd sort of Peeping Tom. He only really seems interested in staying around places where folks finish things earlier than expected. Nobody really knows why. His attacks are a sort of set up and release function. His normal attacks do no damage, but attach a targeting reticule on anything that was hit. The charged attack fires a burst of homing missiles that will aim for the targets planted by normal attacks.  Re-BotRe-Bot strikes me as the kind of guy Repeastki wanted Zackasaurus to pal around with and fight crimes. He's a Blounbot Rocketeer that now wears cool dude sneakers and a baseball cap on backwards. He's very hip, you see. When Re-Bot and Zackasaurus do go out to fight crime Re-Bot uses his normal attack to fire fours bullets in quick succession. When he unleashes his charged move four rockets fire out and seek nearby targets. Additionally, while he's firing his rockets downwards the kickback allows him to stay in the air, which could be useful is some enterprising sort wanted to make use of his hover-like ability. Sternieliscious fucked around with this message at 14:09 on Nov 15, 2015 |
#
?
Aug 17, 2015 11:35
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 3, 2024 23:34 |
|
|
I've curious about this game for a while and so far you've made it seem like it might be worth diving into. Looking forward to more of this. Also, that cackle in the second video is something else.
|
|
#
?
Aug 18, 2015 23:54
|
|
|
Thanks, man. The game is fantastic and I totally suggest you give it a go sometime. The last time I saw a game with a fun rewind mechanic was Remember Me, but they only had that feature a handful of times. Next couple of vids should be up Saturday. If you think my cackle's good, you should hear my evil laugh. One day I'll be able to use it. One day.
|
|
#
?
Aug 19, 2015 11:42
|
|
|
Fun bit of news. Capy Games popped up as the Steam deal for the daily game and will be on sale until the new daily tomorrow. In celebration of that I've made Update 3 a day early. Update 4 should happen tomorrow.
|
|
#
?
Aug 21, 2015 11:37
|
|
|
We have a new update. I'm loving how stupid awesome this boss fight is. It's just the best thing they could have done for people who were on the internet in its infancy.
|
|
#
?
Aug 22, 2015 12:38
|
|
|
The Jedi name reference is Qui-Gon Jinn, Liam Neeson's character from The Phantom Menace.
|
|
#
?
Aug 23, 2015 07:00
|
|
|
My Advice at least for a while is to rewind back to the very start. On bosses do this always. Remember if you get something and go back in time The youself that already did it will still do it. This can allow you to save time. So if you had a version of you grab an item from a side path then die on the main path. A good piece of advice is go back in time before you entered the side path and just not go in it, as the past you will go in anyway.
|
|
#
?
Aug 23, 2015 07:36
|
|
|
The full rewind on bosses make sense and I think I really abuse that in some of the future vids.. The funny thing about the levels and the time mechanic is trying to unlearn other platformers where you don't have immediate clones on hand to continue the level. I think that's really the hardest part of the game so far. I am considering getting to a point where I can go back and get all the badges for levels I've completed. From what I know the 4th badge is to complete a time trial on levels and if I'm going for a complete run I'll need to do them. Any revisting will likely either be heavily edited (the playback, perhaps?) or just done off-screen.
|
|
#
?
Aug 24, 2015 11:40
|
|
|
So the Helladeck is really a holodeck. That makes sense now. Until you found the challenge mode I thought that was just the name for the whole command deck.
|
|
#
?
Aug 27, 2015 18:48
|
|
|
Your timing literally could not be better. Update 5 is a video specifically about the Helladeck. The Helladeck is what I consider to be a supplemental tutorial. There's no real tutorial past the first mission and because of that any characters past the first three don't get a proper explanation about their abilities. The Helladeck 50 missions limit your pool of characters down to the bare essentials and then ask you to figure out how they work. If you can deduce how game mechanics work then the levels are fairly worry free puzzles with a little bit of precision platforming thrown in. If you can't grasp said mechanics, then you'll likely either fail or brute force a level. Guess what I did.
|
|
#
?
Aug 28, 2015 11:40
|
|
|
Update 6 sees us on a journey to the time of leather, Miss Cleo, and and a complete lack of Hokuto Shinken. I miss Hokuto Shinken, it was so amazingly dumb.
|
|
#
?
