#the style reminds me of old ps1 games

[hellsite-yano]

STEAM NEXT FEST DEMOS I PLAYED:

>500 CALIBER CONTRACTZ Highlight of this list. Literally Super Mario 64 x Cruelty Squad with a Suda51 coat of paint. Highly recommend.

>Antishoot / Morn FPS games that feel terrible to play. Avoid.

>SAEKO: Giantess Dating Sim Title says it all. Pretty solid and unnerving writing.

>Mother Hub Like if the abandoned vaults in Fallout 3/NV were the whole game. Your enjoyment of this depends entirely on your tolerance for slavjank. I liked it tho.

>Year Unknown Good so far - if you've played games like Manifold Garden and NaissanceE you know what you're getting here. Combine that with the terminals from The Talos Principle and you get this game.

>Elation For The WonderBox 6000™ This is SHORT (less than 5mins) but I've had my eye on this for ages. The writing is very online but in a good way.

>Skyward Dream Kinda boring first-person platformer.

>THRESHOLD Another short one. Kinda reminds me of Pathologic but on the PS1. The grimy aesthetic is nailed down perfectly. If you liked Paratopic check this one out.

>Galaia Dev describes it as TUNIC x Enter the Gungeon but it's not really. Gameplay reminded more of Geometry Wars if anything. Was kinda fun but don't think I'll get this.

>BRUTAL JOHN Been seeing this around on twitter and avoided it due to it seeming bland. And I was right!

>Kitsune Tails SMB3 with a traditional japanese aesthetic. Solid and the characters are cute.

>Sparedevil A 'shooter' where you're in a bowling arena and need to knock down as many pins as possible. Couldn't really get the hang of this.

>I Am Your Beast SUPERHOT / Hotline Miami fans will want to check this one. I liked it but the story is presented pretty obnoxiously.

>Bloodless Beat 'em up where you play as an old samurai who doesn't use a sword (anymore). Gameplay takes a bit of getting used to but it's fun and the story's intriguing.

>Poke ALL Toads Puzzle game structured like Baba is You with really good and expressive art. Liked this one a lot.

>Caravan SandWitch One of those slow exploration-focused games like Sable. Liked the aesthetic and music but dialogue was a bit long-winded.

>ODDADA You play with toys to make music (and you can even save your creations offline). Very nice.

>B.C. Piezophile Control a weighty mech looking for a lost ship or something like that, the encyclopedia (yes, there's an encyclopedia) is written pretty esoterically so it's hard to figure some things out. Requires patience but got my eyes on the full release.

>Old School Rally PS1 styled racing game, takes a bit of getting used to the feel of the car, PROTIP: it's better to pump the brakes instead of holding them.

>Goblin Cleanup Viscera Cleanup Detail except you're a sexy goblin maid cleaning up a dungeon. Was pretty fun, especially online.

>Scarmonde Final Fantasy 1 but it's a dungeon crawler. Not my sort of game but if you're into this genre you'd probably like this.

>Bedrotting You're stuck in bed and got to keep yourself sane by eating, smoking, and not looking at the horrific abominations. Good stuff.

>Blue Prince You inherit a mansion and need to find the secret 46th room. Won't say too much about this because it's best discovered by yourself. Was very good though.

>Stardust Demon Didn't like the physics on this. Pass.

[beesmygod]

So I looked up lunacid and yeah it's a loving homage but i feel the level design is missing that fromsoft anticipation precipice that helps you orient yourself and help figure out where you wanna go. It feels like the game could be helping you anticipate challenges a bit more. Or providing a more telegraphed intended level progression.

I do like the ps1 style models, tho. Helps with the overall retro throwback to kings field style dungeon crawly rpgs flavor and I respect a game with a specific artistic direction and aesthetic goal.

the lack of vantage points or coherent level design makes it impossible to navigate anything without feeling like im fucking around a windows screensaver. i feel bad for ragging on it bc its clearly a labor of love, to some degree. it looks great, the boss fight (i guess theres only like 2??? er) was a hoot, tying game events/powers into the real world lunar cycle is a neat idea, and the music is really good. the models for NPCs and enemies are great except the demon girls have terrible designs lol. there's a "game manual" in the style of a 90s game manual that's aesthetically delightful and a great way to make the player work for information in a nostalgic style.

but it wont commit fully to either being a "kings field" inspired game with modern conveniences or conventions or a strict adherent to the format, warts and all. as a result, its a game that feels like a completely modern take but inexplicably has some of the worst gameplay mechanics for seemingly no reason other than "because old games did that". there are so many mechanics that exist seemingly for the sake of having the mechanic but with no rhyme or cohesion. mimics that only appear in one level, no way to sell or store items i wont be using, menus that are truly annoying to navigate, i literally just found out theres a compass thats turned off by default (????).

its missing refinement and struggles under the weight of the better games its clearly riffing on. dont remind me that i could just be playing bloodborne the whole time im playing the game

[h-worksrambles]

I think Clair Obscur Expedition 33 might be one of my new favourite games. I spent 50 hours absolutely glued to this game over the past week. And I’m probably gonna remain glued to it as I do postgame stuff.

The best way I heard this described is that it’s like a forgotten PS1/2 JRPG suddenly got a luscious remake. One full of clever little design tweaks that retain the spirit of those games. Modernising then without ever trying to fix them.

Combining turn based combat with timed hits and dodge mechanics in a very Mario RPG/Shadow Hearts way. But it’s designed to feed into the turn based strategy rather than overshadow it. Good dodges and parries gain you more AP which you spend for in turn actions. So playing well at the real time element rewards you by letting you combine your skills in interesting ways. Every character in your party has a ton of depth packed into this style, with their own unique hooks and different ways to build them.

Other than that it’s full of so many decisions that either feel plucked out of an old school RPG combined with others that are forward thinking. On the one hand. You have an abstracted open world, the kind you’d get in the PS1 Final Fantasy games or Xenogears, with different ways to interact and traverse with it unlocking over the game. I’m a huge proponent of this because it allows developers to abstract the sense of a long journey across a vast world without bloating the game with an open world and ballooning the cost and resources. And yet, as a more modernised example, items are reworked to follow Soulsborne rules. You have a limited number of heals and revives which get refreshed at each save point and can be expanded the more you explore. This encouraged me to use my items rather than hoarding consumables the way I otherwise would in an RPG.

At no point does Clair Obscur ever feel like it’s trying to smugly ‘fix’ the genre. You can feel the love for JRPGs pouring out of it. And what modernisation it makes is subtle and carefully considered.

The presentation is absolutely stunning. This is basically a new fairly small studio doing all they can with the Unreal Engine. It’s definitely not AAA but it reminds me of the first Hellblade in how you wouldn’t know that until you looked more carefully. But it’s having so much fun with UE5. It’s got that attention to detail and fidelity but it never sacrifices for artistic flair for realism. The world is colourful, stylised and surreal. It’s just a joy to look at. And the MUSIC. I feel like I need to recommend the game just for the soundtrack alone. A huge amount of genre variety. Excellent use of leitmotif. Haunting use of French vocals, and some of the best battle themes I’ve heard in years. The score is phenomenal.

