knokelmaat

knokelmaat, 18 godzin temu

I am probably in an extreme minority here, but my favorite final fantasy game is… XIII. I remember being so hyped when it came out, the graphics on my PS3 were unreal. This was at a time in my life where I was unable to finish any big game due to limited attention span, but I played the first hours of that game a lot and really enjoyed it. Since then I’ve tried getting into VII, IX, XII and XIV, and all of them I bounced off of. However, trying XIII again years later on PC, it just feels so comfy. I don’t need to think too hard were to go or what to do, just let the game guide me and enjoy the music and spectacle.

I’ve noticed lately that I absolutely love linear games: half-life, portal, uncharted… are all experiences I adored because of their simplicity. Just move forward! I feel that a lot of mainstream gaming has become about side objectives, open worlds and collecting 100% of collectibles, and it is honestly exhausting. If you have any linear game recommendations, please chime in :)!

knokelmaat, wczoraj

What a great video! I was afraid going in that it would have some “forced” new opinion on the game to be relevant, but it was actually super important and interesting.

Thanks for sharing!

knokelmaat, 6 dni temu

My personal favorite game of all time. Such an absolutely incredible experience, both from for the gameplay / puzzle mechanics, the story, the music and themes.

knokelmaat, 10 dni temu

I was unsure if choosing a specific visual novel would make the discussion too limited, so I decided to go with the genre as a whole for this thread.

Still, I sneakily used my favorite visual novel as the image: Steins;Gate! It was my first game in the genre. I bought it on a whim for PS Vita, after seeing the glowing review headlines that applauded it for its great story and music. Little did I know that this meant only story and music: there was barely any gameplay! This together with the fact that some of the tropes felt really strange to me at the time (I was not really into anime culture) made me regret my purchase and almost stop playing.

But somehow the story got its hooks in me. Only a tiny bit at first, but day after day I became more engrossed and looking forward to my play session. I read it mostly during the night while in bed, and it really took over my life for some time. Eventually I finished all routes and achieved the true ending, which is one of my favorite endings and stories in videogames as a whole.

Since then I’ve played lots of others. Some quick thoughts:

-999: a bit disappointing, the story felt very contrived and not as great as others experienced it.

-Virtue’s last reward: a real step up from the previous game, complex and satisfying story with a very meta twist to it!

-Zero Time Dilemma: often described as the worst in the series, but somehow this story really grabbed me from start to finish. The stakes were extremely high and while the story was very convoluted, the payoff worked for me.

-Danganronpa 1 and 2: very strange and over the top, but extremely well written mysteries with great presentation and soundtrack

-Ace Attorney: the first game in the series. I played it on switch and liked it, but didn’t love it. The humor felt to childlike for me at times.

-Planetarian: fantastic little gem of a game. Most visual novels will demand dozens of hours of your time, but this can be finished in less than 5 hours. Absolutely amazing.

-Muv-Luv Extra: I am currently finishing all routes for the first game in this trilogy, as I have heard multiple times that the 3rd one is incredible. I liked it most when it was just funny nonsense (it can be quite hilarious at times). The serious parts really didn’t hit home for me and a lot of the content feels a bit problematic and strange. I suppose some of this is culture, some of it satire and it was originally an erotic game so that might have something to do with it.

knokelmaat, 10 dni temu

Not necessarily a VN, but you might like Pony Island if you liked Doki Doki.

Digital: A Love Story is also an experience that was really powerful for me.

knokelmaat, wczoraj

What an amazing comment, this reads just like a blog post! Will definitely check it out!!!

knokelmaat, 18 dni temu

I’m glad that it seems sufficiently different from Ghost of Tsushima. I kind of dislike how most sequels these days are almost the same game with some small improvements in graphics and gameplay (Horizon Forbidden West, Spider-man 2). With the new character and time period, this seems like a more substantial change!

knokelmaat, 20 dni temu

I finally got this game through a steam key trade on barter, traded for a game I didn’t need from a Fanatical bundle. It’s now sitting in my library until I have the time to focus on it, as one of my best friends recommended it to me as one of his favorite games ever. So I want to give it the time and focus it deserves, hopefully it will click for me too!

knokelmaat, 23 dni temu

I really like this game a lot. I know it has problems, but it’s the first time since Dirty Bomb that an online shooter was able to grab me. I just really love objective based shooters, that way I can still be useful even though my aim isn’t the best.

