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I just found this thread, and coincidentally, finally just beat Luigi's Mansion 3. It's a solid game, with a couple of aggravations along the way. - Overall, there's a repeated annoyance in that maybe half the major boss fights have some mechanic that's just a bit too finicky to pull off. Then they take too long to cycle back to giving you another chance, leaving me frustrated at what seemed fun at first. The penultimate fight is maybe the biggest offender - it started off as my favorite, making you jump back and forth on the fly between Luigi avoiding attacks and the secondary character (Gooigi  ) running around shutting off lasers to open up the arena for Luigi to damage the boss. It's great, but then in the second half, the boss just starts resetting everything in half the time you need, and everything you're doing is *just* fiddly enough that you end up messing up a bunch because you're hurrying. Stuff like that spoils fights a bit that seem fun and clever at first. - The bigger single complaint is the design of the game's sewer level. It's a series of traversal setpieces where you're constantly swapping between Luigi slowly rafting downstream, avoiding things that damage your raft, and Gooigi running around onshore, solving puzzles to progress forward. It's a pain because everything is again just fiddly enough that I was constantly popping the raft and getting sent back to the start of the section to slooowly do it over again. And you do the boss fight on a raft too, in an arena that keeps popping your raft and making you do the same slooow animation to get back into the water again. It was frustrating enough that I quit right there when I first tried the game years ago. Turns out it's nowhere near as tricky as I'd built it up to be in my mind over the years, but that doesn't change the fact that the whole level is slow and frustrating as hell. That sounds like nothing but complaints, but it's just my main flaws. I thought the game was pretty great as a whole, full of the charm I'd expect from that side-series. I wish I'd given it another shot sooner, and I want to play more in the series. I'll have to see about replaying the second game, I'm pretty sure I rented it a decade ago but never bought it.
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Dec 4, 2023 23:02
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Ineffiable posted:Also started a replay of Metal Gear Solid using the new Master Collection. Game still holds up well but I overestimated how much gameplay there is between codec calls/cut scenes/boss fights. It's really a small game, small area. That's the one game from the collection I haven't played, and it's part of what's holding me off until a good sale price. Everything I know about it sounds very solid  , there's just not a huge amount of game there.
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Dec 7, 2023 04:44
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SlothBear posted:Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy (2021) I keep hearing that's surprisingly fun. I kept wanting to try it back when it was on PC Gamepass and I had a subscription, but I never got to because Microsoft's Windows gaming environment is kind of a trashfire and I went all  at the amount of fiddling I'd have to do to get it working. I'll look for a cheap console copy sometime when I need more games to play.
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Dec 9, 2023 20:39
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I go back to the old Donkey Kong Country games from time to time, I just got through DKC3 and remembered what a letdown I guess you've already gone through the hidden world levels by that point, so you're not really missing on content, but I think it'd play so much better if the vehicle got you access to that world. The real reward being the new set of tough levels seems a lot more interesting.
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Dec 15, 2023 22:25
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Captain Hygiene posted:Luigi's Mansion 3 I went back and played the second game after this, a nice discovery was that all my memories of playing it were just from the first world, so it was 80% new to me. I liked it a lot most of the time, but kind of soured on it at the end. Most of my complaints are in the final world, just a string of BS bosses with unfun gimmicks and a 15+ minute (eventually timed) gauntlet of fighting enemies, all aggravating stuff. Almost all my complaints trace back to there being no checkpoints and very limited continues (and none in the boss stages, I think). This is really rough design for a game that is generally designed around separate, shorter missions for a handheld device. It instantly makes small aggravatioms much worse because of all the repetition if you die. One of the last regular stages came in at 45 minutes for me - it was a fun one, but I'd be so mad if I died 40 minutes in. Playing this one after 3 was jarring, because the newer one's easily available continues and quicksaves in every room are exactly what this one needed. So I didn't enjoy the final stuff very much, but I had a lot of fun along the way. I still liked the game overall, and I really wish the series had more than three games in its 20+ year run.
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Dec 18, 2023 19:02
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I said come in! posted:Dead Island 2 I was surprised when that came out and I heard good things about it, it was such a long gap after the first game, which I thought had disappeared into obscure mediocrity. I'll pick it up if I see a good sale price when I'm needing more to play.
