#did the tutorials and the mechanics feel unique

[miloscat]

[Review] Sonic Free Riders (Xbox 360)

They made hoverboards fun and exciting, then the fans made it actually playable.

After Zero Gravity, Sonic Team were apparently not done with the Riders series. Not done using it for motion control experiments, that is. The next and final instalment was a launch title for Microsoft's ill-fated Kinect motion sensor accessory. This camera apparatus could track a player's full body and so you needed a large, empty area to play your games in, which has never been practical for me. So I considered this game essentially lost media as far as I was concerned, until I recently learned about a mod that reworked the game for traditional controllers that I could use on an emulator. The updated version of this patch was buggy but the original release worked a treat and I was finally able to experience this title.

Compared to previous entries, the plot is very low-stakes. Eggman is hosting another racing tournament in disguise, shenanigans ensue. The cutscenes are merely static character portraits, the dialogue nothing but banter and posturing with the framing device of Omochao reporting on the racing for a TV broadcast. But the strength this has over prior Riders games is including a broader range of the cast, with Teams Rose and Dark being involved and playable in their own story modes in addition to the usual Heroes and Babylon stories. Well, Team Dark is missing Omega and substitutes a random eggbot who is more than it appears in perhaps the only notable story development. And Team Rose is Amy, Cream, and... Vector... so Team Sonic Racing wasn't the first to randomly force him in to fill out another team, or to have a weird addition to Team Rose.

As for the racing, from what I could tell from the tutorial, there's a lot of actions you need to be able to do. It seemed complex and the pace of gameplay quite fast for something you control just with various body motions to an unresponsive IR sensor grid. In other words, compared to Zero Gravity it didn't feel as compromised by the control scheme, and translated reasonably well to a controller, so it's a shame they never officially offered that as an option. The game reviewed terribly at the time on the basis of its controls, but with a pad in hand I had a fun time. Sure it was easy most of the way through, but by the very last stages it did even offer a decent challenge.

There's no drifting, but a heavy turn assist helps with cornering. There's a boost function that drains your air meter, as well as a "lean forward (tilt control stick up) to go faster" mechanic. Stunts are done in Zero Gravity style, by jumping at the right time off a ramp, although you can spin to do a better trick (not supported in the original mod release). Arm flailing is a factor, where you can lean to grab rings that are just off the course, throw items that skew a little more Mario Kart in their effects while still being unique, rub steam or splatter off your screen, or grab poles to swing around and take shortcuts. As a power character you can punch to destroy obstacles, and flight characters have to have arms outstretched to remain airborne when necessary. It sounds exhausting but all these functions are mapped pretty well to a controller in the mod, and I got to grips with them quickly. And while it may sound overloaded with gimmicks, I thought it was a better balance than the previous games of keeping up your pace while doing them, or being ignorable entirely.

It may sound like I'm being contrary but this quickly became my favourite of the Riders games. Because it expects you to be flolloping around, it's so much more forgiving and I found I wasn't constantly struggling against the game and its demands. It integrates a mission-like structure into the campaign so most of the time you're doing various objectives and single-lap runs of the courses in story mode, which moves things along at a quick pace. It also looks gorgeous, the environments varied and ultra-colourful, helped of course by being in HD for the first time. The tracks have fun setpieces like toboggan or minecart sections, jumping onto rooftops, or surfing while being pulled by a dolphin.

Free Riders kind of fulfilled the promise of what I wanted the series to be, for the first time. Fast-paced and bombastic, not overly punishing or bland. It's such a shame that that lively energy had to be locked behind an impractical peripheral gimmick. The assets were all there for a potential conversion or fourth instalment that takes the strengths but makes it play like a normal video game that people can actually play... but alas. As is often the case in the Sonic series, it was up to the fans to fix what Sega had broken, and I'm very thankful to Rei-SanTH for doing so in this case (please fix not being able to turn right on v1.1!).

[tornioduva]

A thought on Botw's items

So, first of all, if you were left dissatisfied and somewhat angry by Totk, go watch this wonderful video and enjoy your catharsis:

So, after watching this my mind started to fix upon this godforsaken series again and, a thought about how the wild saga handles things and why.

Now, i'm not a seasoned game designer, i don't know shit on how to deliver these massive projects, and i'll admit i haven't done proper research like in interviews, manuals, artbook, ecc., this is all very much a stream of consciousness.

What i reflected on is how many of us struggled to really bite deep with criticism into the structural exploration systems of this games, because it apparently "works", and in a somewhat elegant and cohesive way. It's much more difficult to critique the decision of adding shrines, of the dungeons, of the pad tools, of the rewards, because it easily justifies itself with the various "time limits, sacrifices needed to be made, streamlined exploration" and so on; it's much easier instead to go to the throat of the story, or characters, or the durability, because it's a much more direct frustration i think.

But then again, thinking about Botw: was giving the player all of their tools right away really the only right decision?

I honestly think that having the player roam around hyrule, letting them explore and find obstacles for which the tools are required, and then giving them said tools, would've been much better. You would accumulate small frustrations here and there, places to return to, for which you would use those pins in the map, and then you'd have the satisfaction of having finally found the solution to your troubles and a unique reward from wherever you might've taken them.

"Sure", you might say, "but then all the major dungeon and "story areas" should take into accoutn wether you have them or not". ....Yes. what's the problem in that? maybe a character, like one of the descendant could say something along the lines of "if only we had a way to freeze the water to resolve this issue that i feel might be present in the divina beast" or similar, that way the beasts would be centered around fleshing out one mechanic. i guess that might make them a bit more monotonous, but i think not; they are already kind short and boring, they might as well be a a dungeon designed around fleshing out just one of your tools in a satisfying way.

That to me would've resolved a good amount of issues i have with it with the game already, because part of the joy of exploring, at least in the first like 10 to 20 hours, would've been the anticipation of finding a tool and to finally use it! and i'd have something more memorable to remember while roaming around than just pretty sunsets.

Also, this would resolve the B I G issue i have with the intro of both of this game, of it being an unskippable slog. If you remove all of the tutorial aspect out of it, and outsource it to a later, further away area of the game, you can reduce all the time the plateau takes out of you to like, an introduction to combat, crafting, effects and that's it, you're free after that.

plus i always found stupid that the game won't let you have the paraglider before finishing it. like, just leave the tutorial there if someone wants it, but le me find the paraglider as an object and then let me go down, it's not an essential item, just a convenient one; plus, if players went around hyrule without the paraglider, you could just remind them in other ways later on that they might find one on the plateau, or let them find another one in other areas of the game. that could've been fun: "where did you find the glider? here? really? wow, these devs really thought of everything, i found it there instead, and mike down south".

i dunno, i just don't want to think about botw as the only correct way of doing this kind of game.

[yourknifemyside]

"You worked so hard to put your past behind you, and now here it is staring you in the face."

#1. Shadow Generations (2024) ✨

First new game of the year for me! I am not really a Sonic fan, but I am definitely a Sonic "enjoyer," if that makes any kind of sense. If I'm being honest, my connection to the Sonic franchise is more of a passing fascination and appreciation than one of actually enjoying the games. I feel like I'm on the outside looking in—I love learning about the turbulent history of the games and of the characters, but outside of one very major, herculean exception (Sonic Adventure 2,) I really don't enjoy actually playing any of these games. To give you a peek behind the curtain for a moment, I fully intended to play through and review Sonic Generations separately from this new expansion/side game, but I only got about fifteen minutes in before I wanted to put it down, which really disappointed me, because I remembered kinda liking it when it originally released a decade ago.

So yes, the focus here is exclusively on the new Shadow Generations release. This was a game I developed a distant interest in as details about it started trickling out pre-release. As a massive SA2 fan, the most popular character from that game getting his own new adventure was immediately appealing. Then it slipped that this game's main antagonist was fucking Black Doom from Shadow the Hedgehog (2005), a character and and a game SEGA has desperately tried to dust under the rug for the better part of two decades. In that instant, this became something I felt I couldn't ignore. I didn't grow up with the Shadow the Hedgehog game, and I wouldn't necessarily say its contributions to the overall story of the character needed to be embraced in modern day. My sudden excitement for this release didn't really have anything to do with Black Doom, or lore implication. It was mostly just a signal, to me, that SEGA actually gave a shit about embracing Sonic again.

For the past decade and a half, Sonic games have come across as extremely embarrassed toward their own history. They intentionally buried their vibrant extended cast of characters, and dropped the emphasis on narrative that made these games so unique among other 3D platformers. The aspects of the series that injected every games with charisma and charm, now treated as eyesores. So the fact that characters like Big The Cat and Mephiles, and obscure plotpoints like Tails' Fake Chaos Emerald still being on the Space Colony ARK, are not only acknowledged but put on full display, front and center, is a beautiful thing to me.

All of that is what actually got me in the door on this game in the first place. But still, going into it, I felt acutely aware that I haven't enjoyed the act of playing a new Sonic game in well over a decade. Colors, Unleashed, Frontiers, even a revisit to my childhood favorite Sonic Heroes, did not click for me at all. The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog (a visual novel) and Project '06 (a fan project) are the full sum of games in this franchise I can say I played and really enjoyed in eons. And not for lack of trying! The sad truth of it all is that I'm a filthy Adventure purist. I am not much of a fan of 2D Sonic, and I'm really not a fan of the "boost" gameplay they fully invested in after Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) flopped. I heavily gravitate towards and prefer the way the Adventure games feel to play, but I really did give the other styles a fair shake! It simply doesn't work for me, and it's a damn shame because I want to like these games. So going into this new game that looks to combine literally all three gameplay styles other than the one I like, I was cautiously optimistic, but ready to be let down all the same.

Having now fully finished the game, with absolutely no desire to 100% it, I can say that this is a Sonic game with a shit overworld, bad tutorialization of some core mechanics, shockingly subpar soundtrack, and a lot of blatant runtime padding. With that in mind, I mean this with no dash of irony whatsoever: we are so back. I thoroughly enjoyed my playthrough of this game. A good Sonic game, to me, often resonates at a frequency I've referred to as "a perfect 7/10" in the past; a "flawed masterpiece" of sorts. I anticipate a certain level of jank with any Sonic game, but it's when the good aspects are so strong that they overshadow all of the detracting forces that these games become something truly special. Shadow Generations trips up in a lot of places with me, but its core is so solid that it overcomes all obstacles and creates something that renews my faith in this franchise just a little bit.