Aug 29, 2015 13:58
|
|
|
Update 7 has us riding the best convoy in the post-apocalypse just to meet up with a nice man who wants to push some cola on us.
|
|
#
?
Aug 30, 2015 13:24
|
|
|
This game was surprisingly fun. I doubt I'll ever get around to unlocking the everythings, but I had a real good... time. Speaking of time, drat locating LP's about cool games when you're too busy to watch until later 
|
|
#
?
Sep 1, 2015 12:55
|
|
|
I don't suppose Saxton Hale's charge attack deflects bullets? How far does he rush when he does his charge attack?
|
|
#
?
Sep 4, 2015 17:17
|
|
|
Kerris posted:I don't suppose Saxton Hale's charge attack deflects bullets? How far does he rush when he does his charge attack?  Would people like more of these for other characters? At any rate, we're on Update 08 and heading out to the year 673. Helladeck challenges won't be tackled again until we get the zone specific characters for all six time zones. Until then we'll have two updates a week.
|
|
#
?
Sep 5, 2015 13:39
|
|
|
Are you deliberately mispronouncing the name "Melanie" that badly? 
|
|
#
?
Sep 5, 2015 15:39
|
|
|
Polaron posted:Are you deliberately mispronouncing the name "Melanie" that badly? I actually didn't read her name right for a long time. It wasn't until a few weeks back that I was clued in to the correct spelling. By that time, though, most of my buffer was recorded and I can't really do much about it. Sorry.
|
|
#
?
Sep 5, 2015 16:19
|
|
|
Sternieliscious posted:I actually didn't read her name right for a long time. It wasn't until a few weeks back that I was clued in to the correct spelling. By that time, though, most of my buffer was recorded and I can't really do much about it. Sorry. It's not a problem, I just didn't know if there was some joke I was missing or something 
|
|
#
?
Sep 5, 2015 17:04
|
|
|
No worries. If I were going with a joke name I think Gibbs would work better on account of the gratuitous kill or be killed nature of the game. On another note, my word am I loving the buffer. Trying to balance a weekly output with 100% clear is getting to be a challenge.
|
|
#
?
Sep 5, 2015 18:35
|
|
|
Update 09 is live. I think these two levels might be some of my favorite so far in terms of aesthetic.
|
|
#
?
Sep 6, 2015 14:44
|
|
|
God those noses are horrendous.
|
|
#
?
Sep 6, 2015 22:58
|
|
|
Harry looks like an ET or a brown Pik-min.
|
|
#
?
Sep 7, 2015 00:36
|
|
|
Your LP inspired me to give the game a shot, I just got done beating the mode you unlock after beating the game. Are you planning on going back and collecting everything/speed running all the levels? Also your voice reminds me of Chris Parnell/Cyril Figgis from Archer. I don't mean that in a bad way mind you.
|
|
#
?
Sep 7, 2015 15:49
|
|
|
Spamming Merlin's ranged charged attack really improved team survivability against those missiles and bombs. Can Saxton's regular/charged attack smash through those regular enemies with shields?
|
|
#
?
Sep 8, 2015 07:32
|
|
|
AnxiousSloth posted:Your LP inspired me to give the game a shot, I just got done beating the mode you unlock after beating the game. Are you planning on going back and collecting everything/speed running all the levels? Good on you for giving the game a go! My plan was to do the last two time zones to unlock the zone specific characters since I want to do Helladeck challenges sequentially. Afterwards I'll have a week where I do a couple Helladeck vids and ideally a super-condensed vid of time trials/collectibles for all the zones we've gotten through so far. After that, we hit up the final boss zone and follow that up with the last of Helladeck challenges and whatever else is left to do. Nice to know I sound like a voice actor. I'll need to watch Archer to see who that is. Kerris posted:Spamming Merlin's ranged charged attack really improved team survivability against those missiles and bombs. I've just tested this, and Saxton's normal/charge can punch through the medieval shield dudes. However, he's not invincible at either time he's punching stuff (only when charging forward) and at that point it's either a stalemate or toss-up for who survives.
|
|
#
?