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Dec 23, 2023 21:24
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I beat the 3DS remake of DKC Returns for the first time in probably close to a decade, and it's very solid overall. There are a couple things specific to the remake that I like a lot. The 3DS was kind of gimmicky, but I like the new 3D depth it added - it looks very nice, but it also helps the gameplay out in faster-moving levels by adding contrast to the foreground/background. Also, the original's reward for passing all the regular secret stages was one more challenge level at the end, but now that's the capper to an entire new final world with eight levels designed after each preceding world's theme. They do a good job at giving these new gimmicks, or reusing ideas you've seen before but in new ways, and they generally hit a good level of challenge without getting fully into frustration territory like some of the previous late-game levels. Overall, it's very solid. I didn't make it far enough last time to know that new world had been added, but it would've been a fun time even without that. Captain Hygiene fucked around with this message at 21:54 on Dec 30, 2023 |
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Dec 30, 2023 21:52
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I love all the Spidey games, but they're definitely more of the same with tweaks along the way. Probably good to break them up with something else if your first thought on beating MM wasn't "I want more of this general combat system, stat!".
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Jan 3, 2024 04:10
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abraham linksys posted:maybe some day they'll rerelease the mario & luigi rpgs on switch (i guess just port the 3ds versions?). did you know they made five of those things? FYI, the first Mario & Luigi is one of the games you get access to in the Switch's emulated games if you have Nintendo's online expansion pack. I would've played it in a heartbeat if I hadn't literally just played through the 3DS remake when it dropped. The remakes are fine, but I love the pixely art on the originals before they switched to the less interesting art style on the newer ones. e: thinking back, I'm pretty sure all of the sequels made enough use of the DS/3DS' stacked vertical screens to make them tough to do anything with on a regular screen. At least I have all the 3DS versions, but Partners in Time probably isn't coming around on anything new 
Captain Hygiene fucked around with this message at 21:43 on Jan 4, 2024 |
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Jan 4, 2024 21:34
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Just finished up Blossom Tales 2, a fun 2D Zelda clone, over the last week. My favorite thing about these games is that they're framed as a story the main character's grandfather is telling her and her brother. It makes for a lot of fun narrative moments, like where they occasionally interrupt the story to squabble about items or story events, letting you pick whichever one sounds more fun. It sticks pretty closely to a handful of the usual Zelda items, but it's at its best when it tweaks them or does something new. The mirror shield is fun, it reflects stuff like usual, but now there's a mechanic where you maneuver around to use the reflected beams to kill enemies or activate switches. There's also a new item - it looks like you're going to get a jumping ability, but instead you get a teleporter that sets you up for a few different ongoing puzzle types. Lots of fun. It's definitely on the easy side, but that didn't bother me. I had a good time solving puzzles and enjoying the charming mood, I definitely recommend it as a nice relaxing time.
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Jan 9, 2024 03:37
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I've had Ghost of Tsushima loaded up to play again for a while, but other stuff keeps getting in the way. I think it's my favorite open world in terms of having a reasonable amount of side stuff to do - it's the only game I've ever platinumed, because I did practically everything in the game purely out of having fun. By the time I was ready to be done, there were like three quick things left to tick off the list to get all the achievements, it was great.
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Jan 12, 2024 01:20
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"Where's everyone going? Bingo?" Two seconds later: 
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Jan 17, 2024 04:56
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unattended spaghetti posted:Lil Guardsman I saw that one come up in the new releases thread and wishlisted it based on the style. Sounds worthwhile overall, good to know.
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Jan 28, 2024 17:57
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I really want to play Lost Crown after enjoying the demo, but I've been holding off because $50 feels a bit steep for a 2D metroidvania-ish game. It'll be easier to wait a bit if it's solid but has some notable flaws.
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Jan 29, 2024 17:31
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Gotta be careful with your TFs and your ACs
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Feb 1, 2024 18:16
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apophenium posted:I beat Control. Fun game great setting nice vibes. I think I'll probably do the two DLC thingies if they're any good. Hell I might do them just cause I like the DLCs conceptually, but there are a couple setpieces that are stylistically great but annoying as hell to play. The AWE final boss fight in particular. Fiddling with the difficulty settings in the accessibility menu is pretty useful there if you get frustrated.
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Feb 7, 2024 04:25
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caleb posted:Why would you give the antidote to Zoe? I did that every time, except once to see if anything changed in the ending  By the way, my standard recommendation after beating that game is to play the End of Zoe DLC, ideally going in blind if you don't know anything about it already. DLC's always iffy, but that one's about my favorite thing in the whole franchise in its own crazy way.
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Feb 11, 2024 06:11
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Rap Game Goku posted:Death Stranding Yeah, I feel generally similar overall. I really liked chilling with the core delivery experience, but the more things it stacked on top of that, the less I liked it. And it was a very talky game, even for Kojima. I had trouble not just skipping through everything as fast as possible to get back to delivering. One of my thoughts is that it's kinda funny that one of the controversial parts of MGSV, having so much background and story relegated to TV cassette tapes, feels like it would've been a natural fit here. I liked listening to those while running around doing random stuff in the Afghanistan desert, and I think it would've felt right to do that during all the delivery missions.