This is another Sonic game to heavily feature boost gameplay, but without question it is the best controlling and best designed boost gameplay in the series. It really isn't close, either. I think the switch from Sonic to Shadow really opened up a ton of possibilities for the designers to take advantage of. With Sonic you have a lot of actions that focus on his speed, but with Shadow you combine that speed with a lot of additional actions, and it spices things up a lot. Other than jumping and homing attacking things, the most interesting action that boost-Sonic ever gets to do outside of his core movement options is what, slide under a wall? Shadow gets Chaos Spears, which are required for opening certain pathways and creating openings to attack certain enemies, and Chaos Control, which completely alters the way you can tackle any number of moments throughout the levels, and opens up exclusive shortcuts and alternate routes on its own. These new action-based systems blend with the generally fine-tuned movement and boosting to create a much more engaging flow state than ever before.

When the game's at its best, you find yourself needing to cram a lot of little actions into a short space of time. You're not just holding boost when you have it and occasionally jumping or quick-stepping, now it's "jump and quickly target these flying robots with chaos sphere so I can homing attack them to cross this gap, and to get enough energy to pop my chaos control so I can avoid this upcoming obstacle, then drop down and boost past it so I can take that shortcut while my chaos control is still active." Nailing a tight sequence of inputs like that feels so good, and a lot of the time, it really does feel automatic.

I think the genius of the way these levels are designed lies in keeping the core Sonic principle of needing to learn the levels to preserve your momentum and flow, but cleverly programming certain cues in your mind to have you intuiting and anticipating a lot of jumps and obstacles on your first run. The alternate paths in each level feel really satisfying to successfully navigate onto, and are often hinted towards on the standard paths, guiding curious minds towards them on subsequent runs. The game simply gets you into its groove so unbelievably well. I studied game design at college for years, and in no way does that make me an authority on the topic, but I really have to admire what they accomplished here. Of everything in this package, the 3D gameplay is the big, uncontested winner for me.

The rest of the package is a little all over the place, so let's start from the top, and work our way down. When I realized this game had 2D levels, I groaned. 2D Sonic is not my thing, but in particular, 2D sections within the 3D games have always felt like utter shit to play through. Something about the physics and the nerfing of player controls just for the sake of "putting the moveset in line with the classics" makes me barf, it consistently is the worst part about these games for me. To my immense surprise though, the 2D levels in Shadow are actually pretty dang good too! Maybe not good enough to keep me from wishing there were more 3D levels, but when I can put my bias aside, these levels really are good. Again, I think it comes down to the improvement in control and flow this game exhibits compared to prior installments. Shadow's moveset is fully kept in tact, just recontextualized into a 2D space. These aren't levels I'm itching to go back to as much as the 3D acts, but by the time I got through my third one, I just had to admit to myself that these really are solid levels. I'm glad they're here.

Let’s shift gears for a bit and look at the continued course correction modern Sonic has been attempting. Sonic Forces, Sonic Frontiers, and the Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog all represent a recent initiative from Sonic Team and SEGA to reinject narrative into this franchise. Though those three games vary wildly in tone and execution, they all, at the very least, earnestly attempted to tell stories in the Sonic universe again, and I am grateful for this shift in priorities and philosophy. It was sorely missed, and I think the series really needs its narrative focus if it wants to continue to flourish.

Shadow Generations follows this trend by paying a lot of homage to the character's history, and I think the tie-in to Sonic Generations offered a very unique and logical opportunity to finally give Shadow some type of closure. I like the angle they took this with having to grapple both with restoring the timeline, but also not wanting to lose the person who matters to him all over again. It's a bittersweet, but satisfying way to hopefully propel the character of Shadow forward in the future, now that he has finally gotten some kind of closure with Maria. I think the stuff with Black Doom is a lot less compelling, a lot less important, and kind of just a rehash of the Shadow the Hedgehog (2005) plot, but it's fine enough. What really disappoints me about the story in this game, if anything, is that it felt like they didn't give us enough. This is a short game, and there are only a small handful of cutscenes to actually flesh the plot out. Everything else is either read through short dialogues in the overworld, or told through supplementary material (the collectable diary pages, the backstory button on the main menu, and the Dark Beginnings shorts released to promote the game.) What we do get is good, but man, it doesn't feel like quite enough to leave the impact I wanted it to.

Past this point, there's a laundry list of things I didn't like about Shadow Generations. But the point that I want to make in bringing them up is that even for all of its missteps, Shadow Generations still delivers.

I don't like the hub world very much; I don't think the game's controls were well suited to an "open-zone" environment, and White Space is about as visually stimulating as the name would suggest. But it doesn't matter that much to me, because the game plays so well in the actual levels. I overall don't like the soundtrack very much, and think it might be one of the weakest Sonic OSTs maybe ever. I've never been too big a fan of remix-heavy soundtracks, they tend to underwhelm me compared to the originals. I especially can't stand either of the hub world songs, those songs are ASS ass! But it doesn't matter that much to me, because I can just select the original songs from the older games when I'm playing the levels if I feel like it. The missions required to unlock the boss fights are very filler-y, but it doesn't matter that much to me, because the gameplay is enjoyable enough that I kind of enjoy the bite-sized micro-challenges they provide. I think the Doom Morph's mechanics are horribly explained to the player, and it made me feel desperate to avoid the gameplay revolving around it. But it doesn't matter that much to me, because the level that features it is one of the best in the entire game, and because that level was so good, I sucked it up and put up with the mechanic long enough to actually understand it. It may have taken a Youtube tutorial to finally get it to click, which is still kinda damning, but I did get there!

Shadow Generations is an uneven game. For every fantastic thing going for it, there's something pushing back against it. When it's at its best, it feels just as sweet as a game that I've waited decades for should feel. When it stumbles, it bothers me, I notice, but it doesn't kill it. A perfect 7/10. A flawed masterpiece. I still don't think it's quite for me, but that's okay—I still quite liked playing and engaging with it, even if it doesn't truly sing to me like Sonic Adventure 2 does. It never had to, though. I still feel like I'm on the outside looking in with the Sonic franchise, but for someone on the inside, I could see this being their Sonic Adventure 2. I do worry that a lot of what made this game click for me is inherently tied to Shadow, so I'll remain cautiously optimistic as to what the future of this series holds for me. But as for what it holds for everyone else, I'll double down on something I said towards the beginning of this write-up: we are so back.

"… without light, there's only darkness. But a shadow will show you where to find the light."

7 / 10 MVP: Shadow the Hedgehog Play time: 10 hours

Finished on Jan 20th, 2025

[cobalt-knave]

Whump Fic Recs pt. 1 (& a brief love letter and tagging tutorial)

Ah, whump, my most beloved genre of fanfiction. What is whump? Whump refers to stories prominently featuring injury or sickness and/or the care and recovery thereof. This is most often in the hurt/comfort category or the hurt no comfort category. It is a wonderful opportunity to shake up dynamics and reveal hidden character depths in a high stress situation. What do you do when the strong one is hurt? How does that call into question your feelings towards them? How does that call into question their feelings towards themself and their role? Who will care for the one who always caretakes? It’s a great tonal shift too. Just *chef’s kiss*. Plus, you know what? It’s sometimes just fun to run your favorite characters through the plinko.

How do you tag whump and why should you? The tags on ao3 to use are”

 “Whump” (not just “whumptober” or “whumptober 2022″ or other variations),

“hurt/comfort” or “hurt no comfort”

“angst”

“sickfic” if illness is the featured whump

“injury recovery” if such a thing is covered

“torture”, “car accidents”, “broken bones”, “blood and injury”, “blood and violence”, etc as relevant (start typing into the additional tags section to see what the common tag is to use.

“Character Name Whump” or “Hurt Character Name” if in a specific fandom whumping a specific character

all of the previous should be used in addition to the base whump tag.

if relevant, use the archive warning “graphic depictions of violence”

why tag? BECAUSE I WANNA READ IT AND FIND IT AND IT IS WOEFULLY UNDERTAGGED. It is also good to tag if someone wants to avoid it by excluding it from the search.

Alright. On to the recs. Multifandom including The Mechanisms, The Magnus Archives, King Falls AM, The Adventure Zone, Our Flag Means Death, The Murderbot Diaries, and Stargate SG-1.  There will be more whump recs to come.

On Account Of The Jonny Doll by NammiKisulora

Fandom: The Mechanisms

Ah, NammiKisulora knows how to make these immortals hurt in such twisted and unique ways.

 “Yeah. Get in, will you? I want to get going. Jonny keeps waking up. W-without skin.”    “Oh Yes! That Must Be On Account Of The Jonny Doll!”

Jonny is executed, which is a normal enough occurrence. It’s only afterwards things go wrong.

We Still Have the Radio - I. and  We Still Have the Radio - II. by luckjustkissedyouhello                

Fandom: King Falls AM

luckjustkissedyouhello writes some damn good, damn brutal whump!

The next thing he’s aware of is water against his face, wait no, all of him, where he lays on his left side. Water that is rapidly rising. He lays there dazed. Then a groan above his head has him jerking back into the moment, fear lancing through him, stealing his breath. Ben.

In which Ben and Sammy are in a car accident.

bleeding by Athina_Blaine

Fandom: The Magnus Archives

Martin goes and gets himself stabbed. It's inconvenient.

Re-Initialization by CompletelyDifferent

Fandom: The Murderbot Diaries

This Unit: Where is my owner, Dr. Mensah?

Dr. Yuen: Well, that’s the million dollar question, isn’t it? SecUnit, where did you last physically interact with Dr. Ayda Mensah?

Information Retrieval: Dr. Ayda Mensah last interacted with This Unit on Preservation Station at 08:27:22 on 4098-09-17 CRST.

This Unit: You do not have permission to access that information.

Dr. Yuen: You’re incorrect, SecUnit. We do. Answer the question.

