Coelacanth

Coelacanth, 5 miesięcy temu

Basically Homeless is an absolute treasure. The gas powered PC (and followup) are a personal favourite but all his build videos and his Stupid Setups are absolute gold. Using a printer as a monitor was another highlight.

Coelacanth, 5 miesięcy temu

I’m playing Ninja Gaiden Black this week for the first time on Xemu original Xbox emulator, and it’s been an absolute blast so far (mostly… we’ll get to that). Despite being known for its combat there is actually a surprising amount of adventure game gameplay in there, with exploration, Metroidvania-esque area unlocks/backtracking and light platforming. I’ve actually enjoyed these parts quite a bit as they’ve provided nice breathing room between fighting.

So far the game’s infamous difficulty has not yet proven insurmountable, even playing on Normal and not “Ninja Dog” (Easy). I’m on Chapter 11 out of 16 now and so far so good. It’s definitely been challenging, but not really unfair - it just constantly demands you to use all the tools at your disposal, and think carefully about every situation. It’s not a hack-and-slash; you have to be very precise and deliberate and use proper combos - button mashing will get you killed. The AI is hyper aggressive, but you have so much at your disposal in terms of movement and offensive and defensive tools that there is always a solution if you’re just fast enough, proactive enough or patient enough. A lot of fights get a lot easier if you just pick the right weapon, or right Ninpo, or remember to use Smoke Bombs.

Also, having access to Save States through the emulator makes things a lot more pleasant to play as the game is notorious for its horrible checkpointing. I’m trying not to abuse it, but I’m not really interested in wasting time either and the game is challenging enough as it is.

Chapter 9 is an absolute abomination, though. There is absolutely no reason for it to suddenly become Call of Duty, and being forced to fight two tanks, a helicopter and a radio tower full of bazookas using only a bow with explosive arrows and awful controller first person aiming was downright horrendous.

Even despite that though I still definitely recommend trying it. Setting up Xemu is extremely simple, the ROM is floating around online for free so the cost is minimal and the combat really is something special.

Coelacanth, 5 miesięcy temu

Good-aligned “resist the Durge” works out better anyway imo and feels like the intended canon playthrough.

Coelacanth, 5 miesięcy temu (edited 5 miesięcy temu)

Disco Elysium sits completely unchallenged at the top spot as the most meaningful experience I’ve had playing a video game. I resonated deeply with its themes and its main character as someone who has struggled with depression, addiction, obsession and trouble moving on. It’s an astonishing achievement in both writing and in the use of a game as a storytelling medium, an one of the best ever examples of “video games as art”.

The rest of the list is almost impossible to order, because there are so many different ways to rank them. Games I’ve played that I think are the objectively best? Games I would like to just sit down and play right now the most? Games that made the biggest impression on me as a person, especially growing up?

Regardless, it’s probably any two out of:

• Dark Souls 1
• Baldur’s Gate 2
• Civilization 5
• Final Fantasy VI
• Need For Speed: Most Wanted (2005)
• Bioshock 1
• STALKER SoC/CoP/Anomaly
• Alan Wake 2
• Fallout: New Vegas
• Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines
• EVE Online (up until 2015-16 or so)

Will probably add Expedition 33 to it in the future, but need the dust to settle on it first. EDIT: Hell, Blue Prince has a good shot at making the list too.

EDIT 2: Somehow forgot Dishonored 1&2 and Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory. It really is impossible to list just three!

Coelacanth, 6 miesięcy temu

If you don’t like anime, and you’re too old to relate to teens anymore, and you might cringe at edgy youth fiction… Is P5R still worth playing?

I’ve heard some people really love it, but I’ve been very hesitant to play it for the above reasons. Also it’s like 200h long so it’s a big commitment.

Coelacanth, 6 miesięcy temu

I just want more granular difficulty/accessibility settings. Give me more sliders to tweak my experience. I know it might be greedy and asking for a lot but Easy/Normal/Hard or whatever is just so clumsy.

Imagine we had sliders to tweak dodge i-frames and parry window lengths? I might actually dare pickup Sekiro if that was the case.

Coelacanth, 6 miesięcy temu

Viconia and Sarevok had no reason to be in BG3 and by choosing to use WOTCs deplorably terrible supplemental product lore as canon Larian has now cemented those character portrayals forever, which was just pure character assassination.