But what I think Clair Obscur needed to nail to really stand the test of time is the story and characters. And if succeeds with aplomb. Despite its incredibly bleak post apocalyptic setting (conveyed masterfully in its first hour), Clair Obscur runs the emotional gamut from bleak to whimsical to funny to agonisingly heart wrenching. It puts its characters through horrific suffering but never feels embarrassed to fill its world with quirky, memorable NPCs. To me, that ability to commit to the bit with strong drama and unapologetic weirdness is the secret sauce of many classic JRPGs and this game nails that. The first time I encountered a fucking *mime* as a secret recurring thing I audibly said ‘oh yeah, this game gets it’.

And all of this escalates with powerful twists and some genuinely strong character writing into a story that explores parenthood, grief and the nature of artistic self expression. The characters are down to earth without ever feeling boring. They each get plenty of time to dig into their respective struggles and build endearing rapports with each other and I was quickly endeared to everyone. Helped by A+ voice acting across the board. Even 10 hours in the game already took swings I wasn’t expecting and it just kept ramping up. Building to an ending I’ve been struggling not to think about since I beat it. I’m gonna be posting some more spoilerific thoughts about the ending specifically shortly.

If you have even a passing interest in JRPGs, do yourself a favour and play Clair Obscur. It’s on Game Pass and at about 30 hours rushing the story, maybe 50 if you take your time with side content I think you could comfortably beat it in a single month.

It’s clearly made with such a deep love for the genre while also thoughtfully designed enough to stand on its own.

I’m gonna be thinking about this game for a very long time.

[dynamite-derek]

RIP Akira Toriyama

It was the summer of 1996. A younger version of myself waltzed into a rip-off blockbuster, one of those family owned joints that often gets conflated with Hollywood Video, and was struck by the cover artwork of one game in particular. Chrono Trigger. It drew me in like a siren's song. It just looked so cool. I had experience with Earthbound, Super Mario RPG and Final Fantasy III at this point so I wasn't unfamiliar with the Japanese role playing game genre, but that isn't what brought me to the dance. It was the art.

Chrono Trigger would go on to become a major part of my personality as a youth. There was about a week straight where I would go around talking to nobody in particular using old English, like my favorite character Frog did. Thank you Ted Woolsey for that. CT would go on to form the basis for a lot of my video game opinions.

I remember getting Chrono Trigger for Christmas randomly in 1997. It had yet to become the holy grail of eBay, it was just a random gift from my uncle who knew how to use the Internet. I spent so long just glancing at the instruction manual and thinking the characters looked so cool. It's one thing to see a little pixel version of Lucca convince Crono that hopping into a teleporter is a good idea, it's another thing to see a fully illustrated version of the same character.

Don't even get me started on how I felt watching those anime cutscenes that came with the PS1 version for the first time. I consider Earthbound to be my favorite game ever, but Chrono Trigger is really what started my JRPG fix. Would I have gotten as deep into JRPGs as I did without Chrono Trigger? Would I be writing this right now? One of the first things I talked to my wife about was the Final Fantasy franchise, specifically my cat named Quistis. Would I have even grabbed that appreciation for Final Fantasy VIII without having been exposed to Chrono Trigger?

Fast forward to 1999. I had just moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado as a sixth grader. I had no friends. I didn't know anybody. It felt like the world had aged up around me. Everybody was using swears and talking about mature topics and I felt so out of the loop. In our temporary hotel housing I vividly remember turning the channel to Cartoon Network and stopping because the art style interested me. It looked kind of like that game I played back in 1996. Dragon Ball Z.

I can see it now. Vegeta was fighting against Recoome while Gohan and Krillin looked on exhausted. Things were looking bleak but some guy named Goku was on the horizon. I had no idea who any of these characters were but I knew they reminded me of something I loved with all my heart. From that point, Dragon Ball would go on to be something I absolutely cherished. Just like Chrono Trigger, it would help define my taste for years to come.

I remember being in high school wearing ridiculous looking Dragon Ball shirts because I thought the sleeves were really cool, I remember going to Toys R Us and seeing a damn near immobile Vegeta action figure that lacked his Saiyan-saga armor and I was so excited to bring it home. I remember hopping on limewire and downloading fansubs of Dragonball Z movies where the subtitles had characters swearing up a storm just because they could. How would I know any better? I didn't speak Japanese! I even downloaded all of Dragon Ball GT because I wanted to see where this wacky thing would go.

That specific anime would define a wide portion of my Internet life. I would post on the Funimation forums talking about whatever episode of the dub was most recent. It was there that I made a lot of my first Internet friends, including girlfriends. It was that forum that led me to create my own little Internet forum called Lindblum, a place that I still remember fondly to this day. I didn't have a lot of friends. I was an Airforce brat who moved around all the time, so it was hard for me to chat with people who knew each other for their entire lives. Lindblum was where I socialized and grew up as a person. Where I learned how to socialize and talk to people from all walks of life.

Writing on forums is what got me into writing in general. I was a lazy kid in school. I didn't care about anything except for video games. Writing was the exception to that, it was the only thing I considered myself actually decent at. I didn't understand math but I understood how to communicate what I felt to others. I work in journalism to this very day because of that fascination with writing. I have this dinky little blog I maintain because of that. Thanks to Internet forums. Thanks to Dragon Ball Z. Thanks to Chrono Trigger. Thanks to Akira Toriyama.

Toriyama, indirectly, helped shape me as an individual. A guy thousands of miles away from me who I had never met before, who didn't know my name, who didn't know I existed, had a hand in helping to shape the person I am today. The world can be a beautiful place sometimes.

RIP Akira Toriyama. Thanks for everything.

[oliveoilsoda]

Today I Beat: Moon Remix RPG Adventure

Moon is a hard game for me to talk about. Not for the lack of anything, far from it, this game is filled to the brim with charm and strangeness but merely for the fact that I dont quite know where to begin. Ill start with the aspect of the game that I can speak the least about which is the gameplay. The game is best known as an "anti-rpg" and the gameplay reflects this by kinda not being an rpg. It plays a lot more like a point and click game but without the pointing and clicking. Most of the time your walking around and showing things to characters in hopes that they have something more useful to say then "huh?" and when your not doing that, your walking around aimlessly. A good chunk of the puzzles in this game can be pretty obtuse and any consistent flow of progress can be halted simply due to schedule conflicts. And while a part of me often felt frustrated that I had no clue what to do, the other part understood that it just came with the territory of being an "anti-rpg"; a rpg where you dont fight.

The term of "RPG" is used pretty loosely when used to describe games. Despite standing for "Role Playing Game", rpgs are known more commonly for how you play them. Killing enemies to gain XP so you can level up to kill more enemies and so on until you can kill the big bad. This is where the story of moon comes in, by putting you at the other end of the sword. While I wont be spending much time going over the story as I think its best experienced by playing the game and not listening to some autistic girl blabble on, I will relay the general gist of the game. The game starts as a fairly generic rpg, shining armor and all, but just as you reach the end, the perspective changes. You are no longer a knight on a mission to slay a dragon but a child controlling said knight but just as he is ready to walk away for the night, he gets sucked into the tv. It is then your job to save the souls of the "monsters" slain by the knight, acting almost as an angel (albeit in the form of a dead child rather than a divine being but I digress). With all of this being said, its time for me to divulge into what truly makes this game special to me: its style.

