What game are you wasting time on?

[samuraigaiden]

So beat Prey 2017. It's good, very good. Disappointed that it wasn't even better. It gets that close to being as good as the best games ever, but it lets it go in the last chunk of the game IMO. I was hoping they would turn the game on it's head in the end with a Half Life style WTF moment, and I guess they sorta do that but not as well as I hoped. I'm itching to replay it, and I rarely replay games, so that says a lot. It's very good.

After that I watched a 3 hour long review of The Last of Us and it made want to finally play Another World, which I did. It's something, that game. It's super impressive considering it came out in 1991. But it also may be the original seed of all gaming decline. I don't think it took me 3 hours to complete Another World, but I did look up a solution to a couple of screens on a FAQ because I ain't got the time to bang my head against the wall like I used to.

Now I'm playing IGI 2: Covert Strike. It's a jank ass early 2000s stealth-focused faux tactical FPS. I say faux tactical because there is no team and no strategy or tactic other than stealth seems to work, so calling the single-player missions tactical feels somewhat deceiving. It's one of those games you have to die on a mission 4 or 5 times (at least) before figuring out exactly how to pull it off perfectly and than do the entire mission in one go and make it look easy. Or you can pick easy mode and pretend your name is John Rambo. I'm on mission 3, playing Hard mode. I love it.

BTW, Gothic is a masterpiece. I love how it repopulates the areas with wild life but doesn't remove what you didn't kill, so if you neglect an area early on by the later chapters it's infested with beasts beyond reasonable. The first chapter is the longest by far, second only to the amount of time you might wanna dedicate to fucking around in the last chapter before tackling the Sleeper. Oh, and how did you deal with Mud, octavius ?

 

[octavius]

Oh, and how did you deal with Mud, octavius ?

I gave him a good thrashing, and stole his lunch money.

EDIT: In the remake I wouldn't be surprised if you will be able to sodomize him (if he consents).

 

[baud]

I've finished Halo Reach's campaign and I found the last two levels to be pretty underwhelming. I don't know if that's because I grew bored with it or the devs had run out of idea to make those levels interesting or at least fun to play.

I've continued with Halo 1, and I've just finished the level where the flood first appear. Even if there's less weapon variety, at least this time around the assault rifle isn't useless. The weapons also seem more powerful or at least the elites are less bullet-spongy. Also there's a lot more grenades this time (and more carrying capacity for them), so it's another point in Halo 1's favor.

Some of the level design is pretty boring (copy-pasted rooms and corridors, so much the devs added arrows to indicate which way forward), but the firefights are usually fun enough and being able to clobber sleeping grunts before they wake up is nice. The ambiance in the last level I've played (Guilty Spark) is very well done and for once the long corridors help ratchet the tension until the flood is revealed.

I also played some rounds of multiplayer and it was a shameful display on my part.

The fact that it runs quite well on my aging laptop is good too, I'm in no hurry to upgrade yet. Though I'm more worried about Halo 2, since that remaster was for Xbox one rather than the 360, so it might be too much.


I finally finished Rance 6, including the post game dungeons and bosses, but when I realized how much grinding there was I fired up the cheat engine and got as many stats-increasing items I needed. I've quite enjoyed the dungeon crawling, the story parts (when not focused on Rance) are interesting enough and there's a nice story escalation throughout the game.

 

[Ash]

Spoiler

Pandemonium on PS1 (1996)

The rich levels and varied gameplay gimmicks are solid value already, but the visuals are even more impressive: the camera often pans back during high jumps and floating segments to reveal absolutely gorgeous backgrounds with a striking feeling of verticality and gigantism.

As a general rule I'm pretty numb to retardo / cartoon games so this was part of an attempt to force myself through Mario and other retro platformers. I went in with no expectations (only vaguely dabbing into it on PC decades ago) and was completely blindsided by how good it is.

Isn't Pandemonium a 2.5D game? As in, the graphics are 3D but the gameplay is 2D.

If you want I can recommend you a variety of great platformers.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Oh, and how did you deal with Mud, octavius ?

I gave him a good thrashing, and stole his lunch money.

EDIT: In the remake I wouldn't be surprised if you will be able to sodomize him (if he consents).

Nobody skips on thrashing the bastard. Nobody.

 

[JDR13]

Oh, and how did you deal with Mud, octavius ?

I gave him a good thrashing, and stole his lunch money.

EDIT: In the remake I wouldn't be surprised if you will be able to sodomize him (if he consents).

Nobody skips on thrashing the bastard. Nobody.