(When the infamous rogue SecUnit of the Preservation Alliance gets captured, the corporate techs assigned to it expected to be able to get some juicy data, or at least some insights into its cracked governor module. They didn't expect something so... basic.)

trust me by gaysidecharacter

Fandom: The Adventure Zone: Balance

Everyone gets real sick and Lup is having a time.

Not an echo even by Hopeful_Foolx

Fandom: The Magnus Archives

They stop the Unknowing. There is an explosion. And trapped under rubble and panic, Jon wakes up. So does Tim. Three prompts, one story. Starting with Day 4 - Running out of Time

Friends in Strange Places by beesandcats

Fandom: Our Flag Means Death

"Steel in your side for so long was a weird feeling, Stede decided. It had actually been around hour six that he came to the conclusion, if anyone was keeping track. It had been around hour three, when he heard the snores from the other side of the deck, that he realized he should perhaps try to be friends with the steel in his side. Obviously, they were not friends."

A missing scene from Season 1, Episode 6. Stede's been stabbed and stuck to a pole all night. He's gonna need some help when everyone wakes up for the day.

Things Stay the Same by teyla

Fandom: King Falls AM

During blizzard season, Ben and Sammy, each for their own reasons, make an unwise choice. The experience that ensues should be life changing—though is it? 

In which there is a snowstorm, an accident, a soaked through jacket, and thoughts of revealing secrets.

Lifestock by NammiKisulora

Fandom: The Mechanisms

"Guys, you get what this means? It means fresh meat, every day for as long as we like." "The fuck are you talking about?" "Just sayin' we could leave his leg attached, tie him up, and bring him along. Carve off what we like at mealtimes instead. We dunno how long we've got to lie low for."

Tim is held captive for food after a battle.

Between A Rock And A Hard Place by Sam Walker

Fandom: Stargate SG-1

To save Daniel’s life, Jack has to do that hardest of all things: talk.

This fic is written from Jack's perspective. Daniel is involved in an accident off-world and the only thing Jack can do to help is talk to Daniel while everyone else works. I love this fic for the interaction between Jack and Daniel, and for the insights into Jack's motivations. Despite being mostly Jack and Daniel, you get a sense of camaraderie about SG1 and you can see just how much Jack cares about his team.

And if you read any of these, be sure to leave kind comments for the authors!

[bahamutgames]

GCPL Game Jam 2024

Hello! Recently the county I live in held an event where you could go and play some games made by local people for the county's game jam they held! I had no idea this was happening until just a few days before, so sadly I didn't enter the jam, but I did get to go to the event and play the games!

I had a great time, the whole Free Comic Book Day event was neat, I got cards from a lot of local artists, saw some cool cosplays, got to play some jam games, met some cool indie devs, and even got a free Monster High comic. Neat.

Anyway, I figure it would be a shame and also just downright rude to not talk about what I got to play during the event! So I figured, hey, let's just make little post solely devoted to it :)

Before we begin, here's the link to the jam page (x) so you can see all the submissions. The theme was "Tales from the Abyss" so a lot of them are horror themed!

Abyssal Assault - by Link362

This one is a pretty basic top down shooter. But for some reason I can't stop thinking about how good it felt. You'll play it yourself and see how simple it is, but for some reason the mouse control for aiming just feels particularly good to me. I think there's a lot of potential in this game for some serious improvement if they add more enemy types and upgrades. I can see sniping enemies with arrows from across the screen being SO satisfying and using the deadzones as cover from enemy fire could be really cool and make for some unique mechanics in a VS-like. If they care to iterate on the game, of course lol

Abyssal Eats - by Poyomain

DUDE this game absolutely rules actually! I had a very difficult time with it during the event and couldn't beat it at all. But after coming back to it today to make this post I seriously LOVE the concept. All the mechanics and stuff really came together and I genuinely love this game!

This is a neat game where you use cards to cook recipes for monsters, it's a little difficult to understand because there's no tutorial, but I really think this game has TONS of potential to be fleshed out into a full project! It's also one of the nicest presentations from this jam, having cute custom graphics and even an original song made just for it! This one is super neat!

Bell-Punk - by Ingward

One of my personal favorites from the jam! When I came up to play it, the person who made it told me they were waiting for me to come over cause they wanted someone who knew what they were doing to try the game... Do I really just give off the gamer aura? Terrifying thought.

Regardless, this is a top down twin stick shooter where you use a harpoon gun to beat up sharks, grab a pearl, then slowly bring it back to your ship. It's nothing super fleshed out, but it's a REALLY good concept in my opinion, and I think deep sea stuff is SUCH a good concept for a shooter / horror / abyss theme that really doesn't get used enough. Just this base with some upgrades, level and enemy variety, other objectives, ect ect would be KILLER! But the creator told me some of their plans for the concept going forward, and I'm not sure if I'm allowed to talk about them, but they sound REALLY cool, so I'll absolutely be keeping up with this one!

Dante's Diner - by cjoyner150

So, I absolutely SUCKED at this game. Couldn't do it during the event and can't do it now. But I still wanted to give it a shoutout cause it's such a good use of the theme. Basically the abyss is the diner you work in and demons will come in, and sit at the table, and you just have to cook for them. Easy peasy. The creators told me the tables were based on the circles of hell, and if that's what they're going for that's GENIUS. I could seriously see a ton of potential in the concept especially if, say, different types of customers sat at different tables, reflecting their sin. Also, this cooking dinerdash game has enemies. Neat! They should put combat into it to

Dimension - by cbianca168

Simple, but OH so addicting. I could NOT stop playing this one. I gave it so many tries at the actual event, but had to give up. However, once I got home and could play it with a controller, it was a lot easier. This is a simple game where you have to pick up orbs while dodging scrap and not get knocked into a black hole. But it's got a nice presentation with its visuals and particularly its music. The creator told me their siblings made the song, and it actually changes to match how far you are into the level! Which is VERY neat! Think you can beat my score?

Hansel And Gretel's Summoning - by kingofthedregs

Another simple one with a really good presentation. This is a cute game where you have to quickly search for candy in a room, and hide whenever a witch comes by. It's easy when you get the hang of it but it was a good challenge when I started. I really like the original artwork in this one and I actually think there's a lot of potential too! I didn't realize the set up for a big plot that appears at the end, so I'd love to see more of what the creator has in store here!

Melt - by p3arldiv3r

So by the time I'm writing this I still haven't gotten an ending in this (sorry to everyone who made visual novels READING IS HARD FOR ME) but I wanted to give a shout out to this one in particular. The creator told me they made all this stuff brand new and original for the game jam. Including the writing, the character designs, and the art. Which is CRAZY! I've only participated in one jam and a lot of the art in that game was pretty small so I feel like doing all the art and writing in such a short time is very impressive. If stuff about angels sounds interesting, maybe check it out, the creator said it's roughly the size of a chunk of a novel, and with multiple endings is a pretty loaded jam game!

Pirate Tales: Lighting The Abyss - by ChokladGames

Another one I couldn't beat, but still wanted to give a shoutout to. This is another impressively large game considering it was made for a game jam. You control a pirate ship, and have to search a large ocean to find clues on where towers are to shoot them down and get rid of the evil fog over the ocean. It's a little lengthy of a game that you have to beat in one sitting, but the concept is very cool and over all I think it's an impressive project! I was also particularly impressed with the use of actual wind physics, where sailing in the direction of the wind makes you go faster! Neat!

Sticky's Dream Job - by MeganG

A shoot 'em up!! You already know I love those! And it's a vampire survivor like, which is cool! I really enjoy this game, since this genre is a personal favorite, and I think this one in specific is very cute with its scribbly aesthetic and being on paper. But it's also a very impressive jam game overall, having multiple classes (they all share the same weapons, but still) with different music tracks for each, lots of upgrades, and actual achievements which is NUTS to me. There's also some cool weapons I feel like I hadn't seen before like a radius shield and giant weapons you lob in an arc similar to Castlevania. I believe this one won the jam over all if I remember correctly, and it certainly earned it, neat game! I got to year 79 and became so powerful I couldn't die. Typical day for a game dev am I right fellas?

Under the Sea - by htesdev

A neat little side scrolling platformer! The whole point of this one is to complete the obstacle course as quickly as possible! You collect coins to increase your speed, and collect gems for checkpoints. It's simple but I think it's a great premise for a side scroller to take place underwater! Especially since water levels are pretty notorious lol. I think this could be expanded and they could really expand on the idea of the level getting harder to see the deeper you get. Anyway, I only got to 67 seconds (66 appears to be the best time) so try and see if you can get that quick!!

VOID - by FoxTrot

Another cool top down shooter! This one is admittedly a lot more polished, having a lot of mechanics such as dashing and shielding. But coolest of all is that you unlock a new spell every floor and can spend coins to swap out your abilities to a load out you enjoy! I keep saying this but this is super impressive for a jam game in my opinion! I think this game can be expanded even more into something really cool! I just like being able to change my abilities on the fly lol

---

And that's just a bit of what I played at the event! There's even more games in the jam I didn't get to check out or that weren't showcased there! And there were TONS of horror games, so if you're interested in some bite sized indie horror, you should check out what else is available!

Everyone who participated in this jam is SUPER talented and if you're interested in ANYTHING that was shared here, I encourage you to go give it a look! I love seeing things made locally where I'm from so it was really exciting to see some Georgia game devs at work :)

If anyone from the Free Comic Book Day event stumbles upon this post, reach out! I'd love to talk more with other Georgia gamers!

[pichlive]

Ultrakill is… the game of All Time. I mean that part shitpost and part seriously. A lot of games I stumble upon tend to be very specific to what type of people they appeal to-- even Slay the Princess, for as much of an experience as it is, really can't appeal to everyone. Ultrakill, though, is a wonderful combination of both gameplay and experience that I think there's something in it that people won't only like, but LOVE. Both in wonderful gameplay, but also excellent atmosphere and a great story. I would even recommend it to people that usually don't like shooters.

I feel I absolutely need to talk about the gameplay first and foremost-- it fucks. Most of the mistakes I've made in Ultrakill feel like they're from my lack of skill rather than because the game is lacking in anything (… a few of the cracks in the level design do start to poke out when you begin P-ranking stuff, though). The game excellently tutorializes you through both instruction and level design, and is so satisfying to finally master-- all the videos on youtube explaining about game mechanics say enough I think! There's enough options as well that everyone can find something they like and stick to (… the coin is objectively the best and most satisfying to use tho.)