To this day I have yet to find a game that quite looks like moon. Its almost as if the developers were throwing art styles against the wall to see whatever stuck and just, nothing fell off. The game uses pre-rendered images for the backgrounds which isnt at all unusual especially for ps1 games but its in moons disinterest of realism where they truly feel unique.

Often, the game will not only used pre-rendered images of early cg settings but will then add real images into them, making them make the distinction between what is real and what is cgi all the more apparent. One could analyze this as a metaphor for the games themes, a digital world clashing with human emotions but I think thats missing the forest for the trees here. The clashing of both elements make for such a distinct style and thats not even mentioning the character designs.

You could have told me that every character in this game come from different games with radically different art styles and I would have no reason to disagree. However with the game being as strange as it is, no one feels out of place. And I havent even gotten started on the claymation sprites.

Im a big big stop motion fan so naturally when i found out that all 51 "monsters" are animated using said medium, I stood up and did 2 cartwheels.

Its a great way to distinct them from anything else in the game as saving their souls is the main focus of the game. It reminds me of old cartoons where you could tell what would move or not based off the coloring. If this doesn't show how you special of a game this is I dont know what will.

My personal favorite aspect of the game, however, isn't the graphics, isn't the gameplay, but the soundtrack or rather lack thereof (in a traditional sense).

In moons ambitious goal to subvert almost every norm in gaming, most of the game takes place in total silence with the exception of your own foot steps, occasional ambiance and a rare dramatic sting. Thats not to say the game has no music in it though, far from it. Instead of your normal scripted music, game features what is, in essence, a built in mp3 player.

However instead of adding your own music, the game features 36 songs, MDs as the game calls it, all ranging in artist, genre, and even tone. Some songs will act as a mellow ambiance and others lean closer to breakcore. This MD is my personal favorite:

As this "review" ,or whatever you wanna call it, comes to a close, id like to talk about my favorite scene in the game.

-SPOILERS AHEAD-

Once you've completed your mission of constructing the rocket, your sent into the abyss of space and for almost 10 minutes your just venturing quietly into the stars with nothing much happening. That is until a character who i will not name, fades in and out of existence on top of your ship and the melancholic masterpiece of a song "Promise" starts to play

He tells you:

"Soon your journey will come to an end.

When one journey ends...another journey begins.

Life is like one night's dream.

Waking and sleeping

Birth and death.

Many things appear and vanish.

What has vanished appears.

You and I are no exception.

Throughout the universe...everything dies, and is born

Life rolls on down the road.

The question is, when you wake from the dream, when will you set out toward another dimension? Will you be able to open the door?

Soon you will reach our final destination.

Perhaps we'll meet again, at the side of some road.

Goodbye."

9/10

[shadowredfeline]

Two in One Post

Response to my P-Pal

Well I do know Turok is for the Nintendo 64, but what I did hear is that they rereleased their three Turok games on Modern Consoles. Just only 1, 2 and 3. Like it's on Steam, Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch. But maybe you can check out the 3 Turok games on Steam once your computer has a brand new GPU installed. And also I have played Dino Crisis before and so did my dad. I own the first one since that's what I wanted to start with. And it's one of the only 1999 PS1 titles I play alongside Gran Turismo 2, Pac-Man World, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, Medal of Honor, Crash Team Racing, Silent Hill, Spyro 2 Ripto's Rage, Pepsiman, Gex 3, Need for Speed High Stakes, Resident Evil 3 Nemesis, and Bugs Bunny Lost in Time. Also I downloaded Dino Crisis on the PlayStation Store which I still have on my Vita since I don't have my PlayStation 3 anymore and wanting to get another one or if I have enough money, I can get another PlayStation Plus Premium when I have enough money.

And for my A-Pal's On this Day Post

I do enjoy Smash Bros Ultimate too. Since I got that game for Christmas around 2018 and I do enjoy the story and the game itself. I have played online with Smash Bros a lot. But not too much because I don't want to get myself overpowered with my temper. Because normally with Mario Kart, I always like to do it in Simpsons Hit and Run Style and that's how I don't rage in Mario Kart. And also for Smash Bros, since we have all the Characters, it would be nice for Nintendo to start an RPG where our players get to use Cards when you use characters like Spirits. But it stinks that Smash Bros can't make trophies anymore because I really love the Trophies. But with Spirits, it kinda reminds me of using cards like trading cards. That's the reason why I was thinking I came with Kingdom Smash because it's a mix between Smash Bros and Kingdom Hearts, and also other Square Enix titles. That's what I thought if Nintendo were to collaborate with Square Enix again since I know they already remastered Super Mario RPG which I'm so glad they did. Because it makes a whole lot easier then just putting it on Nintendo Switch Online for Super Nintendo.

[quaddmgd]

I've been playing Tomb Raider I-III Remastered since its release. I managed to beat TR1 + Unfinished business and I'm 1/3 through TR2. It takes me longer than I thought, mostly because of work and exhaustion, but I'm having so much fun. Let's talk about TR1 then!

I've never actually finished a Core Design Tomb Raider before. I really wanted to start from the first one, but no matter the version, MS-DOS, Windows or PS1, the jumping felt delayed to a point of being unplayable for me. Which... was really weird. Normally I enjoy playing older games and not many ever felt 'too old' for me to learn playing them. Remasters felt like my last chance to try and beat them and, well, turns out jumping in original TR1 is dependant on animations - cinematic platformer-style. The new release actually fixed that and it feels very responsive on a keyboard. That's the most important change for me.

TR1 feels so different from the Legend and Survivor trilogies. Compared to newer games, platforming requires an ungodly amount of precision to pull off and feels very rewarding in the process. Instead of being action-oriented it prioritizes being a puzzle-platformer first, while enemy encounters remain sporadic and rather unwelcome due to their jankiness. TR1 ends up being a really atmospheric, quiet and isolating experience, making you feel like you're really the first person to visit these locations in thousands of years - I really appreciate that.

Now, being a 1996 game, TR1 always looked stellar to me and if it weren't for my issues with platforming, I would've probably beaten the original a long time ago. That being said, I really appreciate the art direction this remaster goes for. It's a nice mix between somewhat cartoony models and the original level design allowing for gameplay to remain intact. It's not without issues (some spaces can be too dark, some items are harder to spot and hd textures don't blend that well together compared to the original pixel art - some of that was apparently fixed in a patch, but it'd have to go back and check), but its lighting system makes up for any flaws. To be honest lighting does all the heavy lifting in creating atmosphere and the way environment reflects colored light on Lara reminds me of RT global illumination solutions used in modern games, but retains the feeling of playing a forgotten early 2000s gem with an HD texture pack installed. I love it.

The photo mode is a nice addition too. I managed to snap a few pics and the ability to switch between old and new graphics helped with making side-by-side comparisons.

There are a few meaningful flaws, unfortunately. FMV cutscenes didn't get a proper upscale, but instead just a blurry filtering, making them look worse than the original ones. Some achievements appear to be broken as well, which can be a bummer as some of them are really hard to pull off. Switching to OG graphics caps frame rate to 30fps with a funky framepacing, NG+ is not NG+ but a hard mode, and all-new modern controls have already become infamous for limiting Lara's movement compared to tank controls and making the camera bug out in tight spaces. I encountered more issues, but most of them got fixed in a 1.01 patch, so overall I'm pleased with the state of the game.