I've made Mud my bitch on multiple occasions.

 

[AArmanFV]

Playing Megaman 11 on switch in short sessions (since is a short game), the level design in general is very gimmicky like I would expect from a modern platformer, but it's okay and doesn't abuse with it, the level of Bounceman was the most boring one so far. The bosses are easy like always (since the mega buster) once the pattern is learned. Until now I think is a decent revival of the blue bomber I guess, knowing it was made in the house if I'm not wrong.

Also, is good to see that the double gear mechanic is almost optional, it would have been in my opinion a poor design choice to make parts of the levels with mandatory use of it just to justify it.

 

[Citizen]

Risk of Rain 2 is extremely addictive, I've been playing it with a bro non-stop for the last few days. It's very fast paced and makes you always race against the clock because the world slowly grows in difficulty in time, so you are always running and trying to optimize your farm to keep up in power with the enemies. The amount of content to open is ludicrous, I've been playing for a week and still haven't opened two characters and half of the items and alternate character skills

Multiplayer adds yet another layer of hilariousness by making you plan your builds on the fly and constantly argue and brainstorm who should get which items

 

[Ash]

If you want I can recommend you a variety of great platformers.

I would be an idiot to say no to that.

I'm only including what I consider must-plays to get you started. Criteria for platformer is that platforming has to be a primary gameplay element (determined by the frequency in which it is engaged in).

2D Platformers:

Super Mario Bros 3 (this is the best mario game bar none. Forget the rest. It's so damn solid)
Earthworm Jim
Jazz Jackrabbit
Donkey Kong Country
Donkey Kong Country 2
Sonic 2 (it's not mindblowing, but a solid classic of the genre nonetheless and we need at least one sega exclusive here)

Metroidvania:

Hollow Knight
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
Castlevania: Circle of the Moon
Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin
Castlevania: Order of Eclessia
Blasphemous
Salt & Sanctuary

Local CO-OP Platformers (Girlfriend Games):

Spelunky
Lara Croft: Temple of Osiris
Lara Croft: Guardian of Light
Kirby Superstar

3D Platformers:

None are must-plays. Serious. In my experience they all have their major drawbacks. Tomb Raider has mediocre combat. Spyro The Dragon is a little easy. Crash Bandicoot is a little too linear and has some shitty minigames. But nonetheless, these are my favourite 3D platformers and I think they are well worth playing if you can overcome their shortcomings:

Tomb Raider
Tomb Raider 2
Spyro the Dragon
Crash Bandicoot: The wrath of Cortex (Possibly the best one in the series).
Dying Light (I lied. this is the one must-play. Platforming is the highlight here even if there's lots of combat, and it's fucking great).
Prince of Persia: Sands of Time

There are still many 3D platformers I've yet to play, moreso than 2D, so don't consider me any kind of authority on them. I have played quite a few though and rather a lot are kinda shit. I think Mario 64 has to be one of the most overrated games of all time. The camera isn't so good. Mario controls like shit. The level design is not up to par. The art style makes my eyes bleed and the noises Mario makes is just too much. I'm also not quite sure what people see in Psychonauts.

Good platformers with potential drawbacks or just isn't amazing:

Examples would be Super Meat Boy (it's solid but nothing special), Mirror's Edge (Good but not great). Should you get into platformers ask again and I'll take the time to write up the rest of what I recommend.

 

[Citizen]

3D Platformers:

None are must-plays. Serious.

Rayman 2 and 3 are MASTAPIECES, BABY. Atmospheric worlds, nice controls, fun characters, charming visuals

Mario 64/Sunshine/Galaxy are cool too, love their precise snappy controls and light-hearted setting

Turok is a fucking genius 300iq game with an outstanding level design, a bastard child of a fast paced oldskool FPS and a 3d platformer that switches the classic run-n-gun formula for a mind blowing jump-n-gun, requiring you to make precise headshot no-scopes as you jump from platform to platform

Also honourable mentions for Alice: Madness Returns and De Blob

 

[Ash]

I never did play Rayman series. Maybe it's time I rectify that. Mario 64 is shit, sorry. Turok (and Turok 2) is indeed high IQ connoisseur game, but its platforming is not quite as frequent as its combat. Some levels have tons of platforming, some levels only have some. I was trying to stay away from recommending hybrids as much as I could and focus on clear-cut platformers, otherwise the list would be endless. Would have to include stealth games like Thief/Tenchu/Sekiro, Shooters like Duke Nukem 3D/Half-Life/Turok, Hack and Slash like Ninja Gaiden and DMC, and so on and on.