Now, if it was just great gameplay, you would think the quality of writing wouldn't matter-- many other games have had a story that's not that deep and/or straight forward with excellent gameplay. But the lore in Ultrakill is SO cool-- I always enjoy reading about any enemies I face off against to get more lore and information on the story… however, Ultrakill also displays much of its story in game-- Whenever there's voice acting it's a huge treat, props to the VA for Gabriel, he puts his ALL into it. Much of the story also comes through in gameplay moments and…

… the MUSIC. Oh my god I don't think I could gush about the music enough-- it's an iconic part of Ultrakill for a reason. I was expecting each level to have a default music, or at least every layer to-- but no, each and every layer in Ultrakill has its own unique music, all incredibly hype with the battles that happen (and at times, incredibly tense… you notice when its quiet in a game that's mostly composed of breakcore). I also feel the need to describe the sound design in this section as well-- it's SO tight and satisfying (and even a gameplay element-- like having to listen for the right time for the coins to really rack up the combos).

Basically even MORE so please play Ultrakill. I guarantee there's something in it you'll love-- from the gameplay to the characters to the music to the level design-- did I mention how gorgeous that is? Every layer is so unique, I was delightfully surprised (and a little scared) the further down I went. Game of all time. Get Ultrakilling.

[sapphanimates]

Sonic OC Showdown Ask Game!

✨️ - How did you come up with the OC's name?

Trace's name originates from the same oc tutorial video I watched when creating her. One of the example characters was named Trace, after their ability to sneak around without a trace, and I thought it was cool.

🌼- How old are they? (approximate age range)

I'm thinking mid-to-late twenties. But that might change depending on how I structure events in my AU.

🌺- Do they have any love interests?

Hmm.....

🍕- What is their favorite food?

Applesauce! The air slits in her muzzler are just big enough for her to fit in and drink through a straw; applesauce is just the easiest since it's already pre-pureed and tastes great!

💼- What do they do for a living?

Nothing necessarily. She and the rest of the Daybreak's Angels spend their time either relaxing or on patrol for danger. They defend those who can't help themselves and were most active during Infinite's conquest of Mobius.

🎹- Do they have any hobbies?

Back when she could still speak, Trace loved to sing folk songs from her hometown. She can still be heard occasionally humming these songs quietly to herself.

🎯 - What do they do best?

She's well versed in various physical fighting styles, and now due to her muzzler, she has gained a sharp advantage in silent espionage.

🥊- What do they like to do? What do they hate to do?

She enjoys talking and spending time with her team. She doesn't hate much of anything. Things that are purely mechanical somewhat set her off. She doesn't trust them.

❤️- What is one of your OC's best memories?

The day she met Zess. He helped her when she was all on her own, teaching her sign language, helping her get food, and just overall caring for her. Her life has changed forever thanks to him.

✂️- What is one your OC's worst memories?

Being defeated by the Jackal Clan. It scarred her, mentally and physically. She feels as if she let her people down by letting her cover get blown.

🧊- Is their current design the first one?

NOOOOO. She's definitely had some changes, most of which in outfit designs and colors. Her muzzler was originally a completely different (and severely illogical) shape, and there were a lot more greens and even golds in her design. The most recent change I've made to her design was the addition of the burn scars across her face.

🍀- What originally inspired the OC?

This tutorial by Creative Planet Entertainment I had previously mentioned in the first question. This is the video that taught me how to draw sonic characters in general, albeit poorly. This is also where she got her name, as I said before, and even inspired the idea of a muzzled sonic character! The Tasmanian Devil aspect was unrelated to this video and was chosen purely because it's just a cool and unique animal.

🌂-What genre do they belong in?

what?

💚 - What is your OC's gender identity and sexuality?

She is a sisgender bisexual woman. She/Her pronouns.

🙌 - How many siblings does your OC have?

Unsure. Let's say... she's the middle child of 6 siblings?

🍎- What is the OC's relationship with their parents like?

Good. They care about her well-being, even taking care of her in the early months after the incident. When she left, they were heartbroken.

🧠- What do you like most about the OC?

She's my little baby girl. She was my first real sonic oc, and I'm proud of how much she's grown. She is a mini time capsule of just how much I've developed as an artist and writer when it comes to Sonic.

✏️- How often do you draw or write about the OC?

I'll have swings, just like I do with all the fandoms I'm obsessed with. When I'm in my Sonic cycle, I usually bounce back to working on fleshing out and drawing choice characters from my project; Trace being one of them.

💎- Do you ever see yourself killing off the OC?

Initially, yes. I had an idea of how and when she would die, but it came much too soon, much too jarring, and read like something you'd find in a shock fic. So no. Not now.

💀- Does your character have any phobias?

She is afraid of becoming lethally ill, suffocation, and drowning.

🍩- Who is your OC's arch nemesis or rival?

Infinite, or as she knew him, Zero. They go back all the way from her infiltration of the Jackal Clan camp, to her traumatic silencing, down to the aftermath of his conquest of Mobius.

🎓 - How long have you had your OC?

Since I designed her during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. I actually drew her during my break between virtual classes!

🍥 - How old were you when you made the OC?

Early Teens

@sonic-oc-showdown

[tatzelwyrm]

In Defense of Dark Souls 2 – Scholar Edition

Now that I have finished all of the Dark Souls 2 DLCs, I must say, people don’t give Dark Souls 2 enough credit.

Is DS2 a perfect game? No. But think of all the nice things Dark Souls 2 gave us that later Soulsborne games (including Elden Ring) adopted:

Fast Travel between bonfires is immediately available after leaving the tutorial area.

Fast Travel is available from every bonfire to every bonfire (excepting Primal Bonfires).

To increase the number of Estus uses you upgrade your flask instead of upgrading individual bonfires.

Levelling up is tied to the Firekeeper/Finger Maiden/Doll equivalent rather than the bonfires, allowing for Majula to become something of a hub world, much more than Firelink in DS1.

As a consequence, Emerald Herald, to me, is much more fleshed out as a a character (like the Doll) than the Firekeepers in DS1 (Elden Ring chose a unique middle ground by having you level up via your friendly neighbourhood maiden, but having her appear at every bonfire equivalent rather than in a hub area – which made me not feel connected to Roundtable Hold or any of the other areas as much as I did to Majula, the Hunter's Dream or DS3's Firelink).

Weapon upgrades are far less complicated in DS2 and subsequent Soulsborne games. There’s still different weapon categories that use different upgrade materials but the different upgrade paths are easier and quicker to unlock because they aren't locked behind as many different kinds of embers.

There’s also a bunch of exciting stuff only DS2 did. The most prominent example of this is

ADJUSTABLE DIFFICULTY!

By giving us the following:

Extinction – Enemies stop respawning after you’ve killed them about 12 times.

Bonfire ascetics – Burning an ascetic at a bonfire allows you to manually force an area into a higher NG state, respawning enemies that had previously been extinct (ensuring you can keep farming souls) and even respawning bosses that you’ve already beaten.

Joining the Company of Champions covenant increases damage output and defenses of enemies and disables friendly summons (you can leave the covenant any time via the talking cat. There are no penalties for leaving covenants in this game).

The only other Soulsborne game that allows you to play around with difficulty a bit is Bloodborne by making enemies becoming stronger and giving them additional moves if you increase your Insight score enough.

Do you know how many times playing DS1 and DS3 I thought “If this was Dark Souls 2, I’d be getting rid of that one guy”?

And, finally, I simply feel like DS2 managed to capture the spirit of DS1 very well while still managing to be its own game (as evidenced by the new mechanics mentioned above) rather than simply being a rehash of its predecessor.

I don’t think the areas in DS2 are as consistently creatively unique as the areas in DS1, but the spirit is still there.

There are multiple areas that can be made easier or harder by using your torch (Brightstone Cove Tseldora (at least in Scholar which is the version of the game I played), the Gutter, Shrine of Amana. The torch can also unlock special items for you (Things Betwixt, the Gutter). The windmill in Earthen Peak can be burned (there’s even an NPC summon pointing this out to you). It's a neat way to make players consider using a 1-handed weapon without a shield for a bit.

The invisible enemies, thick fog and moaning trees make navigating Shaded Woods particularly creepy – and you can use the moaning trees to distract the enemies while you sneak around them!

Aldia’s Keep has that Dragon Skeleton that moves – once! I’ve already forgotten what the trigger for this was, so this is gonna be a guaranteed jumpscare the next time I play this game.

The Wyverns at Dragon Aerie only become hostile if you step on too many of their eggs.

If you duel the big fellas at Dragon Shrine one-on-one the other enemies won’t attack you.

There’s also the many Pharros contraptions that you can unlock to find treasure and/or traps throughout the game. (I just wish these had been more integrated into the gameplay in Doors of Pharros. Like, there's an entire area littered with these things, named after the guy who invented them, but it’s also the one area in the game in which the contraptions don’t do anything exciting. Imagine if this place had been more akin to Sen’s Fortress. They could have given you special Pharros stones to disable the traps in this area – special ones so you can’t accidentally insert them somewhere else and make the level unplayable.)

And that’s just some examples from the base game. The DLCs are each centered around unique level mechanics.

Navigating Shulva requires you to find and keep track of multiple switches to raise and lower platforms – and to disable traps and find hidden pathways inside the Dragon Sanctum. (So maybe they overdid it a bit with the switches in this one. There’s like 3 of them that I never figured out what they did because I lost patience, but it was still a nice change from the more combat-heavy areas.)

Brume Tower (probably my favourite area in the entire game) has a lot of elevators for you to navigate once you figure out how to active them while the Ashen Idols pose something of an environmental threat. Additionally, there's lots of gunpowder and fire for you to use and abuse as you wish.

Frozen Eleum is, well, frozen the first time you enter it and unfreezing parts of it allows you to access new areas and make the final boss fight a lot easier (with Burnt Ivory King making for the best spectacle fight in the entire series, IMO, if you find and bring all the Loyce Knights).