Now there are communication and update accessibility issues I'm planning to touch on, but since they don't seem to affect the experience of actually playing the remasters, I'm going to do so in a separate post.

Playing through TR2, I noticed the bigger focus on action, which I heard will be also a thing in TR3, but aside from that it seems to be a great sequel!

I already made a wishlist of what I want to see in future patches (including a working wardrobe and outfits from other TR games hehe), but I have fun playing it and that's the most important thing about this collection. It was obviously made with love and I hope that updates will make it a perfect visual remaster in the future.

[npfehr]

Recently Completed: SIGNALIS (PC)

This is a retro-style survival horror game that reminded me at different points of Silent Hill, Alien, Neon Genesis Evangelion and HP Lovecraft (though thankfully not because of racism).

You play as Elster, a biomechanical robot lady on a mission to find someone important to you. To do so, Elster must descend into a mining facility overrun by some sort of fleshy plague, one that has turned the other biomechanicals into walking nightmares.

The sound, ambience, and atmosphere of the game are incredibly well done. The developers leaned into a PS1-style low-polygon aesthetic, and there are even options to enable screen curvature and a bit of visual noise to replicate playing on an old TV. Everything in the facility has a chunky, retro-tech feel, and there are a ton of little touches in the visuals and sound that add to the overall vibe.

(One of my personal standouts: in one area there's a set of doors connected to a huge vertical shaft, and the echoing boom that accompanies the door shutting behind you was a great detail and a treat on headphones)

The story is a bit opaque -- probably a little easier to parse if you're somebody good at connecting dots of lore scattered throughout a whole playthrough. ("Ah," this person might say to themselves, "This note pays off the storyline of a person mentioned in a crumpled page I found three hours ago! Wonderful!") That's...not really my strong suit, but I feel like I got the gist of it, and I came away with an interpretation of events that satisfied me.

Skimming comments on Steam, a big point of contention seems to be the extremely limited inventory. You're can carry up to six items at any given time, though certain items, like ammunition, stack within an inventory slot. (There's even in-universe propaganda posters promoting the Rule of Six). I won't say it wasn't frustrating at times, but I respect the choice for the way it increases tension. You learn quickly to prioritize when and when not to fight, what your essential items are when moving from area to area, and that you cannot hoover up every single healing item and ammo box you come across. In my (limited) experience, this is key to the Survival Horror experience -- you should never feel completely safe!

Thankfully, there is also a stash-box for storing and retrieving nonessential things from any save area. They do not attempt to explain this in-universe, and I'm fine with it.

Anyway! I took a long time from start to finish on this game, but I enjoyed it and would easily recommend checking it out this Spooktober -- and beyond!!

[c0ckedgun]

girls who are the Antichrist eat hot chip and be bisexual

[decamarks]

Have you ever thought of making an actual game? Even a little one?? Your 'Atom Amulet' art and gif look soooo good they legit fooled me for a bit when I first looked at them into thinking they were from a real game! Your enjoyment and respect for glitches and games as a medium is really neat, and tbh I'm super curious what you'd make! As someone who actually played a few weird old PS1 and computer games as a kid, sooo many attempts at 'retro low-poly style' games I see always break my immersion when I can see like.. too much anti-aliasing, too many things rendered in real time instead of prerendered (not extremely subtle stuff like raytracing or font choice, which gave away Petscop to a few incredibly observant people lol), etc.. part of the charm of old 3D games is devs clearly trying extremely hard to work with limitations of disc space and RAM! No one's cutting corners! Also the design for Atom Amulet's character is the kind I've been wanting to see SO badly in modern-retro games.. no one ever goes for 'rounded little creature guy who looks a little wonky' designs like you see in Creatures or SHEEP because they think it's too ugly! But it looks COOL! And that's part of why it really seemed like an actual old game to me at first.. I like your blog and art, your passion for games and glitches is really inspiring! Nice job on the animation and 3D art!

AHHHHH THANK YOU SO MUCH ANON ;__; This made me really happy to read... Trust me, I have daydreamed extensively about the kind of games I'd like to make, so I've definitely got ideas for stuff like that. Animation and 3D art in general is my main focus right now though, since I've got a lot I want to create, and still a LOT to learn as well, LOL. I would probably be most interested in making a game with a small team or creative partner, since even small games can be incredibly taxing to create and I'd prefer not to mentally and/or physically implode. (My main problem is mostly finding those people... I'm not good at initiating this kind of thing.)

Anyway, I absolutely agree on being kinda disinterested in a lot of 'retro low-poly' aesthetics, just because they feel too divorced from the actual technology that gave the style a reason to exist in the first place. That's not to say at all I think this style should exist in a chronological vacuum, or that it shouldn't be iterated upon with modern technology, but that it just looks too clean too often, too streamlined! I don't want that! I want WONKINESS!!!

I don't think it's necessarily a fear of this sort of 'ugliness', or at least not always—it's more so that this wonkiness can be sometimes hard to achieve at all. Like. Hold on. I could write stupid poetical paragraphs about this concept, but I think this post sums it up 10,000 times better than I ever could.

The primary function of a comic is to tell a story that is best shown through the format of sequential images. So you might expect that anything made for a primarily visual medium must look 'good' to be effective, right? But it doesn't; MS Paint's ugly palettes and pixelated pens only serve to amplify the expressiveness in this image. It looks silly and simplistic, and that's exactly why it works. Whether this was intended by the artist is irrelevant. It's effective not despite its strange, subtle stiltedness, but because of it.

It reminds me of this post about animation by PilotRedSun, which I think about a lot:

I’ve learned a bit of animation fundamentals, branched out to other styles . . . but I still adhere to the rule that every animation on my channel should have a dysfunctional aspect to it. When an animation contains an error, it distracts the viewer. Thus when an animation is composed of errors, it mesmerizes the viewer.

Video games are interesting to compare to comics and animation in this sense, because most games are made simply to be played. Despite being a visual medium, it isn't necessarily expected to look good; it just has to function as an interactive experience. This emphasis on functionality, created through technological limitations of the time, is exactly what originated low-poly and pixelated styles. Older video game art didn't need to be particularly beautiful, just purposeful. You take a concept, put it on the screen, and continue stripping away pixels and polygons until only its most minimal existence remains, because if you don't, you won't be able to fit it within your meager 64 MB cartridge capacity. It looks wonky, and may not really resemble the initial concept as you saw it anymore... but it works.

That's not to say huge, high-res canvases of pixel art and raytracing on low-poly renders can't be uniquely beautiful as well—I think the ways these styles are innovated with modern technology is just as intriguing. The fundamental aspects of these styles will always be worth exploring, because at their core, they're about conveying things in unconventional ways. Simplicity makes it stilted and strange, and 'ugliness' is what makes it so evocative.