Coelacanth, 6 miesięcy temu

Well, canonically Edwin gets punked by Elminster and lives out his days as a bar wench. And since they decided from the get-go to set BG3 a hundred years after the originals he’d be long dead, along with any other human NPC from the older games. Which, the fact that they started from the point of “let’s set it 100 years later” tells you enough of how much they wanted to deal with the older games. Viconia is not the only thing in BG3 that gives vibes of disdain at worst and disinterest at best for the originals. Flail of Ages is a useless trash weapon randomly sold by a vendor, for fucks sake!

I wonder how many at Larian even played BG1&2. I get such a Wiki-research vibe from a lot of the callbacks.

Coelacanth, 6 miesięcy temu

I don’t play D&D - in fact I don’t play any TTRPG anymore (imagine having friends) - but I’ve heard a lot of criticism about WOTC’s products, yes. A lion’s share of it is about how unhelpful the official adventures are for DMs, but I’ve also heard the writing criticised from time to time.

I’ve heard good things about Waterdeep: Dragon Heist and the Curse of Strahd remake though.

Coelacanth, 6 miesięcy temu

I finished Blasphemous. I didn’t go through the DLC as I apparently missed the chance for the True Ending by not doing it early anyway, so I couldn’t be bothered as I wasn’t really enjoying the game that much. Also I’ve heard it’s even more annoying. I’ll save it for a hypothetical second playthrough. I did beat the one optional DLC boss I had access to - Isidora - and the difference between the main game and the DLC is staggering. I first tried the last two bosses in the main game, but Isidora took me probably 50ish attempts. And I’m not sure it was “fun difficult” either, that second phase sure was something.

My notes remain the same: terrible platforming (and an overabundance of it) and design elements that are deliberately meant to waste your time and/or piss you off hold back what could otherwise have been a great game. I respect the artistic vision, I just didn’t have a lot of fun playing it.

As a palate cleanser I played through LIMBO, which I bought solely because it is supposedly an indie darling and was being delisted on GOG. I was assured by somebody on here that it wasn’t really “that bad” as puzzle platformers go (I hate platformers) and that it was “mostly vibes”. That was a lie - this is clearly a puzzle platformer. And it didn’t feel like a particularly good one either. Fortunately it was only a couple of hours long or I would never have been able to force myself to finish it. YMMV but it’s a solid 5.5-6/10 for me, I’m glad I only paid a dollar for it. I hope INSIDE is better as I foolishly bought both.

Coelacanth, 6 miesięcy temu

I love this from GOG. I already liked them because of their game conservation efforts, but now I like them even more.

Coelacanth, 6 miesięcy temu

Got it on sale semi-recently but haven’t gotten around to playing it yet. Glad to hear you’re enjoying it, I’ve only heard good things.

Coelacanth, 6 miesięcy temu

Don’t mind me if I do wishlist that, that looks interesting actually.

I’m excited to finally get to Infinite, I own it but my backlog priority keeps getting reshuffled. I’ll get to it this year (I think).

Coelacanth, 6 miesięcy temu

Don’t know if this counts as a meme or not but if it does get deleted it would probably be welcome at !gaming

Coelacanth, 6 miesięcy temu

Most definitely! Gaming is especially annoying since it has three communities that are all very active and basically mirror images of eachother:

!games !games !gaming

They are all fairly “serious” with a focus on news, articles and discussion. On the other hand !gaming is much less so and is pretty much the primary place for general gaming memes.

Coelacanth, 6 miesięcy temu

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.

Coelacanth, 6 miesięcy temu

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?

Coelacanth, 6 miesięcy temu (edited 6 miesięcy temu)

Absolute insanity what even is this shit.

EDIT: What it was was “clickbait”, it turns out.

Coelacanth, 6 miesięcy temu

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.

Coelacanth, 6 miesięcy temu

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.

Coelacanth, 6 miesięcy temu

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.

Coelacanth, 6 miesięcy temu

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?

Coelacanth, 6 miesięcy temu

Also some of the “non-lethal” fates you subject people to are way worse than just killing them.

Coelacanth, 6 miesięcy temu

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?

Coelacanth, 6 miesięcy temu

Yes, I was talking about video games.