Compare this to Dark Souls 3. I loved DS3 when I played it (still do). It has incredible boss fights and very smooth, fast-paced gameplay and an epic soundtrack. But you can’t deny it’s is also a lot less daring than its predecessors when it comes to level design and the related mechanics. This is true for what I've played of Elden Ring as well.

DS3 (and Elden Ring) are well-made games, but there’s an unhinged charm to the some of the more unique level mechanics of DS1 and DS2 that make them such weird little games and it breaks my heart a bit to see that the newer games didn’t try to replicate any of that.

Even though a lot of these mechanics were a bit broken, Dark Souls 1 and 2 wouldn't be the same without them. I can’t help but wonder if it were all the complaints about DS2 that made the developers deliberately cut back on weird little ideas for DS3, resulting in a very enjoyable, very polished game that is still somehow less than what it could have been because the devs decided to play it safe.

[pahrak-the-sinnoh-slizer]

[Games in 2023: Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective]

I was pleasantly surprised when the Switch port of Ghost Trick was announced: under-appreciated DS games are kinda my thing, this game’s stylized look conveyed a real sense of personality, and I’ve only ever heard good things from people who have played it.  “Why have I never played this before??” I asked myself, wracking my brain for the answer.  Then I played the demo and remembered “Oh yeah, I suck at puzzle games.”  But despite that, I still really wanted to see where things went, and boy am I glad I did!

Spoiler-free tl;dr: Ghost Trick is a wonderfully engrossing story about whacky characters uncovering insane plot twists that all build towards a satisfying and heartfelt conclusion.  I would recommend going in as blind as possible, but even without shock, the game is easily clever and fun enough to be a fantastic experience.

(Also content warning for animal death; the game is all about undoing deaths so it’s not permanent, but it can still be distressing to see it happen.)

The premise of Ghost Trick is simple yet creative: you play as a newly-dead ghost who has completely lost his memory, and must use your ability to possess and manipulate objects to solve this mystery and save the lives of the many characters you meet along the way.  The full narrative is anything but simple by the end, but I felt it was a steady, easy-to-follow escalation—though I have been told I have a high tolerance for plots involving time travel, so a grain of salt might be in order.  In my opinion it’s not especially hard to keep track of the game’s time shenanigans since you only ever go back 4 minutes before a person’s death to influence the situation in a way to avert their fate…until the very end, where you do learn a lot in a short time, and I could see a player struggling with that.

The style of the game really is impeccable.  Characters have very unique designs with bright colors and expressive actions, making it hard to mix anyone up despite how many people you meet over the course of the game.  Everybody makes a strong impression, and it’s easy to care about them and want to save their lives and find out how they tie back to the overall plot.  The connections between various characters are a bit tighter than you might expect going in, and it’s so much fun to steadily piece things together, each answer leading to only more questions.  There’s a point about halfway from which plot twists start to come one after the other, but instead of piling up, they come together, all building towards the same goal in a masterful manner.  It’s a very hard game to put down.

So, those puzzles!  I have to admit I was hesitant after struggling for the better part of an hour on one in chapter 2, but in the end I was able to solve all of them without looking up any answers!  It came real close a few times, and there was definitely an occasion or two where I stumbled into the right answer without realizing it, but hey, it counts.  The hints provided do a good job of leading you to the solution without just stating it, and can easily be ignored by players who don’t want their process interfered with.  I feel like I started to do a lot better once I started expecting I wouldn’t get everything right first try—don’t be afraid to do some trial and error.  The mechanics are sound: an item will clearly tell you how you can manipulate it if you can, and what items can be possessed are all easily identifiable whenever you enter the ghost world.  The trick (heh) most often is in getting the timing right, as you have a very limited range to “jump” between objects and can miss your chance completely if you don’t act fast while objects are in motion.  You’re explicitly taught this very early on, of course—the tutorial is very nicely structured, giving you all the information you need while a puzzle is unfolding around you with all the moving parts and tension you can expect all throughout the game.  The prison escape sequence stands out as a one-off with unique mechanics; it can be frustrating, as escort missions tend to be, but if you take it one step at a time it’s not too bad.  The only major addition to the basic structure is towards the end of the game where you gain a second ghost who can reach much farther, but in lieu of manipulating objects, he instead swaps the position of objects with the same shape.  It may only affect a handful of puzzles, but I think there’s a benefit to giving the player time to fully master the core mechanics before adding this new layer to things, and the possibilities it opens are well-utilized when they do come into play.  What tripped me up most often was needing to move each ghost to different objects out of each other’s way, since they can’t inhabit the same object; a minor annoyance, and quite possibly a skill issue on my part.

That’s essentially all there is to say on a mechanical level, so let’s talk more about the narrative.  The tone is largely playful but not afraid to be serious when it needs to be—you’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll be aghast in horror, etc.  Again, the plot is continually escalating and building more and more tension, quickly becoming too fascinating to put down, and the fact that it manages to stick the landing is no small feat.  It seems to me the moral of the story is selflessness: every character is shown to be in the wrong when only serving their own interest, yet when they do something with others in mind, the narrative consistently rewards them.  Sissel says his only real goal is finding his own memory, but what makes him the hero of this story is his willingness to use his abilities to solve others’ problems.  Cabanela is painted in a villainous light when it seems he cares only about his career ambitions, but when we find out this was a means to the end of helping Jowd, he’s presented as unequivocally a good guy.  Jowd may say he’s so eager to take the fall for Kamila’s sake, but when Sissel calls his methods out as ultimately selfish, he changes course and takes on an active role in resolving the night’s many mysteries.  Yomiel obviously embodies the selfishness the story is speaking against, but in the end, he makes the choice to do something selfless, and the narrative rewards him with a second chance. (More than that, the game wouldn’t have happened at all had he not brought Sissel with him to the junkyard; while perhaps not entirely selfless, I think it’s important to note that Yomiel’s path to a better future began with his desire to not leave his only friend all alone.)  It’s really cool to see this theme reflected in so many different ways across the cast!  And of course, the one who embodies the virtue of selflessness above all else is the top Pomeranian himself, Missile!  The very first time we meet him, he basically ignores the fact that he’s dead and instead prioritizes saving Kamila.  After he develops his powers, he makes the decision to remain dead so that he can use those powers to help Kamila and Lynne.  And at the very end we learn that he went back in time 10 years, and while waiting faithfully that entire time, he devised a brilliant and complex strategy to ensure Sissel’s cooperation in saving his family once and for all.  “Because that’s what doggies do!”  This whole wild ride that ends up saving so many lives was all possible purely due to the awesome, selfless love of a dog.  That’s beautiful.

It’s hard to think of any major criticism.  Ghost Trick is just really, really good.  It may be a few years overdue, but I’m really glad I finally got to experience this game!

[carverl]

So I recently replayed every mission from the I Expect You To Die franchise to rank them subjectively from worst to best based on my own experience playing them, keep in mind I don't think there is a bad level out of all of these and I've enjoyed each to a certain extent and when Cog in the Machine comes out I'll add the levels from that game into this list (I am not including the tutorials or intro sequences in this seeing as there's no actual gameplay in either of those)

13. Operation: Squeaky Clean - I've never really liked this level due to the tediousness of mixing the chemicals together, finding the right combination of said chemicals through diagrams and the absolute nightmare of trying to put the antivirus into the rocket at the end which I find utterly frustrating not in a "Oh this puzzle is hard to figure out" way but just in how jank it is and being forced to restart after that destroys a piece of my soul every time. That being said I enjoy the window washer gags and the setting is cool, I just wish the mechanics were more fun.

12. Operation: Friendly Skies - This level is very fun with a host of great lines from the Handler, Zor's car is fun to poke around in and the bomb defusal is a classic moment for me. I don't have any issues with this level it's just a bit basic which is totally fine seeing as it's the first proper level in the series but as a result it comes up short next to the following 11.

11. Operation: Seat Of Power - Seeing inside a Zoraxis meeting room and having a switch that drops Zor's henchmen into a firey pit is honestly both hilarious and unsettling, I love using the villain's own gadgets against them. The villain lair atheistic is very nice and the method of escape is perhaps one of the most stylish in the series with the flying chair being a nice touch.

10. Operation: Winter Break - There's something so cozy about this one with the fireplace and snow outside it's got a unique vibe and I find the safe puzzle to be satisfying to crack and the gravity crystals with the lasers at the end adds some great tension, whenever I play this level I always wear the fedora and the lasers always set it on fire which results in a laugh from me everytime.

9. Operation: Stage Fright - We open The Spy and the Liar with a bang in a fun opening level that has a great sense of espionage and discovery in it, setting the stage is fun and the little details of hearing people below you react to the stuff you drop is such a charming detail, I also love the Fabricator's commentary over the headphones. The fight with Zoraxis agents at the end is exhilarating and even though it's hard to miss with the crossbow it still feels good getting a shot in. Also "THIS IS NOT PART OF THE SHOW EVERYBODY RUN!" Is so funny to me and I'm not sure why.

8. Vacation: First Class - If I'm ever in a mood for a laid back level I choose First Class, it's so classy and I will always remember how good it felt figuring out the combination of buttons on the wall by noticing the clues in the environment myself, fending off the assassins, car and plane gives the level a thrilling conclusion that I really enjoy. That being said I did always find the violinist surviving with no explanation when you're lead to believe she's shot a bit strange but it's not enough to detract from my enjoyment.

7. Operation: Eaves Drop - I love the sense of mystery and intrigue this level has to offer, I feel like a real spy snooping about the Fabricator's workshop figuring out the evil scheme, the element of the flashlight adds a lot in terms of roleplaying as Pheonix in that scenario. I just find the whole set up a ton of fun, the music is suitably restrained and I love how it gets more fast paced at certain parts almost like it's reflecting Pheonix getting more excited at the discoveries they're making.

6. Operation: Deep Dive - As someone with thalassophobia I find this level terrifying in the best way, the thought of being trapped at the bottom of the ocean in a cramped, claustrophobic pod gives me incentive to get through the level. The puzzles are great in this one with the grenade and code being real highlights for me, I love the sense of panic that comes over you when you hear the glass crack or the voice crackle. It's just a great level with a uniquely terrifying setting.