But like I said, I don't think it's a matter of intentionally avoiding these more subtle sorts of strangeness. It's just that harnessing and embracing it to its full extent is very hard. Particularly because modern technology often just... lacks limits. You can do practically anything with it, and that's the problem. If you have a decent GPU and the capacity to follow basic instructions, you can make a simple yet frighteningly hyper-realistic 3D scene in mere minutes, the kind that older video game developers could have only dreamed of. And technologically, it's impressive, but that's it. There are no corners cut, no concepts compressed, and nothing your computer can't handle for you. As soon as the realistic refractions and flashy lights fade, you realize it's all a little empty beyond the subdivision surfaces.

It's easy to get lost in a world without limitations, because empty canvases are just as freeing as they are intimidating. Making beautiful things because you can is obviously fun, and often impressive, but it gets boring. Sometimes I simply want to see things breaking at their seams, stripped down to the point of struggling to exist at all, and working—and being not just beautiful because of it, but fundamentally fascinating.

[seasaltmemories]

End of the Year Review Collection

So my readings/media consumption for the past few months have been scattershot with not a lot individually to comment on so I thought I would group them together and tackle them one by one.  So without further ado let’s start:

Schoolgirl by Osamu Dazai

After this title got dropped in comparison to my writing, naturally I was curious to check it out.  And while I am usually not a fan of stream of consciousness styles, I found this surprisingly delightful.  The plot is exactly what it says on the tin, a schoolgirl from 1930s Japan going about her day.  But what makes it really work is how it so thoroughly captures this adolescence precociousness.  Details show her father recently passed away and she often makes these dramatic statements about “goodness” and how evil she feels for going through normal growing pains.  But then just as quickly she gets distracted by petty daily concerns.  It’s the right balance of insight without ever tipping over into being too knowledgeable.  I don’t know how much I would enjoy this type of style in a longer work, but as a novella it worked just right.

Under the Pendulum Sun by Jeanette Ng

This has been on my radar ever since March, but once I got my hands on it, I had trouble really getting into it.  The premise is to die for:   England discover Faireland and starts sending missionaries to convert the fae.  Naturally torment for the arrogant humans ensue. Yet for all my love of mixing fantasy and theology together, I found myself 1/4 in and still waiting to get carried away.  There was much less very confused and complicated discussions about religion and a lot more wandering around with vague cryptic foreboding, and I just had trouble being interested protagonist beyond a plot-twist I got spoiled on earlier.  I never got to the revelation in text and I could tell it was meant to be a slow-burn of sorts.  But I had a lot on my plate work-wise and so it just kinda fell to the wayside.  One day I might check it out again, but I am not in a rush.

Night Sky with Exit Wounds by Ocean Vuong

I would say I’m someone who appreciates poetry but just doesn’t have the mind for it.  Still although I only read a few excerpts from this, I was immediately floored.  Something about Vuong’s work just immediately clicked with me.  The language he uses is very precise.  For example, he’ll reference Greek or Christian mythology just long enough to take the exact image and emotion he needs before moving on.  If you get the allusion it can be a one-two sucker punch, but the actual story and contents of the poem still feel uniquely his.  And over time all these poems build an entirely new mythology of his life to mix together and reference.  Add on themes of family, violence, and gay sexuality, and suddenly I felt finally able to understand poetry.

Brigandine: Legend of Runersia

So apparently this is a revival of an old strategy series from the PS1 days.  I went in pretty blind since I was only borrowing a copy, but if I had to sum it up, it is like if you made Risk a tactical RPG.  Aside from a handful of small, indie titles, my only real experience with the genre was Fire Emblem, so I thought I would try it out.

Anyway it reminded me of a lot of older games.  There is a story in theory, but it mostly found through the guide that comes with the game.  There are a lot of mechanics to keep track of as you cycle between nation expanding and individual battles.  I restarted a few times and consulted some guides as I tried to get a grip on just what was the right strategy to take.  But I had a lot of fun with that problem-solving element and having to figure stuff out on my own.  Once you get going you pretty much fall into a predictable “pick a direction to expand in and do it,” but it provides a decent level of stimulation at a steady pace.  I wouldn’t call it amazing but it scratched an itch I didn’t know I had for the genre while being different enough from what I was familiar with.  I could see this as being a good bargain bin purchase.

[craftmanatee]

Dread X Collection 3 Games Review

Once again, my friend and I have played through a new Dread X collection and I would like to make a short concise review for each game including the Hub area. We each played 1 game resulting in 6 each. The order of games reviewed is not the recommended order to play as we went on a very simple roundabout on the graveyard, and the games have a strong sense of quality unlike Dread X Collection 2 which had many great quality games and many low quality games.

Lets go!

Game X: The Castle (A bit unremarkable)

Scare Type: Cute

Player: My friend

The castle in some way is a step back from the awesomeness of the house. As it proceeds with forced dialogue cutscenes with your character and a ghost character that possesses in you. The puzzles and areas are also larger and more spread out and easier than the house. The Dialogue cutscene itself even give the idea to not compare the two, which is understandable. But let me tell YOU that I enjoyed the house more than I did the Castle (Even if it was not I who was doing the Castle Bit), so even if they are different, one was in my opinion better than the other.

The forced Dialogue cutscenes weren't to bad. The Voice Acting was not bad. Its rather the script and subjecting the player to sit through it. Its not the most fun to sit through and could have been handled better. In the house, a dialogue still happened but you were still free to move around while listening to the pre-recorded message. The ghost possessing you could have done the same with you, but instead this YOU is a character that must go into a dialogue and stop your gameplay.

The STYLE of the castle is where I think it wins the best. The very cute spooky aesthetic is great, and hold a lot of details we noticed near the end of the game. Like the paintings being famous paintings, replacing the characters of the paintings to goofy ghosts. Time passing between each game is also a great detail, making the castle ever so slightly different all the way to night time. I love the castle for this.

We quickly figured out that the theme for this Dread X collection was not just Cute and spooky, but also the inevitability of death.

Nate Berens – SATO WONDERLAND (Ok)

Scare Type: Surprising!

Player: My Buddy

This game was alright, nothing too amazing as pulling different topics to make a new dialogue box appear was tedious and a bit annoying. But the story itself was pretty cool, resulting in a surprise ending. Each game have different endings which we did not try to explore, but for this I think we managed to get the best ending. Not much to say about this one.

Blood Machine – Soul Waste (Eh...)

Scare Type: ...None?

Player: Me

Soul Waste is a 3D action platformer about this... post apocalyptical world, and you happen to be the “Saviour”. We got Ending C for this as we felt the tedium of the collectables and we weren't going to sit around collecting them all in this weird to navigate map. The enemies did not make much of a challenge making the game bit boring. The end boss was the only thing that gave me some ounce of real fun. There was a lot to explore, but my patience wore thin due to not being that interesting of a platformer. Although it did look good for what it did. There is some to explore which we did not, but I simply noticed that there was some things here and there that we did miss. We just did not feel the need to go back.

Bryce Bucher – Disparity of the Dead (Great!)

Scare Type: Horror that sticks around even after the game.

Player: My pal

This game I think pulls off the themes of Dread X Collection 3 very, very well! Perhaps the best thematic one? Nevertheless, this is a 3D platformer that lets you talk to fun characters collecting collectables and piece together a mystery. The topics that which the game introduces to you are all very good and sad in many ways. It also had a lingering effect on me personally. This lingering horror reminded me of SOMA by Frictional Games. Anyways, the game in general is not horrifying until you get to a certain point. Then when the actual ending plays, it all gets sad. We do not know if there are different endings, but the ending we did get was a sad one in my opinion and was great.

