Grangle1

Grangle1, 10 miesięcy temu

That’s the one thing I would really appreciate about Souls-likes: no RNG, less being forced to grind for better stats/gear, if I want to beat the challenge I have to improve my own skills and legit “git gud”, as they say. When you finally beat it, it feels so much more satisfying. So I appreciate the genre from a design standpoint. That said, the frustration of the hours to days it would take me to do that is enough to keep me from playing them myself. That, and the super-dark art and aesthetic of so many of them turns me off from them too. I prefer brighter, more colorful games.

Grangle1, 11 miesięcy temu

BotW and TotK are a very different type of game from OoT. As others have pointed out, there are a lot of environmental mechanics to learn as well as how to find and use different types of weapons due to weapon durability. It’s a much more open ended game than OoT where exploration is much more of a focus, whereas OoT is more story focused and has a more specific order to do things (which isn’t 100% set in stone, as the whole Spirit vs Shadow Temple debate proves) that’s still more straightforward than the newer games. I like both types of games, especially for both OoT and BotW/TotK being gaming masterpieces for their time, and the three of them are my top 3 Zelda games for sure. But if you don’t like one or more of them that’s perfectly fine. Not every game will appeal to everyone.

Grangle1, 11 miesięcy temu

Addiction, compulsion, whatever you want to call it, it’s well known a lot of games have mechanics intended to keep people playing a long time, and for some it can be a serious problem. I’ve had friends (yes, more than one) addicted to MMOs who would play for 48+ hours literally non-stop. That’s not healthy, especially if real life responsibilities and connections are being neglected for it. Skinner box mechanics can be as bad for players as loot box mechanics.

Grangle1, 11 miesięcy temu

It was rather surprising to see how much the following two games ret-conned from Apollo’s first game. Apollo’s back story was completely changed, the idea of jury/lay judge trials never went anywhere (ironically until the prequel series which takes place in the UK instead of Japan-erica - and I am aware it was shoehorned in AJ as Takumi advocating for jury trials in Japan), Apollo seeming to have a falling out with Phoenix off-screen then reconciling almost instantly, they just seemed to only carry over Apollo, Trucy and Klavier, and Trucy and Klavier didn’t even necessarily need Apollo to be there to be relevant. Fortunately the ret-cons worked out for the better for his character. I would imagine any future AA7 will feature at least one case in his office in Khura’in, and Athena will take over Apollo’s former role as Phoenix’s main protege/successor.

Grangle1, 11 miesięcy temu

Nintendo understanding this market is a big part of how they’ve been outselling MS and Sony in the Wii and Switch generations despite being behind on hardware power.

Grangle1, 11 miesięcy temu

Heck, a Roku Streaming Stick is enough for me in that regard and many smart TVs have that stuff built into them by now.

Grangle1, 11 miesięcy temu

Sure, people with crappy broadband could play… At something like N64-level settings and slideshow frames per second, even with “last-gen” games. Granted, streaming an entire game is more of a load on bandwidth than cloud hybrid or patches, but if it was really feasible for the masses even a year ago, Stadia might still be up today, but it’s already gone. I would still rather be able to play a game I own on console without needing a persistent connection to play, as a cloud hybrid game may require. If there is still the option to play the game offline at lower settings, that wouldn’t be so bad, but then you just know that M$ will be looking to monetize the cloud hybrid option: “play at full settings online for only $— per month!”

Grangle1, 11 miesięcy temu

CivilizationEx does lore series on a lot of different pop culture sci-fi/fantasy properties, basically histories from beginning through the latest entries. There’s series on Star Trek, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, The Witcher, Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones, and more.

A popular poke-tuber I watch who goes into interesting deep dives on the origins and inspirations for various things in Pokemon is Lockstin & Gnoggin, though I think he can go a bit too far down the rabbit hole on those origins/inspirations from time to time.

Grangle1, 11 miesięcy temu

Did something unusual for me and picked up the Pokemon DLC and started it before finishing Tears of the Kingdom. Needed a break from TotK for a while anyway. Since it’s only been out a couple days I don’t think I’ve gotten too incredibly far into it, but it’s still good ol’ Pokemon fun so far. I just really wish Game Freak would put more effort into fixing the optimization (if they can) because almost a year in it still chugs in places it really shouldn’t.

Grangle1, 11 miesięcy temu

Probably not gonna happen this time, but I predict an announcement early next year for release within the year.