I just play shotgun healer and push the objective. The spread on the gun allows me to have a decent amount of kills while also healing teammates and getting closer to the win.

knokelmaat, 25 dni temu

And it was the only one able to fully hold a Game Boy Advance cartridge!

knokelmaat, 25 dni temu

My favorite DS game by far was Lock’s Quest. It was the first game that got me genuinely emotional, I had tears in my eyes during the ending. I remember initially being disappointed, as kid me wanted a strategy game, not something where I still had to run around and repair stuff in real time. But my god, my opinion changed quickly and both the gameplay and the story captured my fully. The music was just the icing on the cake.

My most played game by far was Guitar Hero On Tour: Decades. Shredding Can’t Stop by the Red Hot Chili Peppers while sitting in a restaurant with my parents is one of my favorite memories of that time (with headphones of course). I believe this game single-handedly formed most of my music interests for my teenage years.

Finally, I have to mention Bionicle Heroes. I am a massive Bionicle fan (and currently rediscovering it through finally reading the books). This game is by no means a masterpiece, but it is a surprisingly fun first person shooter with great controls and decent graphics for the time. I adored it because my parents were very strict and didn’t let me play realistic shooters, but this way I could get my fps fix and play in the world of Bionicle at the same time!

My device was a Nintendo DS Lite, White with flame stickers that came with the Guitar Hero game. I loved that machine to bits.

knokelmaat, 24 dni temu

https://beehaw.org/pictrs/image/ed018ab5-cf43-4c37-a23f-bbd678a9cdda.webp

It pokes out with the DS Lite :)

knokelmaat, miesiąc temu

I’ve never played these games. It all just feels extremely overwhelming with the large amount of menus and systems. I’m also unable to focus on long games (I also have issues with long open world games like Breath of the Wild for example), so that is another thing that pushes me away. But the idea of a cosy grind while listening to podcasts does interest me.

However, I have seen the film: an absolute masterpiece in the “bad film genre”. Just beautifully brainless action, similar to the amazing Resident Evil films of the same creator.

knokelmaat, miesiąc temu

Thanks for this write-up! It was a very interesting read and actually makes me want to try out the series now (especially P3 and p4).

knokelmaat, miesiąc temu

I have the remake (The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition) in my Steam backlog. I’ve been meaning to play it for a while, but it seems like a game that will require my full focus to not forget the story / puzzles. Once some of the games I’m currently playing are finished, I might give it a go. Also seems like a fun game to play during the winter times, so maybe I’ll get around to it in a few months.

I absolutely love this retrospective video about the series by youtuber Ahoy: RetroAhoy: The Secret of Monkey Island. I highly recommend it!

knokelmaat, miesiąc temu

Love that piece of sountrack you shared! Such a nice and melancholic melody!

knokelmaat, 2 miesiące temu

My favorite is honestly my PS5. The load times are fantastic and I love the feel of the controller and the rumble / adaptive triggers. I also fucking loved my PS Vita, to bad it had such a mediocre run games wise.

Worst is pretty harsh, as I have loved all my consoles. But there’s no denying that the PSP was a bit garbage with its single analog stick (which was also very hard to use).

knokelmaat, 2 miesiące temu

I personally have almost zero experience with this generation, though I realize it’s historic value. So many great game franchise originated here: Super Mario, Metroid, Final Fantasy, Castlevania, Zelda, Metal Gear, Mega Man, Mother…

I’ll give a shout-out to Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!!, which I got to know by watching a YouTube video on the world record history for this game. I then played some of it myself on my Switch and was actually quite impressed with the almost puzzle like gameplay!