5. Operation: Safe and Sound - John Juniper. That's all I need to say about why this level is so great, we get a proper face to face with the villain in a way we hadn't until this level with an amazing monologue that I never skip. The fast pace of this level makes replaying it very fun with the music adding a great sense of urgency, it feels the most like a classic Bond film moment and I love it. Also the way Juniper made Pheonix a sandwich to eat while he's busy going on about world domination is both funny and adorable.

4. Operation: Party Crasher - Going undercover as Juniper's butler while using his own defence system against him? Sign me up, indeed this level is both tense and super entertaining and was I the only one who got really nervous trying to figure which glasses were wine glasses? There's so much I enjoy in this one with using the masks to find a way out, gassing the Zoraxis agents and of course hearing Juniper's voice crack when he sees you wearing his mask is worth a whole heap of points just on that alone.

3. Operation: Death Engine - The sheer scale and spectacle of this level is remarkable with the outer space set piece being a real standout with probably the most difficult puzzles in the series, I love how elements from across the first game come back in this level to make it feel like a proper conclusion. Solaris's presence instead of the Handler gives this level another unique trait and her commentary as you fumble through every option is great. The last bit where you deposit the nuclear box into the station is so tricky to pull off but feels so satsifying when you do with the instrumental theme playing.

2. Operation: Jet Set - Oh my god the amount of fun I have with this one is ridiculous, the setting is great, the music is classy and I adore how it ramps up in intensity at the later bits of the mission. The sense of tangible progression and problem solving is the perfect balance between being difficult and rewarding, figuring out you have to break the window to the plane is such a god tier moment to me with how well presented it is with the missle aporoaching. The amount of ways Juniper tries to kill you is hilarious and his commentary is the best part of the whole operation; how he goes from polite to agitated to downright murderous is great, big props to the voice actor.

1. Operation: Rising Pheonix - This level is no joke one of the best experiences I've had in any game, the stakes of the mission are massive and you really feel like the weight of the world is on your shoulders ascending in that elevator. There's so many great moments like with the lift being shot up, using the taser you find on the table saw and hearing an instrumental of the main theme play as you finally confront Juniper. Juniper's death is shocking (pun intended) and hearing Zor's distorted voice is genuinely chilling, no joke my palms were sweating when I was defusing the nuke. Then when you realise you have to sacrifice yourself to save the world with the swelling music oh my god peak gaming experience. It's such a masterpiece of a level and it is in my opinion the best part of both games.

[possessionisamyth]

Will you be buying a hypothetical Bayonetta 4 or have you given up on the series entirely?

I am so happy you asked me this because I was gearing up to write a Bayonetta post this morning to try and say what people haven't said already, so like.

Bayonetta 4 is only feasible as an upcoming sequel with Viola as the protagonist if they add a bunch of new and unique mechanics to how she fights.

The main thing about Bayonetta that made her a fun hack and slash game was her unique fighting style. She shoots guns from her hands, guns from her feet, swings swords from her hands, swords from her feet, torture attacks, umbran climax, demon summonings that were wrapped in hair so she could get more naked and was also a cool way to narratively function a demon leash. Viola has one demon summon of cheshire, a furry fairy form, and a sword. This is a downgrade.

Viola's fighting style feels like something I can easily find in any fighting game on any character, whereas Bayonetta's isn't. So, unless they add a bunch of cool shit for Viola to do, I don't think many fans will be running to Bayonetta 4 like they did Bayonetta 3 even with all the voice actor controversy.

It's also very obvious that Viola, though her design rocks hehe, was a forced hand move from Nintendo. Nintendo has built their image around being family friendly no matter how many non family friendly games they port to the Switch. However, acting as Bayonetta's publisher when Bayonetta herself is not family friendly, well, I feel like someone said they have to change things up. Whether or not this was more influenced by Devil May Cry 5's baton pass onto Nero I cannot say because I'm not into that series, and I've only enjoyed the 5th game. But going from sexy sexy Bayonetta (thank you women) who built popularity and mixed conversation with her image to hard rock punk style Viola with added scarf and nerdy glasses? Screams Nintendo forcing their hand.

I would've sooner placed Bayonetta in the hands of Capcom to try and avoid this, and I have a love/hate relationship with Capcom.

Now for my thoughts on Bayonetta 3 below the cut.

First, the game mechanics.

Everyone is saying the game mechanics were improved significantly, and I'm not arguing with this across the board. However, there were decisions I just didn't like after spending two games learning how to catch them. I don't like how the main boss health bars look. I liked the color bar going down to reveal a different color. It constantly refilling had me confused until I noticed the tiny as fuck diamonds at the bottom.

I didn't like the climax summons being a part of the boss fight. If I wanted to play a Godzilla game with slow hunkering movements, I'd pick up Godzilla. I would not pick up Bayonetta which is supposed to be very snappy fast in movement. I hate that they took away the hair leashes for the demons. This was just a personal design choice I didn't like. The introduction of new fighting styles via the other Bayonettas felt ham-fisted. I liked going to Rodin, buying a new weapon, and fucking around with it myself in the little practice area. I do not like having to watch someone else use it first. Why are you giving me tutorials for each weapon? Let me suffer the consequences of my stupidity. Put me in the mines, father. I'm strong.

Jeanne's segments should've been like the rest of the game where instead I get to do Metal Gear Solid levels of sneaking around. Period. The 2D platforming callback wasn't all that good.

Now for the story itself.

Look. The Bayonetta series has built their stories on spectacle. The bigger the better as they say, but Bayonetta 3 really proves that size doesn't matter, it's how you use it.

What made Bayonetta 1 and 2 so fun with their bad writing, and yes as someone who studies writing It Was Bad, was the spectacle of it. The fact that you as a player were also piecing together the real story at the same time as Bayonetta was good. Little Cereza in Bayonetta 1? No idea what the fuck was going on with that during the game until the end considering I was constantly fighting for my fucking life. Loki in Bayonetta 2? Oh hey, maybe he is evil and just lost all his memories-nope. Switcheroo. It's twins! Yes, they were color coded, but they do not show the forehead symbols on the prophet really. Bayonetta 3? You immediately know Viola is Bayonetta's daughter, and they dance around it the entire time like they didn't put a big stamp on her in the first cut scene.

Bayonetta 3 writing tries to distract you with new game mechanics as the spectacle like shaking baby keys in front of you instead of enamoring you with the wack job story leading into the biggest boss fights you can handle. In Bayonetta 1 and 2, I got to have a conversation with the main bosses. I got to interrupt their yammering with a gunshot. I got to be just as confused alongside Bayonetta when they repeated themselves. I got the banter. I got the smug responses and playful annoyance, and I got to hear angels evil laughter as they were dragged into hell. It felt poetic in a stupid way which made it camp.

In Bayonetta 3, I have to talk to only Singularity, and he's boring as shit. Bayonetta is also getting way too serious during these interactions as the game progresses, which is also boring as shit. They try to circumvent that by having Viola be so comedic to further show the baton is being passed, but I didn't like Viola. I liked Loki. I liked Cereza even though she literally couldn't do anything and escort missions are usually a bane in any video game. I understand why Viola is the way she is because of who her father is, but I just didn't like her as a character. This could be a result of her given little room to be fleshed out due to all the other Bayonettas in the story, but even her fighting segments weren't fun to me.

Now before I address the elephant in this tiny writing room when it comes to the ending of Bayonetta 3, I'm going to address Bayonetta 1 and 2.

When I started Bayonetta 1 and I saw Luka, I thought I knew exactly where the game would go. I saw the director was a man. I saw that Luka was the standard pervert comedic relief character you get in anime with the sexy woman as the lead. I saw what year the game dropped. I am used to disappointment. I was 100% sure in the first game they'd slap Luka and Bayonetta together, because shitty japanese writers love that dynamic for some ungodly reason. And I won't even say this bad writing trait strictly falls on the men. Looking at you Rumiko Takahashi for Inuyasha! Yeah, I never forgave Miroku/Sango, and I never will! So, I was absolutely blown away by Jeanne's role in Bayonetta 1.

Jeanne and Bayonetta have the dynamic in Bayonetta 1 that many fanfiction writers dream of getting published. Friends to enemies to friends to possible lovers? Check. Amnesia dynamic? Check. Brainwashing dynamic? Check. Time travel? Check. Sexually charged banter in every interaction? Check. Like for homo-eroticism, these two are hitting every button on the board, and I don't give this kind of credit freely. So, I absolutely understand why so many gay people resonated with that and latched onto Bayonetta.

They double this up in Bayonetta 2. I didn't like that they put Jeanne in the fridge, but having Bayonetta need her so badly that she is going to brave traveling through hell to get her back? Not metaphorically either! She's literally going into hell to get Jeanne's soul back? This is unprecedented levels of gay I could only hope to achieve getting published myself, and the only way to have made this better was to give the player segments where they get to play as Jeanne fighting demons in hell. They even cut Luka's pervert appearances back severely in exchange to focus on Loki and Balder. An improvement in my opinion.

So finally we get Bayonetta 3 where they show multiple universes of Bayonetta and Jeanne together, and fighting and dying for each other, over and over again. They then shaft Luka in with the Arch-Eve and Arch-Adam titles. They don't show how different Bayonetta's interact with different Lukas to build up to that pay-off. They could've done this with Chinese Bayonetta and French Bayonetta. They don't show Lukaon and his version of Bayonetta together to slightly suggest that payoff. They don't show Luka and Bayonetta (Arch-Eve Origin) even having any chemistry in the beginning of the game.

They could've easily had Luka driving around Bayonetta in that opening cut scene instead of Enzo. It would've been a good switch after Bayonetta 2 where Luka is seen driving around Rodin at the end! It would've shown they've gotten close. It also would've been the perfect lead off, with Viola falling into the arms of her alternate universe father, and Luka having no idea who she is before he runs off to investigate. This would've left Cereza to wonder where he ran off to. If they really wanted to pass the baton onto Viola from Bayonetta, then Viola and Bayonetta should've switched jobs after the Luka werewolf discovery. It would've been a callback role reversal from Bayonetta 1 to show this time its different with having Cereza chase after Luka.

