MolarAm🔵
Full Member
Bad at games
Posts: 6,084
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Post by MolarAm🔵 on Dec 24, 2023 5:05:27 GMT
I liked Blasphemous 2, I think it's better and more thought out than the first one in a gameplay sense.
But a big appeal of the first game to me was how weird and grotesque it was, particularly the bosses. And the sequel just didn't have that; it's like they used up all their best designs for Blasphemous 1.
The NPCs were still great though.
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Post by RadicalRex on Dec 24, 2023 12:15:56 GMT
This reminds me that I still have two Steam keys gathering dust in my Humble Bundle library. I guess today is a good day as any for a giveaway.
- Blasphemous 1 - Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night
PM if you want one (not both!)
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Youthist
Junior Member
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Posts: 1,884
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Post by Youthist on Dec 24, 2023 12:54:24 GMT
I liked Blasphemous 2, I think it's better and more thought out than the first one in a gameplay sense. But a big appeal of the first game to me was how weird and grotesque it was, particularly the bosses. And the sequel just didn't have that; it's like they used up all their best designs for Blasphemous 1. The NPCs were still great though. I quit B2 at the final boss fight (I think it was the penultimate boss actually). His phase 2 was a joke and I spent a long time trying to beat him. Had 100 percented the entire map too and fully maxed on everything. And they had blocked all the cheese attacks I could find online. Just could not do it and it a huge spike over all previous bosses. Great game though. Prince of Persia Jan18th next!
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Post by RadicalRex on Dec 24, 2023 14:52:28 GMT
Yeah that one's the biggest difficulty spike in the game. I eventually beat him by, well, retrying over and over again until I had nailed all his patterns down. Wouldn't be so bad if you didn't have to go through the first phase every time, but I guess that's how everyone does it. But why the fucking 30 seconds of unskippable dialogue/cutscenes every time? That's just stupid. The final boss is much easier though if that's any consolation, and thankfully you get another save point before him. Unless there's another fight if you're going for a different ending or something, no idea about that.
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zagibu
Junior Member
Posts: 1,625
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Post by zagibu on Dec 24, 2023 19:19:37 GMT
Please keep in mind this is just my personal take, and whatever doesn't meet my expectations may be no issue to someone else. I checked some YT videos on this game and almost all of them are raving about how amazing and what an improvement over the first game it is (notably saying how it hasn't lost any of its unsettling appeal), it looks like I'm pretty alone with my criticism.* If you liked the first game, I gave that a 7/10 too. I also gave Hollow Knight a 7.5/10. Just saying. *I was surprised to find that Cannot Be Tamed, who is a fan of the first game, shared some of my criticism. Anyone else I found however praised it to heaven and back. Yeah, but those two of your ratings were probably also because of controls, and not because of atmosphere. Like I said, I don't care much about mechanics, as long as they are somewhat useable. Blasphemous 1 felt pretty good, controls-wise, for me. Even in the challenge areas I didn't find it the least bit clunky or unresponsive. Anyway, I will certainly try it out as well some day.
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Post by RadicalRex on Dec 24, 2023 19:53:37 GMT
Blasphemous 1 yes, Hollow Knight no. I have some issues with HK, but the controls are sublime.
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Post by RadicalRex on Dec 25, 2023 16:26:20 GMT
The Mummy Demastered (Steam)
Well that was quick. An easy short metroidvania made by WayForward, where you are some future military guy with modern weaponry like machine guns and a flamethrower, and your enemies are mostly wildlife like rats and grasshoppers and snails and bats, but also some zombies and skeletons and a few more. They're all very basic with predictable primitive AI, which can be a little boring, but generally the game feels alright if nothing special. The pixel art is nice, as is the synthwavey soundtrack.
But I have to emphasise: this game is very short and really piss easy. I finished it on first try in less than 3 hours and with zero deaths. Only once in the entire game was I even low on health. I previously considered Shantae and the Seven Sirens the easiest metroidvania I'd played, but this is much easier. There is no hard mode or anything of the sort. And even within the short time, the simple and repetitive gameplay from the beginning drags on for too long; at some point it picked up the pace and finally became a little more interesting, so I thought maybe it's just a slow burner, but at that point the game was almost over.
I didn't even return to previous areas to find more secrets, because what would be the point. Gameplay is ok for what it is, but traversal is slow and a little tedious because there's a lot of those simple enemies, making backtracking something you'd rather avoid.
For the most part the game doesn't do anything particularly wrong, and it never downright annoyed me which was a nice change after many of the games I've played recently. But the short length and low difficulty bog it down and don't justify the price. I don't think it's worth the €10 I payed in the current Steam sale, and the regular asking price of €20 is just gross.
6/10
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Post by RadicalRex on Jan 2, 2024 15:07:46 GMT
Astalon: Tears of the Earth (Steam)
Nice NES-style metroidvania with a lot of retro charm. Can be pretty good fun at times, especially when exploring new areas. At the same time, a combination of labyrinthian structure, long runbacks, lots of backtracking, lack of map markers and huge size can make it feel unreasonably grindy at times. I was considering quitting in the relatively early and mid game, but in the end was glad I didn't. It really was longer than expected, my playthrough took 16 hours.
So yeah, overall a charming fun game, the fun somewhat comes and goes in waves, but in the end the good outweighs the bad.
7.5/10
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Blue_Mike
Junior Member
Meet Hanako At Embers
Posts: 3,915
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Post by Blue_Mike on Mar 16, 2024 2:05:35 GMT
What a fantastic little gem. The central mechanic of being able to switch between different universes to solve puzzles is a fun one.
Occasionally laugh out loud funny, even when it's being grim, with fourth wall breaking characters who are written with a nod to knowing about video game logic.
Fantastic soundtrack, (although the one for Chapter Three did get a bit repetitive, but that may be because I spent so long trying to figure out one of the puzzles) and while the art might be simplistic it's actually quite charming.
Spent two and half hours with it tonight, will be hopping straight back on it tomorrow.
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