DuatDweller on 21/1/2024 at 10:24
(
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mission_Critical_(video_game))
Mission Critical
"The game consists of 3D graphics and features live-action scenes, with the cast including Michael Dorn and Patricia Charbonneau. The games storyline focuses on the player taking on the role of a single crew member, who is left behind on their ship after their captain feigns a surrender to ensure a vital mission can continue. The player's goal focuses on repairing their ship after a recent battle, and then getting to the surface of a planet to complete a secret scientific mission that could provide the means to ending a war over technological advancements and artificial life. "
(
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martian_Gothic:_Unification)
Martian Gothic
"The game is very similar to the Resident Evil series: third-person perspective; fixed camera angle; tank controls; “Vac-Tubes” in the place of item boxes; and colored key-cards. The game focuses heavily on puzzle solving and exploration, rather than combat. However, the combat system focuses on crowd control or dispatching small and weak enemies as it is easy to become overwhelmed by enemies such as the non-dead who walk at exactly the same pace as the player. The game is centered on three playable characters that are separated. This separate trio gimmick is similar to Day of the Tentacle. One of the unique features of the game is that if the characters ever meet face-to-face, it will result in a game-over. "
Nice one liners in this game. I find it humorous.
Sulphur on 21/1/2024 at 11:57
Quote Posted by henke
Sulph was RIGHT.
Chants of Sennaar is SO GOOD.
Phew. I was starting to wonder if my infatuation with really good mechanics was starting to make my tastes skew towards the idiosyncratic for most. Glad to hear you enjoyed it!
@Hit Deity - indeed, Jedi Survivor is a good game, but it's not quite reached its final form, whatever that might be... and I don't know if it will, so we'll have to see how the third one is (minus Stig, I wonder who Respawn's fingering to direct it.)
Quote Posted by Anarchic Fox
What do y'all think are the games that feel most like Star Wars, then?
Rebel Assault, obviously. :angel:
Well. It's actually a complicated question. Like JM says, it depends on what your conception of Star Wars is. The general idea I think people have is that it's got to be an adventure with high stakes, typically massive set pieces, and checks off the following: the Force, light sabers, an evil empire that needs overcoming via sheer force of will and grit, a protagonist with a relatable personal struggle, and the whole shebang owes a whole bunch to Akira Kurasawa. The franchise philosophy, in the end, is about achieving balance, and the wars fought to obtain it (what is this, some kind of Star War?). So - it's not very deep.
The thing about the question is, the video games we have don't really do 'Star Wars' holistically; or if they try, their wax wings melt way too early (The Force Unleashed 1/2). Did you like the WW2 space dogfighting? Then X-Wing and TIE Fighter are your benchmarks. Did you like the fights with the Force and all the light sabering? Then it's Jedi Knight 2 which still hasn't been equalled as a pure combat-based experience (once you get off Nar Shadaa, anyway). Did you feel that the trooper clones could have had an interesting story in them? Republic Commando's great. Do you want something that's kinda good overall while aping the current-day genre zeitgeist? That's JFO and JS.
But the obvious answer, if what you want is a 'Star Wars-like adventure' that can be called pretty good even if there are some qualifications, is still Knights of the Old Republic, with its grody Neverwinter Nights-based mechanics. I contend that as a game it's fine, if you have enough tolerance, but it doesn't do anything particularly interesting except tell a decent story (with the typical Bioware peaks and troughs).
If you want a Star Wars game that really does something interesting to capture your attention instead though, never mind whether it's Star Wars-y enough, my personal favourite is KoTOR II. As a bonus, it attempts some questions on the morality of the Force - not in a supremely sophisticated manner, but the fact that it does at all while telling a good story is achievement enough.
WingedKagouti on 21/1/2024 at 13:40
Quote Posted by Sulphur
Well. It's actually a complicated question. Like JM says, it depends on what your conception of Star Wars is. The general idea I think people have is that it's got to be an adventure with high stakes, typically massive set pieces, and checks off the following: the Force, light sabers, an evil empire that needs overcoming via sheer force of will and grit, a protagonist with a relatable personal struggle, and the whole shebang owes a whole bunch to Akira Kurasawa. The franchise philosophy, in the end, is about achieving balance, and the wars fought to obtain it (what is this, some kind of Star War?). So - it's not very deep.
It should be said that George Lucas is on record for saying that to him the Star Wars concept of "Balance" is the Light side wiping out the Dark side. I can't recall the exact wording from the interview, where he was asked if balance in the Force should mean that the Light side was as strong in the galaxy as the Dark side, but his answer was basically that the Dark side existing in the galaxy meant there could be no balance.
But yea, Star Wars is something different to everyone. For some a good SW game needs to get the space wizard magic right, for others the core is the struggle of a small force fighting for "good", then there are those who feel epic space battles is the essence of SW and so on.
Jason Moyer on 22/1/2024 at 04:43
Before the prequels, I think a Jedi game that played more like Thief would have been awesome. Something where your character was like Obi-Wan in Star Wars, infiltrating the Empire with stealth and subterfuge instead of flinging rocks and waving a laser sword.
For me it's tough because my favorite Star Wars games have things that were introduced in media that I don't like. Like bad guys using lightsabers will never feel right to me (Vader had one because he was a Jedi). Or everyone being re-christened Darth, when that always just seemed like a badass name that Anakin took to be intimidating because he was basically a henchman.