Coelacanth, 6 miesięcy temu

Hope you’re all well, and enjoying gaming lately. Again, all apologies for my absence from Lemmy lately :)

I do miss you and your content dearly but please don’t apologise for looking after your health!

Coelacanth, 6 miesięcy temu

Games that I really enjoyed:

• Final Fantasy 7 through 10
• Final Fantasy 5

So… did you skip FF VI or did you specifically not like it?

Coelacanth, 6 miesięcy temu (edited 6 miesięcy temu)

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.

Coelacanth, 6 miesięcy temu

Still suffering my way through Blasphemous. I think I misjudged the length of it initially as I had heard it’s fairly short. I’m probably over halfway now, though. I’ve played about 13 hours and just killed Exposito.

My notes are more or less unchanged from last week. I love the story, lore and world building. The atmosphere is cool as hell and the art is great. Gameplay is janky, clunky and has an overabundance of platforming for a game that strews instant-death hazards generously all over the place and has a bunch of projectile-launching enemies hand placed to cause maximum annoyance. Plus the controls are clunky, hitboxes are janky and jumping onto and grabbing a ladder is way harder than it should be. And did I mention every single enemy deals contact damage that jolts you to the side and often knocks you off an edge?

The bosses meanwhile have been cool designs, but not really that complex or challenging. I think it’s been 3-4 tries per boss on average. They’ve been fine, but not really worth trudging through the rest of the game for.

So overall it’s been a mixed bag. I respect the game for its artistic vision, and I understand that having the player suffer is meant as a sort of method acting to go along with the game’s theme of the virtue of suffering. But I don’t know, I’m not really having fun playing it.

Coelacanth, 6 miesięcy temu

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.

Coelacanth, 6 miesięcy temu

Also like, the whole selling point initially for making a Bloodlines 2 was getting Brian Mitsoda back to write the script. But they’ve thrown it out to make their own story and it will be like BG3 in that sense - a sequel in name only but no actual connection to the original game(s).

Coelacanth, 6 miesięcy temu

Same, all the Star Wars slop Disney has churned out has completely washed any lingering magic out of the fabric of the franchise for me. I don’t even feel the desire to watch supposedly good Star Wars products like Andor these days.

Coelacanth, 6 miesięcy temu

Here is where I was surprised. My second case the game makes me choose. Between placing Blame, Ascend or Descend the spirit and its most loved one. That shapes the game for you each case choice matters in the end.

What I want to know is: are the choices actually interesting, though? For so many games with choices like this they aren’t really choices. It’s just “do the right thing and get the good ending or don’t and get the bad ending”.

Coelacanth, 6 miesięcy temu

Can’t wait for the next serving of incomprehensible nonsense from the Nomura-Najima dream team…

Coelacanth, 6 miesięcy temu

Give us one last proper Splinter Cell send-off while Michael Ironside is still alive, you cowards. A “final job” with a retiring Sam Fisher would be an amazing setup for a game. Not that I trust Ubisoft to pull it off, mind. But we can dream.

Coelacanth, 6 miesięcy temu

I thought he beat cancer and was back to acting? He couldn’t do Sam Fisher in his prime anymore, but maybe an old Sam on his last legs? Though I guess the clock is ticking even for that.

Coelacanth, 6 miesięcy temu (edited 6 miesięcy temu)

(…) or the long-expected Dark Souls 3 remaster.

…heh? I mean I’ll take it but, DS3 doesn’t really need a remaster does it? Still looks great, still plays great… why? A Dark Souls 1 full remake on the other hand would be very interesting. Keep the level design, fresh coat of paint, revamp and modernize the bosses and go back and re-do some of the trash endgame areas that they just threw together on a time crunch like Demon Ruins/Lost Izalith. That would be an interesting project.

Though if we disregard the F-games apparently being Dark Souls or Armoured Core traditionally I will dream about this upcoming title being a new Tenchu game.

Coelacanth, 6 miesięcy temu

They are also extremely good at re-using assets.

Coelacanth, 6 miesięcy temu

It’s not really the same, but it can be enjoyable in its own way. I watch a lot of Let’s Plays, but I tend to do so mostly for games I’ve already played myself, substituting it for a second playthrough. You can watch it mostly in the background - or skip through the filler - and still get another’s perspective on the best bits.