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Feb 18, 2024 23:28
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Finally got around to playing through the first Metal Gear Solid this past week. I really liked it overall, but in a bit of a weird way. There are enough issues with pacing, boss fight design jankiness, and the dated controls that I didn't love every moment actually playing it, but its whole vibe sucked me in enough that I just couldn't stop playing it. It's been an interesting journey through the series, since I started with MGSV a few years ago and slowly worked my way back through the big titles. I absolutely love the gameplay feel in that one, so going back through the older ones has been a hurdle, on the controls end in particular. But this one clicked much more than I expected, and got me psyched to go through 2 & 3 again, which I didn't really expect last time I played them.
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Feb 21, 2024 21:03
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Bruceski posted:Kojima has been making the same game for 30 years and getting away with it. Lol, yeah. Playing this one through, it was surprising how close it felt to what I've seen of MG2, but also how there was recognizable stuff in it for the sequels all the way through MGSV.
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Feb 22, 2024 00:14
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Morpheus posted:
Oh that was in Fusion too? I thought that was just Other M's thing, but I haven't played it since the OG DS days where you could still use GBA cartridges. Doesn't sound like a really strong recommendation to figure out a way to replay it, though.
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Feb 23, 2024 21:19
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Party Boat posted:I just beat Alan Wake's American Nightmare on my way to finally playing Alan Wake 2. The improved combat was fun even if I wasn't as into the more pulpy tone it took compared to the original. I also found it helpful to keep in mind that it was originally an XBLA release developed in 8 months, as there's some (admittedly creative and narratively justified) reuse of assets and locations. I never got into that back in the day, but I watched a chunk of a playthrough after finishing Alan Wake II. The mechanics and interface looked like a solid step forward from the original, which was on the clunky side. But yeah, the actors were the best part, I'm glad it managed to hit that part of the Remedy charm even though it was a smaller production. Kinda wish I'd checked it out sooner, it fit into the sequel a lot more than I ever expected.
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Feb 27, 2024 01:49
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Play posted:Skull and Bones I've been curious if it has much of the feel of the ship sailing and combat in the AssCreed games. I loved those parts in Black Flag and Odyssey, and I could see myself grabbing this on sale if it scratches that gameplay itch, even with its troubled development.
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Mar 2, 2024 04:35
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I marathoned a bunch of the series a few years ago, going from 0 through the Kiwamis and then the regular numbered games starting with 3. I liked them all, but definitely found 3-5 tougher to get through, and 5 was what finally put the run on hiatus from which it still hasn't returned. I couldn't tell at the time how much was just fatigue from pushing through them too hard, but I'm not surprised to see folks complaining about those ones.
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Mar 2, 2024 21:50
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Continued my Metal Gear Solid playthrough with MGS2. What a good time, especially coming straight off the first one. Even with broadly similar mechanics, there are just so many gameplay improvements. I had a much better time than when I first played it a few years ago - I was basically pushing through it for the story then, but this time I actually enjoyed playing most of it. Not too say there weren't gripes with some of the design, but I was having enough fun to not really care. Looking forward to the next one.
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Mar 3, 2024 21:18
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Rounded out my MGS master collection playthrough with MGS3, and it was a great time overall. Just like going from 1 to 2, the switch to a full 3D camera felt like a big leap forward for the series, even though the central mechanics are largely similar. I only learned this time around that the original release's overhead camera was still an option; after playing around with it occasionally, it doesn't fit nearly as well as it did in 1 & 2 because of the more open and outdoor-centric level design. The game really needed that 3D update to shine. Stylistically, I think the game's my favorite. Switching to a 1960s cinematic aesthetic was a big swing, but it worked. The story's great fun, and the Cobra group is the best iteration of weirdo boss outfits in the series. My main gripe is that it tends to stretch out a bit too much heading into the end. The motorcycle chase and But that's minor stuff, I still loved it overall. Now my dilemma is that I'm in the mood for more Metal Gear, but I'm out of easily playable ones aside from MGSV. That one's still my favorite on the gameplay end, but I've also put a few hundred hours into it already because of that. Guess I'll let things rest for a bit and see if I feel like more if that one.