The baton would've been passed with having Viola clean up this mess while working with different versions of her mom including fighting grandma Rosa. The finale lead up with them getting stuck in the alpha verse then could've had us switch back to focusing on Bayonetta for the final extremely long boss fight as a solid but unwanted goodbye in a narrative fashion. I still would've hated Luka/Bayonetta end game, but with those changes there'd be a lot less room to fight it like people have been. It also would've made Viola's fights more interesting by giving her alternate Bayonetta abilities and letting those demon summons be hers going forward while having Cereza stick with her original demon crew to show she's being replaced.

I already understand that Luka's changes are the result of each destroyed universe's Luka merging with the original. That's why his head is so messed up, and based on Bayonetta logic we've seen, that's why he turns into a huge furry. So as for their relationship, I knew from Bayonetta 1 they'd pull some shit like this when I saw the director was a man even when they changed directors, especially since the creator was still running the show. I was just waiting for the other shoe to drop, and boy did it drop. Right through my house actually.

It was a sink hole of an affair. It's insulting how they put so much into making the gameplay interesting that they expect the player to just swallow this pill of a story like it was always meant to be. And in a fucked up way it was always meant to be, because bad japanese writers love love love writing this dynamic. Start from 2000s anime and go backwards, and you will keep catching the garbage pervert character maturing just enough to get the hot lady into a romantic relationship. It's not new or unusual. It's just disappointing every time it happens.

Sidenote: There's nothing wrong with the idea of Bayonetta being bisexual. Bisexual Bayonetta is great, but if we're going to pair her with a man, Rodin is right there. Their dynamic is spunky and fun. He's a demon. She's destined for hell after she dies. He legit told her if she died, he'd be on her soul like white on rice. They have the bartender and patron "tell me your woes" dynamic. He lovingly makes beautiful weapons for her to use. He comes in to save her sometimes like Luka does. They find each other entertaining. She's dressed like a sexy nun at his funeral, which is both a mockery of the church and a testament to his resurrection! COME ON PEOPLE.

In summation, I don't know how they would or could recover from this story going into Bayonetta 4. Hideki says it will be following Bayonetta 3, which means Viola will be the protagonist unless some higher ups force his hand to not do that. The other way they'd bring Cereza back is if Bayonetta 4 bombs so severely that they have to retcon anyway and focus on another Cereza in another universe for Bayonetta 5. And that's if they don't settle for putting the franchise in forever limbo in the chance Bayonetta 4 bombs.

I can absolutely see them teasing a different Cereza appearance in order to drag those sales in, but I'm not sure how far trust extends after the ending of Bayonetta 3. The gays are mad and probably won't buy. The gross dude-bros want to see sexy, and Viola is too masculine for them. Long-term fans, who can also fall in any category but actually liked Viola, are going to wait for plot synopsis and for other people to play first before dipping their toes in. I also could be horribly wrong due to streamer culture of needing to buy the latest game with the most attention around it in order to garner views.

I will say I'm not a long term fan. This franchise is new to me. I've digested all I can of Bayonetta for the first time in the past two weeks. However, like any series that's been running for a while, I am curious. I'm also going to wait for reception after other people play it to see if it's something I'd be interested in. And that's if we get it at all.

[cryo-delta]

Game appreciation post

With the Summer Game Fest sales, I decided to redo what I did two years ago: buy a trio of indie games for a price that I think could be considered as "stealing' (<40€).

Those 3 games are games that were on my wishlist for a long time so I knew that I was about to find myself overwhelmed with insane quality titles.

And so I find myself with 3 games, 3 bangers:

Foretales:

I don't know if it's just that I'm discovering a new genre of games but this game is masterfully crafted.

It has a very good tutorial that covers all of the complicated mechanics of the game and by the end of it, you feel like you've done it all your life.

The writing in this is very impressive taking into account that the story is not fixed but modular, where the choices you make changes how the story plays.

Revita:

The classic roguelite experience but with an extra attention to details and quality of life, making the game feel very good and smooth.

The story and theme of the game is around depression, suicide and grief but it's subtle enough and done so right that it doesn't get to heavy.

The content seems absolutely gigantic. Weapons, secondary weapons, items, rooms, achievements and probably even more are unlockable content and there is a lot.

SwordShip:

Not so mindless fun in this arcade game that advertises itself as a "dodge them up". It has just the right balance between reflection and reflexes.

For a game with not a lot of content at first glance, the mix of elements combined with intense gameplay make for a great time that doesn't feel repetitive.

For once, I found a game that doesn't sugarcoat it: it's hard and you're not going to get helped by the game as unlocks are only here to diversify the runs, not to make them easier.

Last thing:

Even though I didn't talk about it for each game, the music and visuals are in perfect cohesion with the games and really enhance the overall experiences.

[otakween]

Digimon World: Digital Card Battle (1999) - 6 hours in

Back to the PSX for another Japan-only game! I'm already in love with this one. Not only do I get to revisit the super charming Digimon World 1 world, but this time around the gameplay isn't batshit and the writing is coherent. Hurray! So far, the Japanese has been pretty easy and the card game was easy to pickup, so I'm feeling optimistic about getting through this one without much difficulty.

This is definitely going to take me longer than the v-pet style games I've been playing, but I'm actually kind of relieved to have one game I can stick with for awhile. Learning a new game's mechanics every week can get tiring.

Notes:

-That opening CG was pretty rough looking not gonna lie. Greymon looked okay, but they had not perfected furry characters yet in 1999

-Very confusing how this game fits into Digimon World 1. This time we get Babamon instead of Jijimon, but Mameo's still the protagonist. I like to think this is an alternate, wholesome timeline where everything's the same but there's no violence, just card games lol. It's kind of a cool extension of the other game because in DW1 you could buy trading cards (I had to collect them all to get a medal), but they didn't really serve a purpose other than maybe to sell them.

-Babamon's intro was weirdly meta. She asks you for your IRL name and then is like "well, no matter what you really look like, you're gonna be piloting this anime boy for awhile." And then you name Mameo. Like wut? Is my real name every going to be used?? Oh well...

-I picked the "balanced" starter deck, mostly because I didn't really understand the descriptions for the other ones lol. I think one was good at offense and the other was good at defense? Reminded me of Kingdom Hearts when they ask you to choose between magic, defense, and attack power.

-I love the visual novel-esque style of this game! Mameo's character portrait is very expressive and the digimon all have a lot of personality. It's similar to Animal Crossing where they have unique speech styles based on their species. It's super cute. I like how the child-levels are child-like (have messy handwriting, don't understand big concepts etc.).

-Very cool to revisit this setting in Japanese and in a stress-free way! I don't have to worry about my digimon pooping on the ground or being ambushed by a digimon that's too strong. Without these worries I can focus on appreciating the background art and music. I also really like that I have an overworld map now instead of having to walk everywhere (normally I like that kind of exploration, but not when I'm stressed about my digimon's needs).

-I am not an experienced TCG player at all. In fact, I think this is my first legit TCG-based video game. The Betamon tutorial was very gentle and well done which totally alleviated my worries. I like how simplistic the rules are and the card game has a good balance between luck and skill. Also, if you lose, the game doesn't penalize you much.

-I will say that battles last a very long time. I don't mind this, because they're fun, but I only really have stamina for two a day because of this. I think if I did any more than that I'd get burned out by the repetitiveness. I do like that some locations don't trigger any battles at all, so there's visual novel-like bits in-between to give you a break while still progressing.

-I can't find it on YouTube but the soundtrack that plays when the Goburimon bros show up was great, awesome comedic relief.

-Ran into some pretty obscure Japanese slang with the Goburimon telling me to "wash my ass" lol. Apparently it comes from the expression "wash your neck and wait" which insinuates "you better prepare your neck cuz I'm gonna decapitate you." So I guess "wash your ass" means like "prepare your ass cuz I'm about to beat it!" That's some creative smack talk there.

-From what I can tell, the plot is basically the same so far. The digimon are acting strange/have lost their memories due to "bug cards." The new thing is that I have to go find 7 "leaders" who have special cards that act as keys to Infinity Mountain. It sounds like those leaders are all familiar faces from DW1, so that's fun.

[monriatitans]

MonriaTitans

Tuesday, January 21, 2025

Welcome to Part 16 of the Let's Play Some Demos! | LPSD series! For those who are new, I aim to introduce gamers to, usually, Indie games and to provide commentary and feedback on the games for educational purposes! For this episode, I used some of the demos I had grabbed from the Cooking Fest and Cozy Quest Steam Events! I think. I grabbed a bunch during those events, and outside of them, so I don't know anymore…

Today, I played 4 demos for your enjoyment:

Cornucopia® - Early Access Game A nostalgic 2.5D farm sim with 74 exotic crops, loyal pets bred for amazing genetics, and 34+ marriage candidates—from spirited youths to wise elders. Master NPK compost, raise magical kids, conquer dungeons, and delight in whimsical scratch-card arcade fun. Your cozy story starts now!

Hipster Café - Early Access Game Ever wanted to design, build and manage a café on your very own home computer? Really? OK then... welcome to HIPSTER CAFÉ. Make stupid food, serve it on a skateboard, and impress your friends by drawing in your coffee.

Let's Café - Early Access Game Food makes everything better in this cozy café business simulator. Discover recipes and set your menu to rake in those tips and five-star reviews. Solve your fuzzy clientele's problems with the power of good cookin' and earn the favor of satisfied customers.

Spells & Secrets - Available In this rogue-lite adventure, you free the Academy of Greifenstein from magical creatures by using your spells creatively. Explore this modern magical world alone or in local co-op mode with friends and family, customize your character, solve mysteries, and find powerful artifacts.

All links above are to the games' Steam pages.

