Metroidvania Megathread: I Hope You Like Grid Maps

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sudonim: Oct 6, 2005

AV1 is more metroid

AV2 is more vania

Both are good but in different ways

AV2 definitely feels more polished but that makes sense chalking it up to the dev being more experienced

# ¿ Jan 6, 2023 06:43

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# ¿ May 16, 2024 23:23

sudonim: Oct 6, 2005

avoraciopoctules posted:

I remember the Messenger being a lot of fun, but I don't remember the music very well... oh hey, a bandcamp? neat: https://rainbowdragoneyes.bandcamp.com/album/the-messenger-original-soundtrack-disc-i-the-past

I DO remember the Cyber Shadow music, though: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sI8OT_GTBGQ

I played The Messenger before I played Cyber Shadow and the former definitely ruined the latter for me. Going from a nimble responsive ninja to one that feels like a tank was a disappointment.

# ¿ Apr 15, 2023 14:35

sudonim: Oct 6, 2005

DoctorWhat posted:

Hyper Light Drifter is excellent. Astonishingly good. A must-play.

I must be the only person who doesn't like this game. I actually played through the whole thing (which I kind of regret) because it's not that long but I never caught the magic everyone else did.

It is very pretty and the art is imaginative but I kept running into gameplay bugs that combined with the difficulty made it a slog. Also didn't like how when I cleared out an area the enemies still stayed there doing atrocities to sheep people so it was like nothing my character did had any impact on the world.

# ¿ Apr 15, 2023 22:54

sudonim: Oct 6, 2005

Fuzz posted:

Guacamelee or The Messenger.

On the other hand The Messenger feels good to play. It's quick and responsive and the main character has a great expanding moveset and I never got frustrated with the controls. Death felt like my fault every time.

Also has my favorite "souls-style" death mechanic. Rather than lose some of your loot after death, you lose the ability to pick up new loot for a period of time after death. The little tweak takes a lot of the pressure off.

# ¿ Apr 15, 2023 22:57

sudonim: Oct 6, 2005

FunkyFjord posted:

The enemies instantly respawning on any sort of backtracking doesn't even feel bad but instead somehow feels right? Pretty good bosses too.

All but one of the enemies in The Messenger take one hit only so having to go through then again is no big deal. There's a lot of cle we little decisions like that throughout the game, like the double jump mechanic you mentioned. Shame about the relative lack of fast travel tho

# ¿ Jun 24, 2023 02:51

sudonim: Oct 6, 2005

I actually really liked bloodstained, I think because I had a lot of fun with all the collectable abilities.

# ¿ Jul 11, 2023 19:36

sudonim: Oct 6, 2005

Tortolia posted:

Most games with a bloodstain/corpse mechanic in recent years have something like this, an option to spend a fairly common consumable or currency to get it back if the potential loss is too great. It’s fine imo.

Is a game mechanic good if the developers put in a way to pay your way around it?

My favorite "death punishment" mechanic is in The Messenger (which gets called a metroidvania on occasion but it is not quite, really). You don't lose anything on death, you just cant collect more money for a little bit after revival.

# ¿ Jul 16, 2023 21:59

sudonim: Oct 6, 2005

I gave up on HK after I died to a boss that was far away from my last save point. I don't really have time for that kind of gameplay anymore in my life. It's not unique to hollow knight, Metroid Prime for GameCube did the same thing at least two times.

Conversely Metroid Dread just respawns you right outside the bossroom if you die. If one of the namesakes of the genre is implementing this kind of quality of life feature then others in the genre should get on board from now on (yes I know HK came out before MD).

# ¿ Jul 24, 2023 01:05

sudonim: Oct 6, 2005

Serephina posted:

So like, the good ones?

I'm guessing they mean Zelda 2, the sidescroller

# ¿ Sep 19, 2023 14:24

sudonim: Oct 6, 2005

Falcon2001 posted:

Yeah, I think that Hollow Knight really captures a lot of this; the 'fly off wall in a straight line' move is absolutely a great option for revisiting old areas.

I'm a big fan of the Bloodstained traversal ability that turns the whole world upside so the ceiling becomes the floor

# ¿ Sep 23, 2023 00:53

sudonim: Oct 6, 2005

John Murdoch posted:

Tbh, it's less interesting than it sounds.

Hard disagree. The way the levels in bloodstained were structured I started to expect something like the big fuckin jump ability from Symphony of the Night so when I got world flip instead I had kind of a mind blown moment.

Even though it's a 2d game it takes place in a fully rendered 3d environment and I don't think the ability would have been technologically possible otherwise.

sudonim fucked around with this message at 15:11 on Sep 23, 2023

# ¿ Sep 23, 2023 15:07

sudonim: Oct 6, 2005

DicktheCat posted:

Ok, this is the thread to ask:

Do any of you know of a game that hits similar notes in tone to the original Axiom Verge?

I know 2 is out, but it's not hitting in the same way, despite being very good.

The first game is more Metroid than vania and the second is more vania than Metroid.

So...play Super Metroid?

# ¿ Sep 28, 2023 20:33

sudonim: Oct 6, 2005

KNR posted:

And, like Metroid, the combat is just kinda there and the bosses are generally quite poor

Which Metroid game are you thinking of here, genuinely curious. Super Metroid had some great bosses, including the second Ridley fight which is the player character and a space dragon locked in a small room for a slugfest battle to the death, it rules.