I also played Super Mario Bros. While I respect it for being the first, I thought it was quite ridiculous at times (the way to progress in the final world was so stupid).

Still have to sink my teeth in the others!

knokelmaat, 2 miesiące temu

Also, I made the picture for this post myself from the different Wikipedia entries using GIMP. It was quite a headache 😅.

knokelmaat, 2 miesiące temu

Metal Gear Solid is one of my favorite games of all time, followed closely by 2 and 3. It really is an incredibly timeless piece of art in my opinion, just filled to the brim with incredible moments.

knokelmaat, 2 miesiące temu

Age of empires II is one of my first experiences as a child playing games. I used to play it on a computer in the back of my mother’s pharmacy. A friend of mine was a huge fan, but I truly sucked at it.

Later I bought Lord of the Rings: the Battle for Middle Earth II, and to this date this is the only RTS that I actually enjoy playing a lot (I later also played the first one which is also amazing).

Still, I played Age of Empires II a lot, mostly the tutorial levels and the early missions of Jeanne d’Arc. I think the micromanaging and constantly having to do multiple things at once (like constantly making new units, etc.) were to much for me (and it still is). Still, a classic in gaming history and a part of my childhood!

knokelmaat, 3 miesiące temu

I am a late fan of this series. I used to have a Gameboy color as my first gaming device, but never actually sat down to play a Mario game fully until Super Mario Odyssey on the Switch. I really liked it, but it wasn’t a 10/10 for me like for other people.

For me the unexpected match came in the form of Super Mario 3D World. Something about the simplicity of the level design (short levels with 3 collectibles each) combined with the amazing coop make this an all time favorite game of mine. I also adore the music and general tone and creativity. It really had an almost therapeutic effect on me, I’ve seen more immediate effect on my mood than any of the anti depressants I’ve tried :D.

I have Wonder but it’s a bit to strange at times for my tastes (even though it is incredibly creative it isn’t as relaxing as 3D World was for me)

knokelmaat, 3 miesiące temu

That is the last level I still have to beat. Every o once in a while I’ll play it with a friend for a few hours, I’m sure we’ll make it one day!

knokelmaat, 3 miesiące temu

Noted ;)

knokelmaat, 3 miesiące temu

It’s been a while, but here is another “Let’s discuss” post! I hope everybody is doing fine and these posts are still appreciated :).

I haven’t played this myself, but I know so many people who are extremely passionate about it that it felt like a good candidate! Looking forward to all of your musings!

knokelmaat, 4 miesiące temu

This might be my first PC gaming experience. My niece had this game and when I came to visit we would play it together and build houses and stuff. I have really fond memories of the first game and some of its expansions (vacation and night-life, also pets if I remember correctly?).

I somehow completely skipped The Sims 2, but by the time The Sims 3 released, I was extremely hyped. It is the only time in my life I bought a collector’s edition. It had a USB key chain in the shape of the green diamond! I remember really enjoying it and especially loving the music and the vibes it brought.

I also had a Sims game on Game Boy Advance (with cats and dogs) and one on Nintendo DS (on a lost island). Both were really fun!

knokelmaat, 4 miesiące temu

I thoroughly enjoyed that! I’d read your blog!

knokelmaat, 4 miesiące temu

Fantastic video!

knokelmaat, 4 miesiące temu

Damn. I tried getting into it as a child but it was too difficult for me. The constant clicking and micromanaging gave me stress :P.

knokelmaat, 4 miesiące temu

That is beautiful!

knokelmaat, 2 miesiące temu

Haha how did you end up here after all those months?

knokelmaat, 2 miesiące temu

Haha I’m glad the links are being used, I included them for exactly that reason!

Slay the Spire is one of my favorite games of all time, so good choice if you decide to take the plunge!