Sep 8, 2015 11:47
|
|
|
Thanks for testing it out. Looks like Saxton really has a very narrow niche. :\
|
|
#
?
Sep 8, 2015 14:22
|
|
|
Sounds like they really should have upped Saxton invincibility frames to cover the full term of his attack plus a little extra so he can move away from a contact if he's going to be so very short range.
|
|
#
?
Sep 9, 2015 04:20
|
|
|
The problem I have with any melee character in this game is their survivability. It's a game where most enemies fire projectiles in some form or fashion and the melee guy has to get close enough to even deal damage. I can see how the devs tried to accommodate for that reasoning, but you'll still run into problems. Shieldy's not too bad because of the shield, but can get killed from behind. Lou Don can reflect small bullets and throw his sword, but he can only dodge when throwing. Saxton does have that invincible dodge, but he can't one shot trash mobs given the size of his body. After a bit you get that feeling that the melee is outclassed by gun users and gravitate towards them instead. Update 10 is now live. I'm not sure I can deal with Squirty. Oh boy.
|
|
#
?
Sep 12, 2015 13:49
|
|
|
Update 11 is the new hot potato. So hot, in fact, that we'll be getting quite a bit of use out of our new Pyro.
|
|
#
?
Sep 13, 2015 13:22
|
|
|
Oh hey another game by these guys, this should be interesting. So do you ever figure out that they're called Blounbots because the sound they make is the word 'bloun' with a ton of post-processing distortion
|
|
#
?
Sep 18, 2015 05:16
|
|
|
I had to go back and listen for that, but you're totally right. That's amazing.
|
|
#
?
Sep 18, 2015 12:59
|
|
|
I'm loving your confused reactions to the enemy AI targeting the currently active player and thus changing its patterns e: Pity you figured it out, it was kind of entertaining. Episode 8: "OH HEY GLORBS ARE LIVES", paying close attention to the tutorial were we?
Neruz fucked around with this message at 11:19 on Sep 19, 2015 |
|
#
?
Sep 19, 2015 10:33
|
|
|
Tutorials are for wimps and people who want to succeed. Besides, if I didn't want to appear largely befuddled I'd have completed the game first. That's half the fun. The other half is time puns, of course. Update 12 is up for thine viewing pleasure.
|
|
#
?
Sep 19, 2015 14:12
|
|
|
Update 13 is now live. Luckily there aren't as many time puns in the prehistoric era,, they would have left me dino-sore.
|
|
#
?
Sep 20, 2015 13:33
|
|
|
The T-Rex with a gun strapped to his forehead is, I think, a reference/homage to Dino Riders, a highly toyetic 80s cartoon series. This is a remarkably amusing and clever game. Thank you for showing it off.
|
|
#
?
Sep 20, 2015 14:46
|
|
|
I hadn't known of Dino Riders, but 80s references in a modern game make sense given how creative inspiration can be drawn from childhood. Personally I'd be all about the Transformers Beast Wars. Dinobot was groovy. Update 14 marks a set of updates about wrapping up challenges before Doctor Infinity. Enjoy.
|
|
#
?
Sep 26, 2015 14:20
|
|
|
Update 15 is up. I'm starting to dread seeing Rambois in the challenge list because it seems he's the default guy for speed based challenges.
|
|
#
?
Sep 27, 2015 13:35
|
|
|
Update 16 is now up. We deal with the fun and joy of getting closer to having all level challenges completed.
|
|
#
?
Oct 3, 2015 18:17
|
|
|
Update 17 is now up. With this I have the Helladeck challenges remaining and that should wrap things up. Those videos will go up in two weeks.
|
|
#
?
Oct 4, 2015 14:39
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 3, 2024 23:34 |
|
|
I think Dr. Infinity replaced his body with a Blounbot below the neck, hence blocky outfit and high crotch. Probably found his old ticker was wearing down, and he was running out of time to stop himself. Thanks for LPing this, I kept forgetting to comment, but it's been a hilarious ride. An excellent expenditure of... time. Okay, that's too much. Time to go. Looking forward to the Ultraverse!
|
|
#
?
Oct 4, 2015 16:35
|
|