 

[agentorange]

Not sure what your criteria is for judging a platformer, but as far as pure platforming depth nothing comes close to Mario 64. Once you master the mechanics the amount of possibilities for movement and different ways to navigate every level is tremendous.

 

[pakoito]

3D Platformers:

A Hat in Time is a modern classic. Worth playing. So joyful. Mario64 and Mario Odyssey are good too.

 

[PulsatingBrain]

Super Castlevania 4 is by far my favourite platformer, and I still play it every once in a while.

Also dat music

 

[Abu Antar]

Do you like Rayman games? Play this!
https://gamejolt.com/games/raymanredemption/340532

 

[d1r]

Not sure what your criteria is for judging a platformer, but as far as pure platforming depth nothing comes close to Mario 64. Once you master the mechanics the amount of possibilities for movement and different ways to navigate every level is tremendous.

Those half-button A presses, eh?

 

[Azalin]

If you want I can recommend you a variety of great platformers.

I would be an idiot to say no to that.

I'm only including what I consider must-plays to get you started. Criteria for platformer is that platforming has to be a primary gameplay element (determined by the frequency in which it is engaged in).

2D Platformers:

Super Mario Bros 3 (this is the best mario game bar none. Forget the rest. It's so damn solid)
Earthworm Jim
Jazz Jackrabbit
Donkey Kong Country
Donkey Kong Country 2
Sonic 2 (it's not mindblowing, but a solid classic of the genre nonetheless and we need at least one sega exclusive here)

No Super Mario World which might be the best off time?

Also you might want to try some of the Megaman games from the classic era like X 1-2-3

Oh and if you want to try 8-16 bit era Metroidvania don't forget the games that started the genre,the Metroid series

 

[Jvegi]

Rayman 2 and 3 are MASTAPIECES, BABY.

FTFY.

A bit of Diablo 2, I came back to KOTC1 and I can play league again after upgrading my PC, so I'll be checking Legends of Runeterra probably.

 

[Rahdulan]

Finished Skyhill a few days back.

As you set out on a 100 floor descent in order to escape from the hotel as that entire place is now infested with mutants of unknown origin, you quickly discover Skyhill is quite lacking in the variety department. No matter how many weapons dependent on upgradable stats you find, or how much food you gobble and cook to stay satiated, each floor is exactly the same with two rooms and stairway there for you to scavenge through. Taking turns with the uglies in combat is on the simple side as well. There's nothing really WRONG with the game so I can't fault it, but keep in mind there's little here after those initial few runs and you have a better grip on how to build your character. This is one of those titles where you are expected to die and learn from experience. There's just very little reason to replay Skyhill and even multiple endings do little to alleviate that fact. Some crowdfunding plans like multiple playable characters were also scrapped along the way and you can tell mobile-oriented design drove game development. Makes me wonder if the sequel, which seems to branch out beyond "point and click on rooms", but still sticks to the same premise is an improvement or not.

 

[samuraigaiden]

My two cents on 2D platformers:

Donkey Kong '94 is the missing link between 2D and 3D Mario and is one of the best games of all time most people haven't played.

Mega Man 2 is the best action platformer on the NES. I'm shocked nobody recommended it yet.

Super Metroid is where all the Metroidvania nonsense begins, but Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is what made it popular.

Castlevania: Rondo of Blood is the best Classicvania. Bloodlines and Super Castlevania IV are the easiest ones.

Hagane. Not even sure what to say about it. Amazing, tough as nails, a must play.

 

[HansDampf]

All Stars ruins the physics of SMB1 and SMB2J.

 

[whydoibother]

All the noise around Last of Us 2 got me to replay Spec Ops: The Line. Its still a slightly above average, and pretty well paced. Got it done in 3 lazy evenings. Its on sale right now on Steam too.

 

[AArmanFV]

3D Platformers:

Crash Bandicoot: The wrath of Cortex (Possibly the best one in the series).

 

[octavius]

Great WTF?!? moment in Gothic when I returned to the Old Camp and found the gates barred and an angry mob outside.

But the Free Mine is decline so far, with Gorn turning hostile (and the game turning him invincible is lame) and Wolf never getting enough of those Minecrawler plates. Can't he just bloody tell me how many he needs?

 

[Ash]

No Super Mario World which might be the best off time?

Fake news. The decline is real. They removed a lot of good features from SMB3 in SMW, for example the inventory system and the complexity of the overworld. The graphics are cutesy and suck. The level design is weaker. And worst of all Mario controls like he has ice skates. SMB3 is the one true great mario game.