I remember the first time I cried because of the events of a video game.
Final Fantasy 7. Aerith’s death scene.
Up to that point, you’re given several romance options between her and Tifa and I basically friend-zoned Tifa and was pursuing Aerith. So when Sephiroth murders her out of nowhere, it was like he really murdered my girlfriend. FWIW, the game came out when I was 12 and I was probably 13 or 14 when I actually got to own a copy and play through the whole thing.
The most latest game, tho, that hits hard is Cyberpunk 2077. The overall main plot is just a mashup of cyberpunk films like Johnny Mnemonic, Strange Days, 6th Day, 5th Element, Dredd, etc; but the side stories with the main characters are where the real beauty lies. Shit had me choked up like every time there was a lengthy bit of dialogue. The reason your character is dying might be goofy, but the way they portray someone who knows they are going to die is pretty fucking good. And the unique thing is that it’s you. Your own character, not some other character you’re just meant to empathize with.
I have major issues with this game’s battling system. The original game’s combat is pretty complex but it is well balanced with 6 different stats, types, abilities, etc. Pokemon go simplifies it into type advantages and a number (CP). CP is more affected by atk than def and hp. This (amongst other things) trivializes def and hp stats.
I was hopeful that they would rework this with pvp but they didn’t. Instead they tried to copy the Smogon tiers (the different leagues) but somehow made the original combat which requires a lot of strategy to a dumb tap fast to win combat.
I used to play Pokemon Go a lot till covid and I kept hoping for better updates and new mechanics (I even theorized how they could translate the turn based combat to real time) but it seemwd they didn’t want to make it anymore than what it was so I quit.
Things like C&C. If you know current ones, let me know. I didn’t really research anymore. Most of what I’ve seen in the past had some random new spin on it.
Friend of mine just released Terrytorial Disputes. Not exactly C&C, but heavily inspired with a mix of tower defense. It’s got a free demo if you want to check it out
I realize this is getting hyper-specific, but party-based dungeon crawlers that are true 3d and not grid-oriented. Really, the only example aside from Wizardry 8 (that I’m scared to try because it looks like way too much effort and investment for a not-great return) is the Might and Magic series circa Win95, and specifically 6, 7, and 8, all built off the same, almost pseudo-3D engine. I can’t put my finger on it, but there’s something very satisfying for me in that gameplay loop of clearing out dungeons via potshots and backpedaling, selling the loot to level and train your party, and moving on to the next one. The push and pull of skirting groups of enemies so they don’t take swipes at you when they get too close, the thrill of picking up fireball from the advanced magic shop and just nuking low-level mooks, the ecstasy of learning town portal and Lloyd’s beacon and never having to think about travel again.
I think part of the reason these games don’t really get made anymore is that they were always kind of a weird middle ground between first person Action-Adventure-RPGs and top down party-based TTRPG engines, and those genres are fully expressed today by a number of games.
Kind of - the customization options run a little deeper in M&M. You could pick up 6, 7, and 8 for less than $30 on GOG. $10 at most for the pack that includes 1-6, and I’d say of those three, 6 offers the best experience.
Un-skippable cutscenes or tutorials. This really hampers replayability of missions/quests, or even entire games in general.
Artificially limited customization in order to sell more via micro-transactions.
Time-gated features. I hate it when games require a certain amount of in-game time before some things are unlocked.
Pay-to-win in multiplayer games. Preventing or limiting progression with ability to bypass it with a purchase is just gross. If you want to go F2P, do it all the way. I’m fine with for-purchase cosmetics, but getting a leg up on fellow players if you can afford it is just bad.
Love:
Don’t have anything specific. Anything that sucks me into the game.
The junction system in Final Fantasy VIII. The magic system is based on the amount of spells you have left in an inventory and you can also equip them to your character’s stats. If you don’t take the time to acquaint yourself with the system your stats will take a dive because you’re casting spells like in a more traditional game. The upside to this is if you hoard enough spells and equip them to the right stats you can be unstoppable since early game.
I really love Anno for this, 1800 is the only one I have played and I think it’s an amazing game. The base game on its own has tons of content already but the dlc’s add whole new regions and lots of supply chians to the game. It’s a bit of a crossover between a city builder and a supply chain simulator, where the majority of the game is based on providing the needs for your residents. It’s on sale very often, including the dlc’s.
If you were to get it, I recommend getting the dlc’s, maybe after a playthrough of the base game. If you wanna know what dlc’s to get, you can check out these videos:
I would consider them a few different genres, but they are easily my favourite types of games these days. I cateogrize them in my steam list as below.
-Colony Builders: Games about building well, a colony, often from little to nothing. Often lots of You vs Environment friction, with the natural world. Tends to have a bit more focus on the individuals that comprise the colony. Examples: Rimworld (my favourite game of all time), Dwarf Fortress, Oxygen Not Included, Stranded Alien Dawn, Space Haven.
-City Builders: A bit broader in scope than a colony builder, working more on the macro level. Friction is often economic, sometimes adjusted with the natural world. Cities Skylines is kind of the prime exampe of this, but also games like Timberborn or Anno.
-Automation: Games about building a factory that…builds things automatically. Challenge tends to be logistical complexity but some games do feature combat as well. Factorio, Dyson Sphere Program (my personal favourite), Satisfactory, and Captain of Industry are the Four Horsemen of this genre to me. Techtonica is very early still but seems to have some promise as well.
For many of these games, there is a whole world of content to explore if you are interested in mods. Rimworld players regularly run hundreds of mods, my current game has about 350. Factorio has extensive overhaul mods that can take literally thousands of hours to finish in some cases (Py’s). Satisfactory has a surprisingly robust mod scene for an early access game too.
I see a pattern of games mentioned here! What do you call games like theme hospital? I’d love to skim a few recommendations for these kind of games that let you hire different employees to run parts of your business.
I love when games use as few invisible walls as possible, and don’t stop you from exploring weird places or even out of bounds. There doesn’t even have to be a reward, just the feeling of getting somewhere where you’re not supposed to be is enough. Ultrakill and Anodyne 2 both do this really well.
I also love rich, responsive, low-restriction movement mechanics, which kinda ties in with the first point. I love when games let me chain all sorts of moves together for wild bullshit midair acrobatics, zipping and bouncing and flinging myself all over the place constantly. Good examples are Ultrakill, Pseudoregalia, Sally Can’t Sleep, and Cruelty Squad. On the flipside, Demon Turf is a game I hated and dropped quickly because of how artificially and pointlessly limited the movement felt.
You might like the Serious Sam games. The developers didn’t really bother with invisible walls and so on most levels you can go in any direction until either the level geometry prevents you or until you reach the point where the developers finally gave a shit and put an invisible wall. It even rewards you for this on quite a few levels with some really well hidden secret goodies.
Starting with what I dislike: collectibles (or pickup upgrades). They spread these out over the levels and I find myself scouring the map to see if i didn’t miss anything. It ruins the pacing of the game. Some examples of my recent plays that do this are the Last of Us games and the Mass Effect trilogy. If the game is build around exploring your surroundings, it’s a different story of course.
What I really like in games is character building and i love it when a character improves depending on your playstyle. A very solid example is Skyrim’s leveling system. It just feels more organic.
bin.pol.social
Ważne