Amon Twentysix – Bete Grise (Cool!)

Scare Type: Uneasy, then relief!

Player: Me

I really liked the aesthetics of this game, reminded me a lot of some obscure old-school games. The gameplay is mostly of you going floor to floor doing cleaning and... repairing? Anyways, there are a few hints here and there that foreshadow the great revelation at the end. I saw some of them and felt very uneasy when going through the process as it all felt like a facade. But once the revelation hit, the game turned into something more funny, stylish and well, just felt good. Its rare for a horror game to kinda blue ball you into satisfaction.

DIRIGO GAMES – REACTOR (Disappointing)

Scare Type: Betrayal

Player: My Homie

This is a game I spoiled myself with, which is why I had my friend play it instead. The game is mostly a walking simulator in which it feels like you shouldnt be there in the bad/useless way as there is a robot buddy who keeps you company and doing everything for you. When the time comes, you are then obviously, chased to the ending of the game. Its not scary, sad. Its just a simple experience. The aesthetics of the game is great, by being a gradient of blacks and whites as well as minimal uses of colour. Other than that, this is disappointing.

Moya Horror/Amos – Nice Screams at Funfair (humorously frustrating)

Scare Type: Dont fail

Player: Me

This is a very short game that was short enough for us to also explore a different ending. There is no real inherent horror here. Its mostly thematic to being like Halloween. The game has you serving icecream to people, the challenge is to serve them the ice cream that they want, and take the money into your tip jar or cash register. The real challenge is the controls, as throwing ice cream into the ice cream cones often fails for no reason, and clicking on to activate anything just sometimes did not work. Resulting in funny scenarious. We got 2 different endings for this, one that made sense, and another that we didnt understand. The game looked great, the intro did not have to be as long as it did but it was a fun little ride.

Basalt Tower – Matter OVER Mind (Woah!)

Scare Type: Loosing progress...

Player: My Amigo

Matter over mind absolutely felt like an old-school platformer, it was also unique, colourful and funny/cute! Crawling around as a little parasitical monster and possessing scientists in order to escape the labs just looked great. Like many of these games, it had a collectible that meant... NOTHING. And if you died collecting them, you will loose them all. Prompting you to reset the entire game. Nevertheless, it was an impressive game that felt great.

Corpsepile – Submission (Fuck yeah!)

Scare Type: Scary, but also funny

Player: Me

This game had so many unique and cool twists and ideas. Maybe one of the best games in this collection. It was absolutely creative, funny... everything! It was also scary at times, referencing P.T. Its puzzles were great and fun, so much good about this one! The gameplay switches often, the horror amps up... Man... Submission was super good! Cant really say much other than that.

Torple Dook – Chip’s Tips (Funny!)

Scare Type: Friendly?

Player: My guy

Super creative point and click adventure game, hamming it up to 101%. It is also so patronizingly friendly that it becomes funny. Probably the most unique game on this list. And you can pet the dog in this game. I absolutely love the aesthetics of the unhinged masked textures, as well characters being flat cutouts. What is sad is this game feels like the end to Torple Dook’s streak of being in Dread X Collection games as it references his previous 2 games as well as more.

Breogan Hackett – Bubbo: Adventure on Geralds Island (Woah! x2)

Scare Type: JUMP

Player: Me

A very well done 3D platformer, with some challenge. The game is not scary, although it does come to a point. The platforming was very good albeit a tiny bit weird when turning in a specific way. It also features hidden collectibles that we unfortunately did not find all and left it at that. It sounded and felt good, looked good and was fun to get to the end with. There are different endings, we (me) only got to see 1. I jumped at the right time and made my way out!

Modus Interactive – EDEN: Garden of the Faultless (Chaos?)

Scare type: None, just weird.

Player: My hombre

This is literally a game akin to raising your Chaos in Sonic Adventure games. Just that you raise your little Evangelion. This game I think, has the best Ps1 look than the other games. It has a very weird control scheme, as well as being weird in its own right. And it nails the aesthetics very well. Too bad the game is finicky or boring, sporting long paths and lots of waiting. I guess you could have some fun minmaxing your wittle angel. I guess you always need at least one super unorthodox entry in a collection.

Adam Pype & Viktor Kraus – SPOOKWARE @ The Video Store (Quintessential)

Scare Type: brief moments of panic

Player: Both of us

This game... is actually really fun. Spookware is literally Wario ware but with horror movie themed events. The style, game and everything is perfect. Although very short, I would honestly buy a game like this if it was fully complete. I also think this is the most fitting game for the theme of the collection. Although, not much is done about the “inevitability of death” theme here, but everything else about it carries the collection thematicly. Such a fun and quirky little game.

-------------

Conclusions

And so, the best games in the collection In my opinion were...

#1 Submission AND Spookware

#2 Chips Tips

#3 Disparity of the Dead

The collection was not at all as scary as the first or the second collection. Although, that is understandable as it had a more Fun and goofy vibe to it. I love seeing these collections and it introduces me to people ive never heard of before. Like Viktor Kraus who made the music, like in the trailer for the collection. Thats a great one. I wish to keep seing them make these and I hope that it is profitable for them in the end as well.

[haflip]

moon (1997): a Review

This year’s Nintendo Switch release of Moon: Remix RPG Adventure (listed on the eshop and other places simply as moon, all lowercase, e. e. cummings style) was a surprise to me. Although the PS1 original came out in 1997, gained a cult following and inspired mechanics and writing throughout countless games I love, I had never heard of this game until literally a couple of months ago. The new Switch release is a simple re-release with no differences from the original, except that it’s been localized in English for the first time. Now that I’ve played it, it’s clear to me that a lineage of games and their mechanics can be traced back to this one. I used to think the mechanics of Dead Rising (2006), for example, were action-based iterations on Capcom’s earlier game Gregory Horror Show (2003), which itself seems to be steeped in the mechanics of Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask (2000). Now it seems that the development of Majora’s Mask itself, among others, may have been influenced by moon. Toby Fox has also told the creators themselves that Undertale was heavily inspired by the game. In fact, it was that very discussion that led to the creators finally localizing the game in English this year.

moon is consistently referred to as an “anti-RPG” by creators and fans alike. This makes the most sense when considering the developers are mostly former Square developers who previously worked on games like Super Mario RPG. The game opens with a young boy playing a video game which is itself called Moon. This game-within-a-game is a traditional RPG in which the protagonist is tasked with killing as many monsters as possible to gain enough levels necessary to kill the biggest monster, a dragon accused of eating the moon. The game expertly plays with classic RPG tropes and made me laugh a few times along the way. I got a big kick out of the way none of the character portraits seem to match up with the way a character looks from the top-down perspective, a trait I’ve seen of characters in a few of the RPGs I grew up with.

The game flashes forward a few times to save files with hours of progress on them, eventually leading to the final boss of the in-game game. During the climactic final encounter, our protagonist is reminded that he’s been staying up too late playing this game and is sent to bed. Our protagonist seemingly wakes back up and, while attempting to turn the TV back off, falls into the screen and is pulled into the world in which the majority of the game is spent. As a transparent ghost in this world, the young boy walks around listening to people’s conversations. The people of this world don’t seem too thrilled about the Hero’s task of killing as many things as possible. He’s usually considered arrogant, self-centered and dangerous to the people around him, with only a few people hoping for him to complete his dark task of finding and killing the dragon.

