I’m long finished with this game (well, playing it at least, I’m still watching others play it) but these are great changes. Battle Retry is fantastic but this:
Autoplay Dialogue: Added an optional autoplay feature for dialogues outside cutscenes.
is also fantastic for an overall smoother experience. Was very noticeable in the (many) camp conversations where having to input “next” all the time made them feel very stilted. Especially jarring since the dialogue in actual cutscenes is so fluid.
It does actually kind of look like it, but doing it at Lemmy of all places sounds like a bizarre waste of money and time. Don’t think we’re big enough for those kinds of efforts?
It’s a weird one because it clearly has its flaws, and looking at it “objectively” it shouldn’t be a 10/10 game. But none of the flaws really affect the impact of the experience as an artwork, so it still feels like a 10/10. Does that make sense?
It’s rare to come across games that feel as much like a work of art as Clair Obscur does, especially in the AA+ budget space. It deserves the hype and the success they’ve had, and I really hope it ends up getting Game of the Year.
I’m excited to hear that! I also picked it up on the sale because it was outrageously cheap, but it’s not near the top of my backlog pile. Should probably rewatch the movies first too, whenever it gets time to play it.
I’m back on a NG+ run of Mandragora: Whispers of the Witch Tree. I had to take a break from the misery of Blasphemous. I might play both in parallel this week. I already missed out on the “true ending” of Blasphemous by not doing the DLC early apparently so now I need to decide if I can bother going for the “good ending” or just try to rush through the final area so I can get some credit rolling action and uninstall the game for good.
Mandragora has been fun though! NG+ could maybe use a balance pass perhaps, but it’s hard to tell with the amount of build variety. So far NG+ has felt more like a victory lap than a challenge, but I did go for a fairly greedy multiclass build so it really only came together towards the end of NG. And even then, the gameplay is fun enough and traversing these beautiful locations is fun enough that I don’t mind. And there is a certain ARPG style satisfaction in seeing your character grow in power and your build come to fruition. Easy free dopamine.
Additionally, so many games struggle with implementing evil choices or quest resolutions that are actually satisfying or at least interesting. For example, how many times have you seen an NPC ask for a favour and the Good option is “okay I’ll accept this sidequest” and the Evil is “fuck you, I’ll decline your side quest”? How many times does the Evil option just involve murder hobo-ing to the extent that you lose a ton of content because you kill off companions and quest givers?
Interesting, it’s my absolute favourite personally. I don’t hear many people dislike it.
On the subject of pixel art retro styled RPGs though I want to make a case for https://store.steampowered.com/app/1069160/SKALD_Against_the_Black_Priory/. It doesn’t have voice acting, but otherwise should satisfy your demands given you say you tolerate pixel art. It’s very short for an RPG (16-20h) but that also means it’s very concise, has no filler and no grinding. Should play well on a Steam Deck too. I played it back in January I think and had an absolute blast with it. Cool story and world building, fun somewhat simple combat. Very enjoyable.
EDIT: though there is some dice rolling in dialogue, so maybe that’s a no go.
No shame in enjoying a serving of slop every now and then. You can’t be expected to eat broccoli and celery all the time, sometimes you just need a burger.