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Mar 12, 2024 21:28
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Party Boat posted:
I don't normally feel like dealing with emulation, but that sounds like a good idea to try out. I've played a chunk of Peace Walker, so 4 is the last big one I have very little experience with, and I know it's another big step forward in getting to the mechanics I love in V. It'll be a good test for my computer, it's at the older end of that range. I got it to be ready for VR with Half Life Alyx and it still works pretty well with new releases, but I'm always surprised when I think about how long ago I actually got it. Like three weeks before pandemic lockdowns, but that was four years ago now  e: I was just looking back in the Metal Gear thread since I knew somebody had just finished up an emulated run, and I see you posted a guide to getting it running, that'll save me some research time 
Captain Hygiene fucked around with this message at 02:40 on Mar 13, 2024 |
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Mar 13, 2024 02:17
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oxyrosis posted:There are two(3) obscure metal gear solid titles that I highly recommend. I actually played a decent chunk of Peace Walker a few years ago in the Xbox 360 collection. I liked it up until doing the vehicle boss battles in single player drove me insane. So I think I'm probably done with that one, I'd be back in a second if I could get over those fights. The other two I haven't tried. I'm partway through trying to get emulation set up for 4, but I'll check those out next. I imagine they're easier to get working via emulation, the GBC one especially.
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Mar 13, 2024 22:11
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I beat Princess Peach Showtime, which I hadn't expected to pick up any time soon, but happened to pop up right when I was looking to give myself a little reward. I ended up liking it, even if it's a bit different from what I'd initially expected. It has various sets of levels to go through with challenges or abilities based around each outfit you wear - a lot are combat and platforming centric (what I generally expected), but others go into things like baking minigames, top-down space shooters, and even detective investigations. I'd rank them in three general levels of enjoyment - the more action-y ones were the best, the minigame ones were a bit less fun, and the detective ones were my least favorite. Not *bad* or anything, just slow in a way that feels more like what I'd want in a Professor Layton game or something. But it's fun overall, and I loved the whole aesthetic. The levels are generally constructed as if they're made for a (surprisingly large and complex) stage play, there are spotlights that follow the characters around, and a lot of the object you interact with (up to and including the horse you ride as a cowboy) are crafted props operated with strings and pulleys and such. That design and presentation was really good. Downsides are that some of the bosses lean too far into the "wait through long animations before you get a chance to maybe score damage" style of design, it's very easy, and it's fairly short. It feels like it should've started at the $40 price point. But it's a good time overall, it hits that classic comfy Nintendo feel even if it's not trying to be anything huge. I'm glad I picked it up, even if I'd ultimately recommend waiting for a sale.
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Apr 2, 2024 03:08
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I liked Spider-Man 2 overall, but it doesn't beat the first one. It's fundamentally good because it's building off a solid gameplay base, and it's just fun to swing D around in such great-looking environments but yeah, there were a number of things that just weren't as well designed. The depowered sequences were always my biggest complaint about the first game, and they felt even worse here - at least they broke things up from being stealth-centric so much of the time, but it felt like they negated that by doing twice as many. I lost track of how many times I'd boot up the game and then sigh, when I suddenly remembered I'd quit the game last time around because it wanted me to do yet another sequence that didn't involve me being a Spider-Man. That's just one of my pet peeves, I'm playing the game because I like swinging around and fighting people using superpowers, every moment spent actively not doing that is a wasted moment. Just let me be Spidey, dammit!  
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Apr 6, 2024 02:53
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I just beat Kirby and the Forgotten Land, I liked it a lot on the whole. For the most part, it's a pretty easy platformer with a fair number of challenge stages and minigames mixed in, with the only real difficulty coming in some of the late game challenges and bosses. It's generally more focused on having fun getting through the stages and finding secrets than being difficult. The power-up abilities were a lot of fun, and the devs kept things fresh by constantly letting you upgrade them, some to absurdly OP levels. I don't know if this was the first fully 3D platformer in the series, but it was the first one I've played, and I thought it translated really well. There were a few times where aiming and shooting things felt a bit finicky, but overall it felt really nice and I appreciated the increased scope compared to the 2D games. A big gimmick I enjoyed was Kirby kind of ballooning himself over larger objects (cars, vending machines, stairs, etc) and taking control of them to do various puzzles and gameplay sequences. It let the designers switch from regular platforming to things like car races and shoot-em-up sequences, which made for some nice variety. My main frustration was the final boss run. It's made up of several different fights in a row - they weren't terrible, but they just dragged on too long, especially when I had to exit and start over to bring better power-ups along with me. The last fight in particular felt kind of tedious, like it veered too far from the more casual early game. But I got through it, and between the challenges I have left to do and the postgame content that opened up, I'll still be playing it for a while. It's not going on my all time favorites list or anything, but it's been very solid as a pretty casual game to pop into regularly over the last couple weeks, and I'd definitely recommend it from that perspective.
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Apr 24, 2024 20:32
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