Thirith on 22/1/2024 at 11:27
I've been playing a lot of Islets, a lovely little Metroidvania. It does for me what I'd hoped Gato Roboto would do, before I realised that I'd already played through the latter. Basically, Islets feels like the cheerful, sunny cousin to Hollow Knight; it's easier, lighter, chirpier, but I think it does this really well. To some extent I'd recommend this to someone who bounced off of Hollow Knight because of the difficulty and melancholy, and I'd definitely recommend it either as someone's first Metroidvania or as a Metroidvania for someone who wants to relax and have fun for a few hours in between more challenging games. What it gets right, which for me is key with Metroidvanias: moving around is fun, especially once you've got an upgrade or two. It also has a fairly clever thing where you explore individual floating islands that, once you've activated a MacGuffin, are mashed together, so you now can move between the islands. Obviously opening new paths is standard Metroidvania fare, but the way Islets does it is kinda cool.
Aja on 22/1/2024 at 16:05
Islets looks interesting! I'm up for a relaxing metroidvania. Wishlisted.
I've been playing
Tunic, and I'm a little lukewarm on it. I've found a bunch of pages and I can sort of see where the puzzles are going, but something about the atmosphere and aesthetic rub me the wrong way. I think a big part of it is the soundtrack, which to my snobby musician sensibility sounds like the composers thought they were writing the emotional epic of the decade, but it comes across as inappropriate and overbearing. And some of their (
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76ljMZsiAwE) melodic choices are unfortunate. Overall it feels a little too precious and on-the-nose with its melancholy, which is a complaint I had with Hollow Knight, too, although the gameplay there was rock solid and more than made up for it. Tunic's combat is serviceable but also somewhat muddy and instinct, not satisfying enough to stand on its own.
I've also been replaying
Kentucky Route Zero -- I'm going to finish it this time! I've maybe said it before, but the interlude piece called (
http://kentuckyroutezero.com/the-entertainment/) The Entertainment (free standalone download in the link) is one of the most absorbing and chilling things I've ever played (as in: I literally get chills every time I finish it). It probably sounds hypocritical to accuse a game of being too pretentious and then sing the praises of what I'm sure a lot of people consider to be one of the most pretentious games ever made. For me, though, KRZ strikes an almost impossible balance of genuine literary accomplishment without feeling like a self-indulgent showcase for the author's talent. Even Disco Elysium, which I loved, didn't quite get this right, but KRZ absolutely walks that line for me; it's a great postmodern work of art.
Oh, and the most Star Wars games are
Shadows of the Empire, which only gets this accolade because the soundtrack is entirely ripped from the films and most of the locations are too; and
Tales from the Galaxy's Edge, which genuinely does feel like Star Wars, as in what it would feel like to fire a blaster or wave a lightsaber. Problem is it's not that great of a game.
WingedKagouti on 22/1/2024 at 16:47
Quote Posted by Aja
I've been playing
Tunic, and I'm a little lukewarm on it. I've found a bunch of pages and I can sort of see where the puzzles are going, but something about the atmosphere and aesthetic rub me the wrong way.
Tunic is more about discovery than the moment to moment gameplay. That means discovery of the world and gameplay mechanics. Tunic is probably going to be a miss for you in the long run, if that doesn't entice you. The story isn't that important, and it's mostly present in the manual in a language/font you have to translate yourself (or you could find a translated copy online if you care).
Aja on 22/1/2024 at 16:52
It entices me in principle (Outer Wilds is one of my favourite games ever), but in practice I think this game has a bit of a tonal mismatch. I haven't got to the heavy translation parts yet, so I think I'll give it a few more hours at least.
Sulphur on 22/1/2024 at 16:55
KRZ's the sort of magical realism that does things for me. I don't know how to describe it except that it's like poetry, but written in whispers and flickering shadow, it's dusk fading to indigo at your windowsill, it's moonlight glancing off a mirror.
Anyway, I should finish it.
Regarding Tunic, I can see why its mix of mystery and hard edges is at odds with the bouncy fox you play, though I can't say I found the combat as slushy. I'm not sure about that read on the soundtrack, most of what I've heard is basically ambient chill - I was sort of disappointed, because Lifeformed did one of the best soundtracks for a video game a long-ass time ago, for Dustforce. (
https://youtu.be/cdkfA1X9w78) This is still a great track I listen to fairly often, and the soundtrack's got a lovely chill melodic vibe. Tunic's hasn't stuck with me so far, but it also hasn't offended me either.
Aja on 22/1/2024 at 17:24
To me it sounds like it was going for something like what Disasterpiece did in Hyper Light Drifter except in that case the soundtrack is in lockstep with the game's visual and gameplay aesthetics, and while both have a bit of a VST sheen to them, HLD's compositions are striking while Tunic sounds like pablum. When I was a kid I used to take piano lessons through Yamaha, and they focused a lot on ear training, so we were always singing simple melodies in solfege. Whenever I hear those "do re mi re do" primary-school type melodies, I feel like the composer isn't trying hard enough. Apparently the Tunic soundtrack took seven years to complete, which suggests it was a struggle.
