Yeah that was the one! A lot of love for the stuff I liked in that game, but it is just obfuscated by so much stuff, but I’ve always been more of a mechanical optimizer than chill crafter.
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I’m so sorry but Kingdom Hearts 2 rips. Even its long-winded, often-hilarious introductory chapter. Having the time of my life with this game lol.
Even though I haven’t played it since I was a kid, I chose to play on “Critical Mode” (comparable to NG+ in other games) and I’m glad I did. Where battles in KH1 often felt totally insurmountable to me, combat in KH2 reminds me distinctly of NES action games, in that every fight has a solution—or at least some exploitable enemy behavior—and it’s all about puzzling out what that is. Even though these “exploits” are obviously intended, it works for me because it still feels like I’m getting away with something.
I’m excited to continue playing, because for as much as I enjoy it already, I haven’t unlocked even a fraction of the abilities in the game. I remember it really opening up towards the end.
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KH2 absolutely rocks
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Resident Evil 3 rules. I can’t tell if I’m almost finished, though I think I might be. I’m currently running all over town getting parts for a tram. I love Raccoon City. Every screen is so well rendered and I totally feel like I’m running through a downtown.
The way Nemesis does not hesitate for a second and runs you down is so great. You don’t have time to say “oh no, Nemesis!” before he’s on you.
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On Thursday, I swapped out the tension spring on my arcade stick to increase resistance a bit and cut down on misregistered inputs. I went from a 1.5lb to a 3lb spring and its been an absolute joy for fighting and action games — I’m still adjusting to using one of these, but I find I’m able to find the direction I’m looking for more consistently with the 3lb spring (might be a little too much for less-intense hangout games). I love being able to tune a controller to my preferences — I’ve been digging into a few games the past few days:
I got my first 1CC in the arcade mode of Vampire Savior: Lord of Vampire (Darkstalkers 3) last night (on the easiest difficulty setting (ᵕ - ᴗ - ))! Still enjoying this one a lot, especially the goofiness and fast pacing. Now I’m branching out, exploring some of the other characters and their movesets. They all play so differently.
Surprise!
Wrapping my head around a fighting game for the first time, I decided to revisit Streets of Rage 4 this morning and it makes so much more sense now— I had fun last I played but I didn’t pick up [1] on the complexities of how certain moves pair together and the advantages of attack reach, cancelling and keeping opponents in a chain. I spent some time with the training and the whole game makes a lot more sense to me now. I’ve just been replaying the first couple of levels all morning getting a feel for some of Blaze’s combos. Really excited for this one to sink in a little more.
Lastly, I jumped back into Coffee Story again. I’m only about 15% through my first playthrough I think. Taking it slow and using the dialogue for voice training — It’s relaxing and makes the process a little more enjoyable.
It’s been fun bopping around these three games.
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Earlier this year, I was going through somewhat of a rough time mentally and for whatever reason, digging up KH2 and beating it yanked me out of it. I think it was just cause it’s a lighthearted setting that you can sink your teeth into and focus on it if you want to. And if you don’t, you can just hit stuff with the keyblade. It was the first time I’d ever actually finished the game since it came out when I was in high school.
I immediately started up a new file in Critical Mode and just… didn’t have it in me. I’m thinking I’m getting geared up to give it another shot though… Got any tips?? I want this to be something I’m really good at, cause when you’re good at this game you’re good.
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Maybe!! I’m not very knowledgeable about the systems in this one, so I might give some objectively bad advice lol, but I can certainly tell you what’s worked for me so far.
The biggest things keeping me alive are using potions (don’t bother saving them); paying close attention to enemy attack patterns, guarding where possible; using reaction commands constantly, especially for crowd control; and using Drive Forms when I’m out of MP or low on HP. If a situation seems too unpredictable I try to get some distance and pelt enemies with Blizzard for a bit, maybe pick a couple off if I can. Oh, and keep on the lookout for ways to extend air combos, as it not only leads to more single-target damage, but often keeps you safe when fighting crowds of grounded enemies.
Coincidentally I was spiraling out pretty bad the night I started playing. And for as silly as it sounds, it was the only thing that helped me sleep lol. It just felt nice to play something familiar and made with care.
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After dropping it a couple of years ago, I have gone back to Samurai Western on the PS2. It didn’t click with me before but I wanted it to. It is an Acquire game after all.
I happened to see these videos recently which reignited my interest in it. Using the dodge near constantly hadn’t occurred to me. Seeing these videos reminded me that this is an Acquire game and those sometimes require off beat ways of playing. I.e. in Kamiwaza, you need to be using the thief dodge steal move constantly.
So now I’m dodging constantly and levelling up faster. I’ve got dual katanas and am running rings round fools. GOOD GAME.
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And it’s better. I tried to play the first Gears and It felt incredibly clunky to control the character. Vanquish in that sense has a quickness and a freedom I never experienced in any FPS of their generation (and outside of it, it’s on par with games like DMC3). Not like Gears doesn’t have good things that haven’t aged, but more like Platinum did an oustanding job.
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When both my sisters get into a game, I know it will be a good time. I bought 80 Days and just finished a first run. First, 80 days? Let’s call my run 108 days!
