Thirith on 2/8/2023 at 06:57
I finished Trek to Yomi yesterday, and while the game remained visually stunning, as a game it stayed pretty bad. The fights are never interesting or fun, and there's little else than fights and a very small handful of puzzles that are so easy and unengaging they might as well not be there. Which would even be okay if the aesthetic was put to better use, but Trek to Yomi feels like little more than empty pastiche. It's got the audiovisual side down, and it rehearses all the archetypes and stereotypes, but it doesn't come to life in its story or characters. Which is a shame, because the best samurai movies are full of life and character(s).
Looking for a quick game to play in the evenings when it's not worth launching Divinity Original Sin 2, I briefly checked out The White Door (by the makers of the Rusty Lake games) and Venineth. The former is interesting so far, but it's very much storytelling more so than game, with none of the puzzles that the Rusty Lake games have (this might change later); it's the kind of thing that works best at a length of 1-2 hours at most. The latter is atmospheric and looks gorgeous, but it's definitely not something I'd play four hours on end. It's got a great vibe, but rolling the alien sphere across alien landscapes is pretty limited. I expected something more akin to Marble Madness, but the sphere is heavy and due to the inertia it doesn't control particularly well. Perhaps this'll change as I get more of a sense of the game's physics, but seeing that apparently Venineth is about 8-10 hours long I'm not sure I'll play the entire thing.
Sulphur on 3/8/2023 at 13:00
Venineth reminded me of Exo One a bit, but then I read about it requiring precision jumps with a particularly heavy sense of inertia, and my interest plummeted. I like Marble Madness in theory, but creativity and intuitive controls is what I would really expect if I were to play it for more than 5 minutes.
Thirith on 3/8/2023 at 13:17
Yeah, I'm not sure I'll play very far - also because there don't seem to be any mid-level save points, which means that I'd need to finish each level once I start it. (According to Backloggd user reviews, some levels can be up to an hour in length.) With this kind of game, I want to be able to dip in and out, but if that's not possible I'm not sure the aesthetic and vibe are enough. It's also an utterly boneheaded design choice, because while you're playing a level there are plenty of checkpoints, and it's not like the game needs to save a huge number of variables.
Sulphur on 3/8/2023 at 13:23
Okay, wow, I didn't know that. Definitely takes it into 'eh, maybe' territory for me. I can't see why saving should be locked out that way for something that passes as casual-ish. Oh well.
Anyway, as of the past few days, I booted up Bully on a whim. The last time I played this game properly was when I got a PS2 right after college and decided to figure out this whole 'games played with controllers' thing, being a PC gamer since before I hit puberty and with the (rather odd, in retrospect) viewpoint of returning to the Atari joystick as a form of gaming recidivism. I finally relented because Silent Hill 2 and Metal Gear Solid 2 just looked too good to pass up (little did any of us know that after that amazing generation of games, Konami was quietly picking away at itself to transform into today's unfortunate husk). Anyway, I remember being really bad at the controller, and Bully was not a kind teacher; but the game was clever - it was tiny compared to GTA and knew it, so it made its tiny world denser and fun to screw around in while following the GTA mission template. It rewarded discipline, and it rewarded mischief (the rules were mostly for show, but added the perfect delicate bit of friction between doing what you want to do and doing what you should, like heading to class), and I liked it a lot.
Turns out I still like it, even if it is crash-happy, looks like ass, and everyone in it, from the kids to the adults, are huge, nasty children. But it makes sense: the game's name is Bully, but Canis Canim Edit in the UK and elsewhere, which is far more appropriate because being a bully isn't the actual text here, it's that everyone's only really looking out for themselves. And weirdly, your protagonist is a teenage dirtbag who also seems to care (a little) about people, more than anyone else in the game does. It's a shallow contrast, but works because the game is moreish as heck, even with its antiquated controls and mechanics. I guess also it's because the kid in me is easy to please - I loved being a little shit in this game, from throwing marbles in front of doors before pulling the fire alarm to blowing up toilets with firecrackers.
It's probably no accident that after I kissed a few girls and I went and kissed a boy, one of the girls I kissed ran up to both of us, kicked us in the nuts, and ran away. And you know what, that's fair enough.
henke on 3/8/2023 at 17:33
Quote Posted by Sulphur
Venineth reminded me of Exo One a bit, but then I read about it requiring precision jumps with a particularly heavy sense of inertia, and my interest plummeted.
Conversely, this piqued my interest! Exo One looked great but was too dang easy, not enough game there!
Started playing
Dredge yesterday and have spent many an hour with it already. You can say it really got its HOOKS into me, if you know what I mean!!! :joke::joke::joke:
Also played narrative cooking game
Venba, which just came out and is on gamepass. It's a short game with a very touching story and nice presentation. The actual gameplay bits are pretty meh tho. I was totally lost trying to cook Indian food and had to resort to the hints on almost every dish. :confused:
Sulphur on 3/8/2023 at 18:08
Yup. While a lot of Indian food is pretty involved in general, food from Tamil Nadu is both involved and quite different from what most people would have experienced when they think of 'Indian' food. So instead of the kababs and the chicken tikkas and whatnot, you probably have idlis and dosas amongst other things. Cooking Tamilian food is not an intuitive process to me either, and I grew up in the state capital.
Renault on 3/8/2023 at 18:37
Quote Posted by henke
Started playing
Dredge yesterday and have spent many an hour with it already. You can say it really got its HOOKS into me, if you know what I mean!!! :joke::joke::joke:
I've been playing this for a few days now too - it's reely good.
demagogue on 3/8/2023 at 19:01
Well I played VVVVVV this week. It lived up to the hype. It's been out for a while but if you don't know about it, it's the poor man's Celeste or Knytt Stories or Cave Story, hardcore platforming in an openish kind of world in a C64 aesthetic. I thought it was going to be too blocky and janky to be a proper platformer, but it was slick the whole way. I got into it a lot more than I expected I would. There's not much to really elaborate on. It has its own creative platforming mechanic, and it nails it.
henke on 3/8/2023 at 21:57
Quote Posted by Sulphur
Yup. While a lot of Indian food is pretty involved in general, food from Tamil Nadu is both involved and quite different from what most people would have experienced when they think of 'Indian' food. So instead of the kababs and the chicken tikkas and whatnot, you probably have idlis and dosas amongst other things. Cooking Tamilian food is not an intuitive process to me either, and I
grew up in the state capital.
Yeah, idlis was one of the recipes. I look forward to hearing your thoughts on it, whenever you get around to playing it. :)
Quote Posted by Brethren
I've been playing this for a few days now too - it's reely good.
No doubt A BOAT it! :thumb:
Jason Moyer on 4/8/2023 at 04:57
Quote Posted by demagogue
Well I played
VVVVVV this week. It lived up to the hype. It's been out for a while but if you don't know about it, it's the poor man's Celeste or Knytt Stories or Cave Story, hardcore platforming in an openish kind of world in a C64 aesthetic. I thought it was going to be too blocky and janky to be a proper platformer, but it was slick the whole way. I got into it a lot more than I expected I would. There's not much to really elaborate on. It has its own creative platforming mechanic, and it nails it.
I haven't played it since it first came to Steam, but it's probably the indie game I remember most fondly. Charming, brutally hard in spots, and just a great exploration-oriented platformer. That and the original Bit.Trip.Runner were so good.