The verdict? Via the "Layered Compliment Sandwich": Cornucopia®'s art style is ABSOLUETLY adorable! If you've been here a while, you know I LOVE pixel art! AND the tutorial felt like a tutorial. And was, also, a bit of a time waster. And made no sense, since we couldn't see the passage of time. On the way back from the hospital, we are asked to clear the roadblocks. How long were we in the hospital that we needed to clear up growing bushes in the middle of the road on the way back? Why was there a pile of giant rocks in the middle of the road? Why weren't folks in town keeping the roads clear? The tutorial could have, and should have, been done on the farm itself. The best part about it was the dog! And the mailman has a little chick following him around! Hipster Café gets bonus points for being unique. The fact they incorporate promoting your café on social media is brilliant! HOWEVER, it needs to provide more guidance. Figuring out what customers need can not be left to symbols. And, when we click on them to fill their coffee order, what they want needs to appear in the "Coffee Creation" screen. Being expected to remember is an unnecessary addition to the cognitive load. The art style is simplistically cozy. We could also say cozily simplistic. The Research mechanic was a bit overboard. What made me keep playing as long as I did, however, was the obvious jab at capitalism. We are specifically told we were able to get the café started with a trust fund. Brilliant! Let's Café was so damn cute! And, I didn't mention it in the video, it was another of those "make your own recipes" games that had me leaning on Maid Café on Electric Street for ideas. I would never have thought to make the different types of lattes, which lead to the different types of chai, otherwise. Also, their lack of a tutorial and throwing me in was ACTUALLY effective. The initial "here's what's going on" needs a font size increase, though. If I, with my glasses on, had a hard time reading it, I can imagine how others might feel about it. Also, this is a café, why isn't coffee ALWAYS being sold? Other than that, it was a lot of fun! And it looked like I could keep playing the demo; I believe I will! Spells & Secrets' art style was impressive, but the tutorial not only felt like a tutorial, it also wasted my time. And we are in the most irresponsible school ever. Why would you leave a first-year student (I wonder what the inspiration for the game was) to deal with intruders? Why wouldn't a professor, after finding a student, not teleport them to safety? And why would only certain items be able to be lifted with telekinesis? There were entire sections that could have been skipped. One thing I will give it, in regards to the intruders, was finding out I could use telekinesis to hit another enemy with them and kill them both. It was a happy accident. Why wouldn't any of the professors have a griffin's feather? Why would the teachers be perfectly comfortable sending you back into the castle to find the rest of the students? Why don't I have a party of professors going along with me? This game makes no sense. Hades and Harry Potter were combined horribly. Looks good, though. Work was clearly put into that. Overall, I want Cornucopia® and Let's Café, and they are on my wishlist. As a reminder, Cornucopia®, Hipster Café, and Let's Café are all in Early Access while Spells & Secrets is available.

And that's it for Part 16! Thank you for reading! If this series of videos is something you're interested in, the videos are available on YouTube, The Titans' Discord, Steam, Rumble, and Odysee!  Don't forget to hit the Subscribe and/or Follow buttons to know when there's more!

—

The Monday, January 20th, and 673rd, Artist Shout-Out goes to Chyam! Check them out here!

—

TIMESTAMPS 0:00 - Welcome Gamers! 2:01 - Artist Shout-Out 6:09 - Demos' Intro 9:36 - Cornucopia® - Early Access Game 45:11 - Hipster Café - Early Access Game 1:18:20 - Let's Café - Early Access Game 1:50:49 - Spells & Secrets - Available 2:31:03 - Demos Line Up + Quick Desktop View 2:33:28 - Artist Shout-Out 2:34:38 - Thank You/Links 2:37:04 - Rendezvous Point Bookshop Plug 2:37:54 - Up Next/Farewell

—

"Let's Play Some Demos!" Video Series YouTube Playlist "Let's Play Some Demos!" Video Series Blog Posts

Pilot: CrossCode, Dumpy & Bumpy, Ynglet, Zero Ranger

Part 2: A Dance of Fire and Ice, 2064: Read Only Memories, Death and Taxes, Underhero

Part 3: TEKKEN 8, Spiritfarer: Farewell Edition, Secrets of Grindea, Forspoken

Part 4: Death’s Hangover, Fae Farm, Fate/Samurai Remnant, Mini Settlers

Part 5: All-Star Fruit Racing, Indivisible, SaGa Emerald Beyond, Visions of Mana

Part 6: Glorious Companions, Tales of Arise, Ultionus: A Tale of Petty Revenge,

Cozy Island

Part 7: The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood, Cursebane, Dex, The Lady Puppet

Part 8: Detroit: Become Human, Little Goody Two Shoes, Luma Island, Tinkerlands

Part 9: Backpack Battles, Glaciered, Ratopia, Slime Rancher

Part 10: Captain Contraption’s Chocolate Factory, Maid Cafe on Electric Street, Neon Noodles, Tiny Glade

Part 11: Critter Café, Grimoire Groves, Pixel Cafe, Wizdom Academy

Part 12: AdventureBarStory, Bone’s Cafe, DELTARUNE, Mudborne

Part 13: Food Truck Simulator, Magical Bakery, Magical Delicacy, Seaside Cafe Rush Hour

Part 14: Chef’s Tail, Espresso Tycoon, Kulebra and the Souls of Limbo, Tavern Talk

Part 15: Chicken Journey, FANTASIAN Neo Dimension, Terra Memoria, Until Then

—

MORE INFO & TO SUPPORT - MonriaTitans | WGS Summarized- Rendezvous Point Bookshop- Artist Shout-Outs Criteria - The Titans' Discord- Throne Wishlist- #SubOffTwitch- YouTube- Rumble- Odysee- Twitch - Steam

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Originally published to https://opinionsandtruth.wordpress.com on January 21, 2025.

[piejumper]

I 100%-ed the demo for The Big Catch and that was fucking amazing. But I still need to get one last thing but the devs were bastards and put it at the top of a very high area with no checkpoints where its EXTREMELY easy to fall down and have to repeat the entire (rather lenghty) level again. But it's completely optional and the game treats the current state it's in as 100% anyway. Gonna go back to it later cause it's still fun

So basically I need to inject this game into my bloodstream like heroin and i dont know how im supposed to wait for the full release. The controls are tight and the design immaculate to where you get to see and do everything the devs have been able to make with the mechanics they've created as its own uniqe form of maneuvering their unique world to set it apart from their contemporaries.

However there's a pretty aggressive learing curve right off the bat in the tutorial, and because it's not very good at demonstrating or describing the mechanics you'll be using throughout the game with some even being left out, it's difficult to get a grasp on then before being kicked off into the full demo. however I ended up enjoying it a lot because of that because of how the exploration and development of my skills with the controls made it feel rewarding as i was getting better while playing and discovering things i didnt know like with my time with the game Tunic.

and the approach to level design in the demo keenly emphasized all the unique obstacles that are going to be in the full game with a hands off approach where the devs present you with seemingly impossible or confusing to beat challenges, with the implication that with your current skills and abilities it's possible to get where you need to go. With the setting being a intriguing wasteland, everything you learn about it coming from the single mentor figure and npc included in the demo that makes me want to know more.

Definitely buying it day one, also be sure to play with a controller I do not want to think about the hand cramps I'd have gotten trying to do all that with a keyboard. Additionally it'd be really good if there's a map in the full game and a more fleshed out collectable tracking system because since it's styling itself as a collect-a-thon it's really difficult figuring out where you've missed a coin or a fish if you can't tell if the orb in the middle of your compass is slightly Grey instead of teal because there's coins in the level you're near or it's just the lighting and bloom making you color blind because the only indicator is when it starts changing color (in fact, you couldn't even do that till they patched it in, still grateful they did it)

Oooough I need more, it's a good thing this demo is massive, I'll be able to replay it a bunch in the meantime, it hasn't even been a week since it dropped but I need more people (influences) talking about it cause I want to see and hear other people's thoughts on this and see it get the attention it deserves.

[rlyehtaxidermist]

gameplay thoughts (story thoughts take longer):

definitely the strongest of the series. real-time party member switching in particular is a godsend, though I miss Torna's way of handling it where switching was accompanied by unique arts, and wish I could set my own orderings. (That said, I'm maining Sena with secondary Noah, so it's not a huge thing.)

the class change mechanics were also a step up on XB2's blade changes, though there's obviously balance issues between them that get starker once you start going into endgame content. tanks have always been hit or miss in xenoblade but XB3 defenders feel like they got the shortest stick yet. Lone Exile and Zephyr feel like the best of them - which might be my earlier Xenoblade dodge tank bias talking - but as someone who mained Dunban and Morag for a fair chunk of their respective games they still feel disappointing.

That said, most of the Attackers and Healers seem to be at worst "solid, but not great" - except for poor Segiri, who's stuck in JRPG Debuff Hell because Monolith is afraid of unleashing another Riki onto their unsuspecting single player metagame

Being able to save and load a bunch of separate party comps is really nice, especially with the depth of customisation; that said, some of the interface is still a bit confusing. In particular, I'm not sure what the character to class grades actually represent - it doesn't seem to be stat penalties, and they seem to level the class reasonably quickly once it's unlocked regardless of level - is it just initial unlock difficulty? or am I a bit biased by only using lower graded classes once I'm into the lategame anyway

The different chain orders/heroic chain bonuses also get hit by the balance slapstick pretty hard; Lanz and Mio's in particular are basically just a band-aid on the aforementioned Defender Problems (and by the end of the game, they were my healers anyway...). Then there's the Hero slot, which kind of feels wasted in a CA unless it's used on Fiona or Ashera. That said, all of their chain orders being free had me using them a lot more than I would otherwise.

I don't know how popular of a take this is but I do miss the XB2 elemental orb mechanics. I think a lot of people didn't like them because XB2's tutorials were like someone took "Paradox Interactive has the worst tutorials in gaming" as a dare, but if you actually figured out how to set the dominos up right, it was a hell of a thing to push them down, and XB3's chain attacks feel a bit more RNG reliant. That said, it removes the incentive to sit on a full CA bar for a quarter of some fights while you set things up.

(also they really should have an option to turn off the Chain Attack BGM for certain boss fights. Trombe!ing someone is funny when you get to choose when it happens but at some point I just want to hear the actual soundtrack)

The Collectopaedia taking over "bring me 20 bear asses" duty to make most sidequests a bit less grindy was nice, but it made the sidequests that did run that way even more obnoxious than usual. Valdi, I deeply sympathise with your passion for giant robots, but at least tell me how much the bar will go up when I go hunt down your random shopping lists.

xenoblade 3 was a good video game. i will arrange more serious thoughts when i am done ugly crying at the ending