The visual novel style of the dialogue feels nice. It’s not quite roleplaying but cooperative storytelling. Many of the choices have to do with declaring the relevant details on the scene, like wherther A or B is the dominant detail of the scene. I’ve always liked that element of roleplaying games, where one may add narrative elements in addition to character actions.
Spoilers from here:
My route was too uneven to be expeditious. I only got to Suez on day 19, and then went to Bombay. I tried to find a southern route, but ended up in Yokohama. Having to wait a week for 4000 pounds arguably doomed me; leading a failed mutiny when our ship was diverted from San Francisco to Honolulu definitely did. After that, I ended up going through South America, then from Buenos Aires to Dakkar, and north from there.
Seeing the emergent narrative elements was pretty cool. The artificers are an intriguing novel element: artificial creatures that have a subtle but substantial influence on events. There are also lots of airships, pirates, and other cool technology. But it doesn’t ever feel like stereotypical steampunk. There aren’t people with gears popping out of their head.
I want to play it another time or two before I dig into the next game the developers made, Pendragon.
ETA: Cracked it! Had a much quicker second run, despite some setbacks.
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I loved 80 Days! This is a great after action report too. I loved the Jules Verne book as a kid, but more than that, the idea of a race around the world is such fertile ground for making a game that I’ve always wanted to see more of. The time management portion of it really shines, and I always wish they expanded even further with that idea.
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On top of Shadow of the Erdtree (you know what it is. From Soft sure has done it again) I’ve been playing some Until Then.
Wonderful pixel art, very vibes-y, great music.
Some of my favorite things!
My girlfriend said it reminded her of Life Is Strange and when I started to think about I thought she might be right.
High school drama and magical realism.
I don’t think anyone has super powers, could be wrong though.
I think those games are pretty annoying, but i do like to watch people play them, though i think the writing is very, very silly.
I think my biggest problem with Life Is Strange is that you play it.
Until Then (at least so far) is essentially a visual novel; meaning the player exists to experience a story, not to make the story happen if that makes sense.
There are tiny little minigames here and there, but they don’t actually matter; they seem to be there only to make you feel like you exist in the world.
I’m not very far into it, but so far it feels a bit like a Makoto Shinkai film and I’m into that.
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I have a big old list of stuff I want to get through, so of course I perused the PS store and ended up buying Ys Origin. My Ys experience is the I&II thing on steam (where you bump into guys to attack) and Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana. Interesting to see that this is somewhere in between the two, a more simplistic setup and story but feels a bit more modern as a hack n slash jrpg.
I played for a couple hours as Yunica last night and will keep going. It looks short. Sometimes it’s nice to just turn a game on and start killing little guys.
Also, I beat Metroid Zero Mission on NSO in a few sessions. Y’all know this Metroid series is kinda cool?
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Took a break from Elden Ring, still a bit from the DLC (level 100, so there’s 2 Mohgs….) and played a bit of Paratropic before bed. It’s a short walking indie with cool graphics but not much story and many long boring sections stitching things together. Playing at my bedtime was not a good idea so will try it again since it put me right to sleep from what I played. I feel obligated to give it another go but from what I experienced there does not seem to be much there.
Have not burned out on Elden Ring yet but may dabble in some shorter Switch/GB games to shake things up this week. There’s a few longer games calling to me but not sure how I feel about juggling ER with another lengthy RPG. FFVII could work fine since it’s turn based and story heavy. The other games I’m looking at are more action oriented which may be an even worse complement to ER.
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It’s been hard to find time to play video games as of late. Between traveling, house projects, and making an honest effort to stay healthy and exercise, there just doesn’t seem to be enough time to sit down and game. The only thing I’ve really been able to play for the last little bit has been the GBA Fire Emblem game. You know the one, the fist fire emblem that dropped in NA. I’ve previously played all the 3DS Fire Emblems, and honestly, this might be my favorite one. Partly because I’m playing on my phone and I have save states, partly because it’s gorgeously animated. I think the real kicker is that this game has no fat at all. There’s no dating sim, there’s no base management, there’s no weird face rubbing mini game that I have to do to so my character has a weird future time travel baby with a particular party member that I really want on the squad. It’s a good ass game, I tell you what.
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For my dollar the peak of the actual in game aesthetic. I am hardly anti 3d but compared to like the switch resolution art in the new ones these GBA ones are just lovely.
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Some of the best pixel art/animation ever done, I’d dare say.
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Agreed. Engage came the closest with the animations and the menus/models in the Tellius games are excellent, but the overall aesthetic of the GBA games is still untouched. Speaking as someone who loves all of those games, even the ones where your characters put their kids in boxes for safe keeping where they age rapidly.
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like a dragon 8 is like… super long. i’ve been picking at it for MONTHS and i feel like i just hit a halfway or two-thirds point with it? i’m back in japan with kiryu as my main character which is a fun lil twist i didn’t expect. no clue what is to come but it feels like there’s a huge chunk left and i’m like 60 hours in.
i kinda want to get back into elden ring now that it’s buzzy again, after this – i also played that for 60 hours a while back but got kinda burned out cuz i was going HARD in it, but still never even beat the second main dungeon/boss in Lakeside Community College or whatever. maybe i’ll actually get thru the whole dang thing next time and maybe maybe even purchase that dlc if the main game doesn’t get me all fizzled again
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Lakeland Community College is what it’s called, actually.
The one in Ohio.
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