Grangle1, 11 miesięcy temu

I think instead of a new 3D Mario right away we’ll get a port of Wonder, especially if it’s not backwards compatible. If that’s the case, that BotW demo they supposedly showed off at Gamescom may be a hint at a BotW port, though why they would port BotW instead of TotK at this point would be beyond me, especially when BotW was a launch title for their previous console. A different Zelda remake may be a good bet, like an HD/4K version of one of the N64 Zeldas. I still think the new F-Zero may be saved as a launch title for the new console to show off the new hardware. Either way, they need a solid, brand new entry in one of their big franchises or something new and original (a “killer app”) to promote immediate adoption, especially if they’re apparently releasing so many good games to sunset their previous console. They can’t make the same mistakes in the launch lineup that they did with consoles like the GameCube and Wii U.

Grangle1, rok temu

My initial thought reading it was “spiritual sequel to Glover?” but this is definitely not that. As you said more like the Addams Family’s Thing. Kinda creepy in a way.

Grangle1, rok temu

If it is F-Zero, and it is true that Nintendo showed off their new hardware at Gamescom, I wouldn’t be surprised if the new F-Zero game is a launch title for the new console. F-Zero would make a good title to show off improved graphical and processing power, especially if the new console is supposed to keep up with the Xbox Series/PS5.

Grangle1, rok temu

Still working on preparing for the “final push” in TotK, didn’t play a whole lot again this week. When you only have around 25 shrines to go, finding them on a map that big without a guide can get really tedious, especially when most of the ones I’m finding now are in caves. They really like putting them in caves in this game, I’m noticing.

I may also start up one of the strategy RPGs I bought in Steam’s little strategy game sale the other week. I bought a bundle that includes Symphony of War, Dark Deity and Tyrant’s Blessing. Not sure which to try first, though. I had Symphony of War and Dark Deity on my wishlist already, but Tyrant’s Blessing also seems interesting.

Grangle1, rok temu

Seeing the trailer I’m immediately reminded of Tunic, with its sort of top down, 2.5D perspective and what appears to be being thrown into a world where deciphering just the basics of what’s going on is half the challenge of the game due to a lore-based language barrier. Where Tunic was very much an homage to 2D Zelda, this game looks to take that concept in a more original direction. Looks interesting. I’d think about getting it if my backlog wasn’t a mile high.

Grangle1, rok temu

Well, the way Tunic works is that you don’t really decipher the language on your own to straight up read the characters, you work with pictures and other visual/environmental cues to figure out what it’s telling you. It would be akin to going to an Asian country that doesn’t use the Roman alphabet without any knowledge of the language and having to navigate things by pictures or trial-and-error until you start to pick things up on your own. You don’t decipher the words themselves, you pick up on the context, if that makes sense. It really was a large part of the fun of Tunic.

Grangle1, rok temu

I have that on my wishlist, I should pick it up as a belated birthday gift to myself if it’s on sale then. 😁

Grangle1, rok temu

I prefer grids myself, I’ve never gotten very far in gridless strategy games I’ve played (Mario+Rabbids, Valkyria Chronicles) because I just have too hard a time keeping track of what I can do with any given unit when I don’t have the grid for reference. That said, I can understand the appeal to some as an immersion enhancement, as others have said, and as something of a “modernization” of turn-based strategy allowing for more freedom of movement. Cool if you enjoy that kind of thing in strategy, but just not my jam. I was raised on Fire Emblem in the genre, lol.

Grangle1, rok temu

Almost makes you miss the days when EA was the world’s worst company.

Grangle1, rok temu

The Zelda timeline is an interesting example of emergent narrative, at least until recently. Before the Hyrule Historia, fans could see underlying clues of a general history of Hyrule and an order in which the games take place, but developers themselves wouldn’t confirm the existence of a definitive timeline. Even so, the fans speculated endlessly about where the games fit in - were all games canon or only some, was there a split or a unified timeline, and were these the same Link, Zelda and Ganondorf or were they continually reincarnated? Finally the Hyrule Historia gave a confirmed canon timeline with not one but two splits, all games canon, and with confirmation of several reincarnations of at least Link and Zelda. Considering how resistant to doing something like this Nintendo and the Zelda team were at first, I’d pretty well guarantee that the release was in response to the emergent narrative that developed and not something they had initially planned from the outset of the series, especially not before Ocarina of Time.