# ¿ Oct 2, 2023 01:22

sudonim: Oct 6, 2005

field balm posted:

I've gotta say I don't really like how soulslike stuff and kaizo platforming have kind of been rolled into the genre. I don't want everything to be super easy but I'm more interested in the exploration side of these games!

I've been playing Vision Soft Reset and it has some wonderful "time travel" mechanics but I had to stop playing after getting one-shotted by a bunch of stuff in a row, enemy and environment alike.

This isn't hard! Just make it so I can take a few hits instead of one! I'm trying to relax, I don't want to git gud!

# ¿ Dec 29, 2023 10:59

sudonim: Oct 6, 2005

I liked RutM until I kept getting rekt by instakill spikes. Not a great metroidvania game mechanic.

# ¿ Jan 15, 2024 01:48

sudonim: Oct 6, 2005

I'm enjoying PoP lost crown but I talked to the trainer about using the dodge button to re-right oneself post-throw after getting the air dash and it doesn't seem to work? Is there something poorly explained here or do I have to some new flavor of learning disability? :psyduck:

# ¿ Jan 20, 2024 05:07

sudonim: Oct 6, 2005

Fuzz posted:

The art direction got high in the bathroom and just went ham.

This is why it's good. Metroid is already weird, double down.

# ¿ Feb 1, 2024 16:03

sudonim: Oct 6, 2005

Fuzz posted:

I hated Prime 2 for making the regular arm cannon feel like a pea shooter compared to Prime 1, to the point where you literally don't even use it and just charge beam,

This was my least favorite part of prime 2, you're already taking environmental damage in so much of the game, several enemies hit like trucks, and fighting back would take forever because they were bullet-spongey. The lighting dinos in the swamp area were the worst example.

# ¿ Feb 1, 2024 16:08

sudonim: Oct 6, 2005

Item Getter posted:

I've attempted the one little room where you have to dodge different patterns of rotating saw blades moving across the room for what seems like forever

I liked these kinds of challenges since they're optional and I was able to tell they were because I was never progress blocked by them. Some of them are pretty tough so some I've had to come back to with more movement abilities for an easier time.

Item Getter posted:

Also when entering a new room I got a tutorial prompt for an ability that I don't actually have. I must have done a very minor sequence break, felt pretty cool. (The "night temple" on the right side of the upper city, which I guess I was not supposed to be able to enter without the grappling hook-like ability, but I got in without it using the chakram teleport. It gave me a prompt saying press R to pull yourself to enemies with the grappling hook, which I don't have.)

I did the same thing lol. Didn't even realize it was a sequence break until you mentioned it.

# ¿ Feb 8, 2024 15:54

sudonim: Oct 6, 2005

I got bored in afterimage because the attacks are simple to the point of repetitive but every enemy seems to take too many of them before going down. If the enemies were a little more frail and I was moving through them faster maybe I'd enjoy it more. Or maybe I'm bad at making a build?

For whatever reason I was thinking about MegaMan Legends recently, a fully 3d MegaMan adventure game for the OG playstation. It has a lot of underground dungeons, big and small, and they were all interconnected in unexpected ways. In retrospect it made the game kinda feel like a metroidvania before the word was in wide use.

# ¿ Feb 20, 2024 16:47

sudonim: Oct 6, 2005

ExcessBLarg! posted:

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown: Is there enough ingots and coins to do all the upgrades at the forge, or do I have to be judicious about it?

I found enough to do all the sword and bow upgrades plus enough to max out at least some of the talismans I used.

# ¿ Feb 24, 2024 21:31

sudonim: Oct 6, 2005

I definitely don't like games with bosses that are designed to take multiple attempts to beat. I ain't got time for that and my daily life has enough challenge in it already, satisfying and frustrating alike. Unfortunately this kind of boss design is everywhere these days. The bosses were hands down the worst part of Lost Crown but at least there I could turn down the difficulty for bosses.

I really wish more designers made bosses like Kojima does: intimidating but they don't do massive damage per hit which gives you a fighting chance to beat them in an attempt or two. But they have enough health and variety that those few attempts last a while and are pretty interesting.

# ¿ Mar 4, 2024 00:12

sudonim: Oct 6, 2005

Swilo posted:

Going to jump into Rebel Transmute next. Backed it on Kickstarter and been waiting years for it to come out.

A review would be welcome

# ¿ Mar 14, 2024 01:07

sudonim: Oct 6, 2005

lih posted:

wow the difficult really spikes in the second half of the lost crown in a way that is just exhausting

Adjust the difficulty down when you get to a boss, saves you a lot of stress.

# ¿ Mar 29, 2024 12:56

sudonim: Oct 6, 2005

The 7th Guest posted:

look forward to Crypt Custodian later this year from the same dev

i went and installed some Metroidvanias that I've owned on itch.io forever. Batbarian, Vision Soft Reset, Visual Out, Wormer Deluxe, SJ-19 Learns to Love, Alchemist's Castle

not all of them are the highest quality but i know that Visual Out is interesting, Vision Soft Reset is cool, and I liked the Batbarian demo that I played a few years ago, so I will probably at least like those three

Really curious to get someone else's take on Vision Soft Reset. The main gimmick is fantastic but imo it's more difficult than it needs to be. I bounced off once I got to a platforming challenge I couldn't clear without dying but maybe I'm doing things in the wrong order?

# ¿ Mar 30, 2024 16:17

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# ¿ May 16, 2024 23:23

sudonim: Oct 6, 2005

I just wish reverie under the moonlight didn't have instakill spikes

# ¿ Apr 24, 2024 22:30

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