Just found the tower defense game and the sokoban game. Losing my mind
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Just tried this one out! It rules. I managed to clear the first scenario after four or five near-wins. Definitely has its hooks in me, but honestly it might be too hard for me to clear all the scenarios lol. I just really struggle to make those first ten or so nights count without playing overaggressively and getting the party shut down.
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I’ve played at least a little bit of everything besides Night Manor. I’m saving that for a spooky October playthrough.
Since I’ve been sick, I’ve been able to put way more time into this game than I would be able to otherwise. Here are my 16 most played, which generally coincides with what I’ve been vibing with the most -
- Party House
- Mooncat
- Overbold
- Valbrace
- Lords of Disconia
- Kick Club
- Pingolf
- Devilition
- Quibble Race
- Planet Zoldath
- Attactics
- Golfaria
- Warptank
- Hot Foot
- Rail Heist
- Mini & Max
I think I’ve seen UFO 50 described as a “game for game designers” in the vein of like a musician for musicians, and I’m here for it because it’s an extremely inspirational and rewarding package as both a player and someone who is interested in game design. I got a cool idea for a game while doing the dishes today.
It would be cool if a lasting “Tetris effect” of this game is being able to imagine innovative new game ideas out of the blue.
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The super secret metagame elements, which I will not spoil, are very cute and rewarding to dig through.
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I’ve been keeping myself in the dark about the metagame stuff, save for the bits that are posted here, but I still haven’t seen anything pointing towards any of it. Though I do like how just reading names in credits over a series of games gives a little feel to people. Seems like many folks wore all different hats in the development. Like Thorson Petter’s name generally shows up for making music but it’s nothing to see him be director. Tiny spoiler: I thought it was a neat and slight bummer of a touch that in a game about death and sacrifice called Mortol, in the credits was written “In memory of Melda Smolski.”
It took me a bit, but I got the cherry disk for Mortol.
Here's some interactions that took me a while to figure out if anyone wants hints:
- In water, hold the jump button to swim up. Don’t tap it.
- Drowning in water creates a platform from your corpse.
- Setting yourself on fire and arrowing into the mouths of the dragon head statues(the ones that spit out flying bugs) kills them.
- The vine plants that shoot spores can be an effective weapon, catching the spores then running into a pack of enemies is a great way to clear them out.
- Water removes not just fire, but the vine plant spores as well.
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I was all set to start playing this not long after it came out, but then I became riddled with the novel coronavirus (solidarity @Gemstonez) and instead enjoyed some vicarious play through this thread.
Now that I think I’m on the other side of okay with covid, I’ve started messing around.
I started with Pilot Quest, because I saw at least three people say to do that because it’s an idle game. This one seems okay! I’ve been making bits of progress in between other stuff. Collected my first ship piece.
After Pilot Quest, I decided I would use random.org to decide my next game. It rolled 37: Valbrace. This game is an interesting experiment in making something kinda bad on purpose. Which is to say, the description mentions that the “original” came with a detailed hint book, and we don’t get that, so the game is extremely opaque. And it’s true that RPGs of this era were opaque, but I actually play a lot of those, and some of those are way more up-front with information than Valbrace is.
I’m swinging around the rapier right now just because it “feels” the strongest. I’ve played it for a few hours. Wish I had some save states because the floors are massive and there’s no way to save except making it to the next one. I didn’t even understand how to level up for the first like hour and a half. I died several times before I ever leveled up!
I like playing Valbrace but I wish it weren’t quite so difficult and I especially wish that it shared more information with the player. A manual would have been very nice to have. In the actual world I would have searched out a scan of that hint book.
After losing all my progress on floor 3 actual steps from the stairs down, I decided to try another game, and rolled 10: Devilition. I only played this for a few minutes. I am not in a good state to keep the chain reaction in mind. Cleared a couple levels. Kinda reminds me of something you could make in RPG maker (positive).
No sign of the meta game. Waiting to happen into that somewhat organically.
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I have not yet played any of this, but I keep reading the thread title as “Top 50 games of UFO 50” and it tickles me.
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what a great way to wake up while drinking a cup of coffee
i haven’t played everything in the first two rows and haven’t gone beyond that point, but i love this a lot (and i didn’t even grow up with this era of gaming)
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The enjoyment continues. I’ve been bouncing around and checking out games. I’ve played about half. I’ve made a habit of checking in on the terminal and got a secret message!
