Anyone playing... Hyper Light Drifter?

henke on 1/4/2016 at 10:11

Looks good, haven't played it. But I did listen to a new podcast by one of the devs, Teddy Dief, started last week: (https://www.idlethumbs.net/playscape) Playscape:LA. Interviews with people in the LA game dev scene. (shoulda stuck around Yakoob, you coulda been on this!) First 2 episodes are interviews with Ashly Burch and Brendon Chung, but the guy also talks about the development of HLD. Anyway, it's good stuff. These in-depth interviews with people like Chung is very interesting if you're into making or playing games.

Renzatic on 1/4/2016 at 18:18

Quote Posted by nicked

Ooo I didn't know this was out - love the art style. Pretty tempting, if I can justify getting this and Dark Souls 3 this month.

It's giving me something great to play during the lead-up to DS3. That's enough justification for me.

Alright. So I've made it to the last boss, but instead of beating it, I've decided to explore the game to see what I can find.

Let me tell you, there is a lot, and I mean a lot of hidden crap in this game. They're not just upgrade chips, either. Half my inventory is still empty, and I've only found 3 of the 16 different outfits scattered throughout the game. On top of that, there are little bits and bobs that you'll run across that do...things when you activate them, you have no idea what, scattered across the map for you to find. You'll want to find them all just to figure out their little mystery.

Wish I could talk more about them, but I'm so far ahead of the rest of you right now, I'd just be spoiling everything for everyone.

Yakoob on 1/4/2016 at 19:24

Quote Posted by henke

I was JUST thinking that. Dammit.

But I may be re-visiting in July to teach a Game Design workshop :D

Quote Posted by Renzatic

On top of that, there are little bits and bobs that you'll run across that do...things when you activate them, you have no idea what, scattered across the map for you to find. You'll want to find them all just to figure out their little mystery.

Oh god... this sounds like a horribly annoying design choice.

Renzatic on 1/4/2016 at 19:57

Quote Posted by Yakoob

Oh god... this sounds like a horribly annoying design choice.

Not at all. If anything, it adds to the mystery of it all, like you're unearthing bits and pieces of a long lost civilization.

There's no way to explain it without getting into spoiler territory, but to be as vague as possible, you come across these things that can be activated, and they play a little animation when you do, but it doesn't effect anything in your immediate vicinity. They're always tucked away in some out of the way corner you have to work to get to, so it's obvious they're a part of some greater secret, but you don't know what.

Then, later on, you find a hidden path off a hidden path, and come across something that better illustrates what they're doing. You know then to seek them out to do whatever this something is.

It's very Dark Soulsian. Nothing is ever explicitly told to you in the game, but it's easy to connect the pieces together yourself when you see more of the puzzle.

Thirith on 2/4/2016 at 09:37

I've played an hour or two of this, and it's definitely intriguing - and gorgeous to look at, if you like retro art. There's something about the aesthetic and atmosphere that reminds me of what little I've played of Another World: this sense of being in a mysterious but coherent world I've never before seen.

van HellSing on 2/4/2016 at 10:24

I'm loving it. However, right now, I'm lost/stuck and the map isn't helping at all unfortunately.

I got to the north boss, the one that Walker got stuck on, decided to warp back to town and explore the other areas and buy some upgrades first. I did a fair bit of east and west, but I can't seem to find a way forward in either region. Even worse, I can't even find the way to the boss in the north again.

I think I'm going to have to wait for a walkthrough :/

Thirith on 2/4/2016 at 10:34

I just tried to play some more, but I keep encountering a bug where my gamepad stops working and my character just runs off in some random direction without me being able to do anything. Shame, because I like what I've seen so far, but I think I'll wait for a patch.

Also, am I really thick or is there no way to leave the game in the main menu? Even Alt-F4 doesn't seem to work - I have to Alt-Tab out and then close the game from the desktop.

van HellSing on 2/4/2016 at 11:23

Uhh, there's an EXIT GAME option in the main menu for me.

Thirith on 2/4/2016 at 11:40

If I missed something that obvious, I'll feel pretty stupid. Here's kinda hoping that the same bug that makes my controller go wonky also makes the EXIT GAME option invisible.

nicked on 2/4/2016 at 14:16

I caved and bought it. Man this game is hard. Learning curve like a sheer cliff.