It’s also perfectly valid to watch playthroughs for games you are interested in experiencing but would not enjoy yourself. Very difficult games like Hollow Knight are a common example for this. It will give you an approximation without driving you to frustration - or getting stuck and unable to finish.

It’s never going to be the same though since the interactive element will be missing, and that aspect is the defining feature of games as an artform.

Coelacanth, 6 miesięcy temu

Absolutely, just keep in mind one thing: try to find Let’s Players who take things slow and pay attention to the story. It makes a huge difference.

Coelacanth, 6 miesięcy temu

If you like V you might not like VI. Probably more likely to enjoy the Vox Populi mod if you want something fresh.

Coelacanth, 6 miesięcy temu

That it is. Might as well, right?

Coelacanth, 6 miesięcy temu

It’s been fun to follow this past year! You’ve been through some bangers, I have an equal love for the Alan Wake games and the New Vegas DLCs are some of the best in gaming imo.

It’s been a very pleasant and cozy daily routine to read, even though I admit I am more interested whenever you’re playing something new and giving your insights and first impressions.

Regardless though these posts have been a fixture of Lemmy I appreciate, so thank you for your persistence!

Coelacanth, 6 miesięcy temu

We’ve been in an indie game boom for a while, so you should have a pretty huge variety of amazing titles to choose from. I’ve been mixing in indies with Patient Gaming of older AAA/big name titles and having a blast.

Coelacanth, 6 miesięcy temu

What type of game are you looking for?

Just yesterday I played through GRIS, which was an absolutely amazing experience (though short). An interactive artwork of a journey through grief. Definitely recommend it as a short in-between game. The same developers released Neva last year, which was also very well reviewed.

Before that I played Mandragora: Whispers of the Witch Tree, which is a Soulslike Metroidvania with a PoE style skill tree. Really liked that one, the story was so-so but it has really good gameplay and super fun character customization. Good exploration, lots of secrets and i enjoyed the world as well. Looks pretty, too.

Blue Prince from earlier this year is a phenomenal game if you like escape room type puzzles. It’s an incredibly clever idea - a puzzle roguelite - and I had a great time with it. Gorgeous OST too. Definitely worth checking out, though be warned - taking hundreds of screenshots and 60+ pages of physical notes is almost required.

Earlier this year I played Skald: Against the Black Priory and I have a great amount of fondness for that game. A faux-retro RPG that pays tribute to late 80s style CRPGs it hit just right with me and ended up being my favourite RPG in a while. It’s fairly limited in scope, instead focusing on doing a few things well, and I think it really works out well for it. Beautiful music, great pixel art, great story. Also has some nice CRT emulation filters in the settings!

Which speaking of, right now I’m playing Blasphemous, which is another title with CRT emulation filters. It’s basically 2D Dark Souls but with more platforming. I have mixed feelings about the gameplay (I hate platformers) but the world building, story and lore are all immaculate and super cool.

Lastly, even though it’s in that not-quite-indie AA space you should play Claire Obscur: Expedition 33. Yes, it is actually that good, and much like when Elden Ring or BG3 released it’s kind of “required reading” to understand the zeitgeist.

But all of this is just my recent experiences off the top of my head, the list really does go on and on and on.

Coelacanth, 6 miesięcy temu

That’s the best thing to do with Clair Obscur. Don’t even watch a trailer, just play it. I bought it full price, but liked it so much I subsequently upgraded to the Deluxe Edition just because I wanted to support the devs.

Skald was a really great, concise experience that really worked for me. If you like a bit of Cthulu-esque cosmic horror you’ll enjoy the world building I think. I finished it in about 20h I think, and it was very nicely paced. No filler or grinding, just a flowing story. Definitely an indie positive surprise hit.

There are tons more indie darlings though depending on what genre you’re looking for. Tactical Breach Wizards, Vampire Survivors and Balatro are just a couple that are all very different from the ones I already listed.

Coelacanth, 6 miesięcy temu

Those are some insane review scores. Then again Nintendo flagship titles almost always review well.

Coelacanth, 6 miesięcy temu

Any game that allows for a significant amount of visual customisation should have some sort of transmog system. Having to look like a clown for optimal stats is never a fun or enjoyable gameplay experience, while on the other hand feeling like you look awesome adds so much.