Also, these games are challenging!
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You can use ‘profile’ settings in the game library to change the background. One of them even changes the library BGM.
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I’ve tried a little over half the games, and these are the ones I’ve beaten:
- The Big Bell Race
- Camouflage (my only cherry disk)
- Combatants
- Devilition
- Pilot Quest
A few other favorites so far:
- Bug Hunter
- Magic Garden
- Mooncat
- Rock On Island
- Seaside Drive
It’s sometimes frustrating but also fun that many of the games seem impenetrable at first and I have no idea what to do.
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Found my first terminal code today in the credits of Pingolf:
At the end of the credits the words “Star Ball” appeared. Tried it and sure enough it was a code. When you enter the code it fires up Pingolf and lets you select between Pilot or Waldorf as your Pingolfer. Still no inkling on any of the meta stuff though.
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Got credits on Pilot Quest, but I’m still playing it because it looks like there’s a little more and I will play idle games compulsively.
Still plugging away at Valbrace. On the fifth floor now. Every time I die in this game I want to never play it again, but then I end up playing it again.
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Don’t have a screenshot at the moment, but:
If you idle on the library screen for a few, an attract mode will begin that plays a series of clips from the games (probably taken from those games’ own attract modes.) However, at least one of these is something I don’t recognize after playing through both the 50 titles and what I’ve seen of the Mysteries. Red curtains framing the left and right of the screen, player is some kind of creature that can only move by hopping and the stage is a checkerboard strip of enemies and spikes. Isometric perspective like Zaxxon. Anyone seen this?
-edit- actually it’s just a bonus stage I hadn’t seen from Elfazar’s Hat
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Incredible, someone’s uncovered music from what seems to be a cancelled Mooncat NES port. The LX2’s sound was clearly superior but I gotta say the arrangement for the 2a03 is sublime.
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What is going on in the garden? It seemed quaint during my few initial glances, but upon further inspection it turns out it’s a hotbed of depravity. The little piggy character was meandering about the lawn doing cutesy stuff like using a watering can and hitting a golf ball, then she wandered inside and things took a bit of a dark turn. She had a thought bubble pop up with a poo symbol and I thought, “I wonder how this plays out there’s no toilet in sight.” She then wanders out into the middle of the lawn, squats and produces the most gargantuan number two in all of history. She then walks over to the pond, starts fishing and immediately catches a huge bass. I thought that was neat for a second, until she proceeds to scarf the entire, raw thing in one motion.
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Got credits on Valbrace! Man, that was difficult. Thankfully I got good enough at the combat that I managed to beat the final boss on the first try. Would have been devastating if I had to do all that again. The combat is super fun, even if it’s a little more punishing than I would personally like. It’s not so hard to not get hit, but when you do, oof.
Prestiged in Pilot Quest again. You can really speedrun it once you know the general layout of the planet, although I noticed that some paths were blocked off that weren’t open before.
Next game I rolled was #9: Attactics. I don’t think I like this game very much but it’s inoffensive enough. I got to level 8 before I kept getting overwhelmed and didn’t understand what I could be doing better.
Next, I rolled #8 (what are the odds of rolling 10 and then 9 and then 8?): Planet Zoldath. I really like this one. I have not had a successful run, but I really enjoy trying. The way it makes me react to stuff reminds me of how people who are good at randomizers seem like they react to stuff. Like, “oh! that item is there this time” that means this and this.
After that, I rolled #30: Rock On! Island. I love tower defense, so this one is right up my alley. I’ve completed a few levels and I think this is the next one I want to get a gold cart for.
An unfortunate trend I’m starting to notice is that no matter what my thoughts are on a game, they always end “but I wish it were a little less difficult”.
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Got the cherry disk on Mini and Max. Loved it. Think I’m also nearing completion on Pilot Quest (?), so now I gotta choose another main game. There are currently thirty-three games I have yet to try lol.
Though I think before I dip into a new one I might finish Barbuta and get deeper into Divers. I really like Divers.
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I’ve started drawing and updating a map as I work through Barbuta, and I’ve gotta say it really adds to the experience. I might go back and make my map bigger for more detail! There’s a lot goin on in here!
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the larger games invite you to keep your own notes and draw your own maps, which is an underrated part of video gaming imo. Barbuta reminds me a little of playing the original La-Mulana release with a big raggedy binder full of graph paper and scribbles.
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