With the help of a generous old woman who seems to think he looks like her lost grandson, our protagonist is able to take physical form as a walking, hollow pile of clothes. This is when the game’s more unique mechanics kick in. At the top-left corner of the screen, there is a clock. This clock represents which day it is in a 7-day cycle, how much time is left in the day, whether it is day or night, and most importantly, how long the player has before they need to get back to bed and rest. If the player runs out of “action points,” the game is over and must be restarted from the last save, which is the last time the player slept in a bed. When the game begins, the timer is only half a day long but by leveling up, the timer is extended and the player can relax a little more.

With this in mind, the player is tasked with carrying out tasks in a similar fashion to classic adventure games. You can talk to characters to find out their interests, their habits, and what you can do to help them. You will also be building up a collection of random items which can be given or shown to characters in order to see different responses or solve puzzles. Some characters do different things on different days of the week and figuring out why something happened at a particular time can be interesting. Sometimes you will keep an item for hours without knowing who needs it or why, but by correctly finding what it is a character wants or needs, the player can earn “Love” points which are used for leveling up.

Love points can also be earned through “captures.” The so-called Hero has been murdering defenseless creatures throughout the land. You’ll find their corpses littering the ground in almost every area of the game. The goal of captures is to find their lost souls and return them to their bodies. Their souls will have habits hinted at by descriptions of what the creatures were like while still living and each one is a small puzzle of figuring out when and where to find the soul and grab it.

As with most games of its kind, I spent about 60-80% of it finding things on my own before I finally gave in and found a guide for the rest. The game carries the same flaws as most traditional adventure games. There are puzzles with easily miss-able hints, and other puzzles that are too demanding in arbitrary ways. Of note, the fishing contest and the in-world arcade game both took up huge chunks of time and were strong points of frustration for me, but neither are necessary to see the ending and I only did them for 100% completion’s sake. If finishing this game at 100% isn’t important to you, just skip the damn things. They are bad and 100% doesn’t lead to a better ending.

My only other gripe with this game is how certain characters are depicted. There are some really, really dated racial depictions that made me a bit uncomfortable. It’s a stain on an otherwise wholesome game. I also don’t like that there are certain minigames that are required to progress that require listening for specific sound cues. It means I can’t recommend this game for Deaf or Hard-of-Hearing players who don’t want to guess their way through it.

That said, I can’t emphasize enough how great it is right now, this year, to have a game that’s largely about caring, kindness, and pacifism. There were a lot of things that made me laugh or smile throughout the game, and even a moment or two that were heartwarming enough to make me tear up. It’s a weird and wonderful adventure that I’m happy to have finished. I know I’ll likely play it again, too. I’m cheap when it comes to buying games, usually waiting for a sale before considering most, but at just under $20, I whole-heartedly recommend buying moon for the Nintendo Switch, even at full-price.

[zachmakesgames]

Garbage Truck Game: Level Design

WELL, with the truck functioning and picking up trash, it was time to create the environment. Because of how fast the truck moves (around 45 km/h), I felt like I should go big. So I had road segments 100 meters long. After creating a few blocks, I started putting in buildings (upscaled primitives). When I started driving around, I realized this was WAY too huge. I wasn't really sure how best to move forward. So I went on the hunt for some more free assets.

I found this Simple City Pack, which seemed to to have the style I was going for...as much as I was going for anything. At first I was nervous, there were only three buildings--two of which were nearly identical. Also, there was a gas station, store, and two houses. This was barely enough to make a single city block. Luckily, the creator had included multiple colors, so I was able to copy-paste the structures and then use colors to change things up. I even merged a few models to change their "shape".

The level isn't quite "realistic", but it doesn't feel too repetitive, and reminds me of classic Twisted Metal on PS1. Not sure my 6 year old will pick up on that though.

[fmpprojectap]

-Extra game research- 1

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Risk of rain

This game which was recommended for me, as it was a similar style to the type of art I was making. The game is a 3rd person action platformer, its set on an mysterious unknown planet.

The style of the game is fairly minimalist and is quite simple and cute considering the amount of destruction in the game. The UI for the game is also fairly simple and small giving the player a huge view of the screen and not too much clutter.

The main game mechanic in Risk of rain is the fact you cant revive and there are zero spawn points, which means if you die the game is over. The aim of the game is to stay alive as long as possible as

I think the game looks cute and I like how small the player looks in such a big environment, I also really like how small the IU is, especially in a shooter game.

However I'm not super into competitive gaming and the permanent death feature makes the game a lot more stressful and not as easy going.

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The Gunk

The Gunk is a narrative 3rd person story game, where you explore an alien planet after a huge energy source is located to be coming from this planet.

The style in The Gunk is very stylised and a mix of realistic and cartoony. A lot of the alien planet is made up of trees and platforms that look like coral, whilst having a lot of alien like foliage in the game.

The character designs are very diverse with a lot of thought put into their design and their personalities. The proportions of the humans in the game is slightly unrealistic.

The main game mechanic of the game is progressing through the planet using your gun to collect and analyse valuable resources such as "The gunk".

I really like the style of this game and the direction they have gone with voiceover narrative and story. I would definitely like to play this game for myself given the chance. I think the game is really aesthetically pleasing and nice to look at.

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Sir, you are being hunted

The style and art in this game is very muddy looking with lots of browns and greens, all the robots are dressed as 18th century aristocratic clothing. The game is made up of very low poly models with simple texture design and the landscape is quite sparse.

In the game you go around shooting, crouching and hiding from robot AI's that are after you, you also have access to an inventory in which you can pick stuff up and drop it, another big mechanic is the visibility meter which shows you if the robots can see you or not.

Overall I surprisingly really like the style of this game, I find the art style quite depressing and garish and I really like the vibe that the whole game entails. The low poly high detail texture with no normals remind me of old ps1 games and it feels super nostalgic.

[zachsgamejournal]

COMPLETED: Mega Man Legends

Move over Sahelanthropus, I got all the walking mechs I need right here.

This game is great!

I BEAT IT!

I think it took about 8 hours (not counting a few reload/restarts here an there). While a few of the games I’ve played recently also took around the same amount of time, I kept feeling...frustrated about my progress. Mega Man Legends, on the other-hand, was a constant joy to play! I’m so blown away by how great this 1997 game is. I could gush over it all day, but Imma try to be focused...

The Story

This is where the game started off light and unimpressive, but ultimately turned out quite well. The story felt very basic: “The world needs crystal energy (refracters), and I play a ‘Digger’ that looks for them be exploring ancient ruins. But while I’m a well-meaning digger, there are ill-meaning pirates to worry about.” While the story wasn’t much, it did present the story very cinematically. The cutscenes told the story the gameplay couldn’t, but they didn’t overwhelm the player like Metal Gear Solid. 

The player eventually crash-lands on an island with a city and lots of people. The player may speak with these people, even performing sidequests and developing relationships. The characters aren’t super deep, but they all have some personality and story. It helps build the charm of this world. I really appreciated it.

The antagonists are a family of pirate siblings. Tron Bonne is interesting in that she’s a bit of a brat, but has affections for Mega Man. She’s also moved by his heroism and genuineness. She finds herself emotionally conflicted between her older brother who insists on being “bad” and her feelings for Mega Man that shows there’s a better way to live. Though this is mostly used for comedic effect, it also makes her the most interesting and well-rounded character. At one point, Mega Man thinks he may have killed the pirates (including Tron) in a major battle. The heroes treat this as an unintended tragedy, and do not rejoice in their victory (I love it!), then later, Mega Man finds Tron alive is over-the-moon. She’s put off by it, but conflicted. After Mega Man defeats the trio again, the eldest brother, Tiesel, offers his honorable recognition of Mega Man’s superiority and offers to leave in peace. Tron is surprised and touched, but then it turns out to be a ploy.

It’s all pretty silly but still engaging character development.

The game’s story contains quite a bit of mystery. Why are Reaverbots activating? What’s hidden beneath the island? What’s the connection? It’s revealed that these ancient ruins (which are from a more advanced civilization) actually contain a weapon. This weapon feels that humans are over-populating and that it should  purge the island as a population control effort. Mega Man finds this cruel and stops it. In the process, it’s revealed that Mega Man has a deep connection to system that wanted to purge the island. It’s hinted that he may serve some deeper purpose: maybe to act as the moral compass of unfeeling, ant-human protocol? The message I got was that humans destroyed the earth, causing a great flood and societal/technological collapse. So then machines were created to limit human influence, but their purpose is so old and outdated, it’s become an artifact itself.

There’s a fun twist here where Mega Man is captured. But the pirates realize that it’s more important to save the island than defeat Mega Man, so they release him and support his victory against the boss.

It’s still not super deep, but much deeper than I realized. And with all the various characters and personalities, it’s one of the best story experiences I’ve had in a game (though a bit goofy).

The Graphics

Are great! There’s a few issues. I think PS1 games pre-1998 had a different look and feel than post 1998 (and then again, post 2000). It feels like early game artists were still trying to figure out 3D modeling with limited hardware. So a lot of the best known tricks hadn’t been discovered yet. So MML definitely has a few Pre-1997 qualities, but it also has plenty of areas where it really looks great.

The savior is the cartoon-styled graphics. Most characters have solid-color clothes and accessories with few details. Because the art is consistent throughout, it just feels right. And then the facial animations are great. Games like Tomb Raider, Resident Evil, and Metal Gear Solid had in-game cutscenes, but the characters’ faces were unanimated. Sometimes they’d bob their heads to imply speaking--but it was all kinda goofy. MML, on the other hand, included moving mouths and changing face expressions during cutscenes. It really sold the cinematic vibe and is quite impressive for  PS1 game.

So even though technical limitations really prevent this game from looking great, the art-direction and advanced facial animations keep this game looking great!

The Gameplay

1. Controls

Unfortunately, the controls kind of suck. Mega Man controls somewhat like a tank. A tank that can move side ways. While games like Mario 64 had free 3D movement with a camera that tried to keep up--MML has a camera that stays firmly facing forward that only rotates when the player rotates MM.

It’s a little off-putting. If I push “down”, MM runs toward the screen: completely facing the opposite direction of the camera. In most 3D platformers, the camera would try to rotate behind the character. Not MM. It keeps facing the same direction. When I stop moving, MM turns back to face the same direction as the camera.

I think they were trying to make shooting and combat easier. And I think their head was in the right place. But it makes the game hard to learn. Still, once you get used to it, it works ok. This is the worst part of the game, but the difficulty is well balanced that I don’t feel punished by the controls.

2. Combat

The combat isn’t super deep, but that also means it’s not overbearing. The combat feels more like Crash Bandicoot, with each enemy having an attack pattern that must be learned and subverted. But mostly, you just got to know when to shoot it. So it keeps the combat accessible while also interesting and mentally challenging. This is better than a lot of American Shooters that just have you fight a variety of projectile based enemies--run, dodge, shoot...

Adding depth to the combat is a cool customizable Buster (gun). You can collect a variety of parts that boost Attack, Range, Attack Speed, and “Reload”. Some parts affect more than 1 stat, allowing the player to try a variety of combinations to boost their effectiveness and compliment their play-style. You may also change configurations based on the boss or enemy type. It’s a simple, and fun system that adds plenty of depth to what could have been a straightforward action title.

What’s also neat about these parts: they’re often rewards for side-quests. Such quests might be rebuilding a clubhouse, participating in game shows, or finding a lost loved-one. It’s great because it provides a lot of bonus quests for the player that meaningful and rewarding both as an experience and on a material level.

The boss fights are also pretty interesting, assuming you’re properly equipped. They can be a bit challenging or confusing, but they’re quite diverse. Maybe you’re defending the town from bull-dozer bots, or engaged in air-to-air battles, there’s plenty of unique experiences. I was especially impressed with the walking-mech battle. I think there’s another boss just as tall, but this involved a very destructible city block. It reminded me of the Sahelanthropus battle of Metal Gear Solid V...or does that battle remind me of this? Either way--it was just more icing on top of a great experience.

3. Adventure/Pacing

I like to differentiate between action and action-adventure. Action, to me, is very linearity and to the point. Action adventure often asks the player to do more than fight their way to the exit, but to discover the path to the exit. Even better, they allow the player to discover much of the game--allowing for maximized freedom in progress.

Zelda Games are often the best examples of letting the player set their own pace and find their own way. Ocarina of Time is a true stand-out here. The game doesn’t tell you want to do, but pushes you in the right directions. Still, you’re not often limited to one set order of events to proceed and can do some quests in any order. Mega Man Legends does this as well.

Once you get past the first hour or so, the game really opens up. There’s people to talk to, secrets to find, and there’s rarely a rush to complete the next objective. You’re free to grind for resources and buy that gun upgrade, or just push through--relying purely on your skill to overcome challenges. But what really makes the game like this work is the “down time”.

Dark Forces 2, Mysteries of the Sith, and Jedi Outcast are fun action games--but there’s only one thing to do: fight your way to the end. Even if there’s sub-objectives to the over-all level, there’s no freedom. While several Mega Man battles take place in the town, the city is usually a place of no combat. But there’s plenty to do, secrets to find, and characters to interact with. And once a dungeon has been defeated, it’s nice to go back and look for secrets or grind. It makes the game way more diverse and I feel more in control as a player.

This is really important. Because the Star Wars games (and even Thief) are sooo straightforward and 1-dimensional, I get fatigued very quickly. And seeing as I like to beat a game before moving on, I get frustrated. I feel like these games are in the way of me finding happiness. Not a good reason to play games. But MML made me happy to play it. Even if I didn’t feel like taking on the next dungeon, I could do side quests or grind on an easier dungeon and not feel like I’ve wasted time. It all helps me succeed in the future. And that gives me joy.

Mega Man Legends is joy!

I started this game way back in 1997 or 1998, and I restarted it many times since. This was the first time I beat it, and I love it--absolutely. Likely a top 10 game for me. I hope to add this to my rotation of games to replay till the end of my days--but then again, I’m curious if Mega Man Legends 2 will outshine it??