Vortex
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Harvey Weinstein's Tattered Penis
is apparently a mangina.
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Post by Vortex on Feb 20, 2023 16:59:45 GMT
Did the second one have that difficult bit in the courtroom? I really struggled at that point and almost totally ruined the game for me. /shudders at the memory of that. Yeesh. Controller nearly got flung across the room a few times there. Blech.
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Post by ToomuchFluffy on Feb 20, 2023 17:36:51 GMT
Caligo, another short one. Just a walking simulator with some rather nice scenery. Story and voice-acting are more on the weak side though. I remember one review calling it pretentious and it's easy to see why. I'm not sure if the idea is even that bad, but the writing struggles to effectively deliver it and it's pretty clumsy much of the time. Sometimes it just spells out things unnecessarily and the voice-acting is really not very good unfortunately. The music is unremarkable for the most part.
Overall it mostly just delivers on the visuals and that's about it.
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Post by theguy on Feb 20, 2023 20:06:04 GMT
Rez Sorry, it's shit. The only thing I feel when playing it is an intense sense of boredom. It's mind numbingly dull. Levels are too long, they're not particularly interesting, it's the same mindless motions and the music isn't even enough to see me through. It's just quite shit. I went back to it after a while to give it another shot for it to click and halfway through a level just embraced death because that felt more exciting than actually having to play the game.
I guess I should say it's my first time with Rez, never played it on release so perhaps it's unfair to judge it now. It's just strange because I actually like Mizuguchi's other rhythm games a lot. Tetris Effect is brilliant, I was even fond of Child of Eden too which by all accounts is a successor to Rez, but Rez itself I seemingly can't stand. Utter drivel.
Except for Area X. I actually had fun with Area X.
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Post by Samildanach on Feb 20, 2023 20:17:13 GMT
Dark Souls 3
So cards on the table, I put FromSoftware's Soulsborne games at the top of almost all my 30+ years of gaming experience, so there was little chance of not getting on with this.
What does this do well against its peers? Almost everything, as the formula is so well refined by now that the experience has few flaws. Visuals, art direction, music, atmosphere, gameplay, difficulty, lore, all is top tier. Therefore it is much easier to mention its few flaws.
First, if you don't like Souls-likes this is not likely to change your mind. It might though...its that good.
Second, it is the most linear of the lot. Each area you visit is absolutely not linear, there is much variation and twisty-turning of your path throughout, only any future playthroughs are going to lead you through the areas in mostly the same order, though you can access the end game areas near the start if you wanted. Now although it makes this game less varied on repeat the linearity is also to its great benefit in that the difficulty curve is perfectly set.
Third, two of the four side areas are definitely a little weak, Smouldering Lake and Consumed King's Garden namely. The former is alright, but a good part of it is probably not worth revisiting on repeat playthroughs, while the latter is a massively cut down area due to time constraints. The originally planned God's Grave area would have expanded it massively, but hey ho.
Err, I can't think of any other negatives and, frankly the three I have mentioned are barely a problem anyway. Oh yes, I know:
Any game you play next will be like a thin soup after a gourmet dinner. Fuck you Dark Souls, once again you have ruined gaming for me!
10/10
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malek86
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Pomegranate Deseeder
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Post by malek86 on Feb 20, 2023 20:40:52 GMT
RezSorry, it's shit. The only thing I feel when playing it is an intense sense of boredom. It's mind numbingly dull. Levels are too long, they're not particularly interesting, it's the same mindless motions and the music isn't even enough to see me through. It's just quite shit. I went back to it after a while to give it another shot for it to click and halfway through a level just embraced death because that felt more exciting than actually having to play the game. I guess I should say it's my first time with Rez, never played it on release so perhaps it's unfair to judge it now. It's just strange because I actually like Mizuguchi's other rhythm games a lot. Tetris Effect is brilliant, I was even fond of Child of Eden too which by all accounts is a successor to Rez, but Rez itself I seemingly can't stand. Utter drivel. Except for Area X. I actually had fun with Area X. I like Rez, but I don't think much of the "rhythm" side of it. As a matter of fact, there is no advantage at all to matching the beat (unlike say, Child of Eden) and enemies don't even seem to come out according to the music or anything like that. I don't even think it's a rhythm game. It's basically just Panzer Dragoon meets Tron. I do find the soundtrack amazing though.
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Post by pierrepressure on Feb 20, 2023 20:48:34 GMT
I thought it was just me who didn't like Rez, I've bought it twice too, the second time I thought I hadn't given it a proper chance but no, still no fun.
I also like the music but as a game, it's not very enjoyable.
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Post by dfunked on Feb 20, 2023 21:29:29 GMT
I missed it on the PS2, but got caught up in the hype and couldn't believe my luck when Rez HD dropped on 360... Then I actually played it and discovered that it was a bit shit.
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Post by theguy on Feb 20, 2023 21:39:54 GMT
I thought it might be just me who didn't get on with Rez too, but then I checked the trophy list and only about 8% of players have actually been through and completed the final level. Given how short the game is, I've chosen to take this as indisputable proof that (almost) no one really likes Rez very much but it just takes brave boys like me to actually say it. malek86 You're not wrong actually. I might even have enjoyed it more if it did have some more rhythm elements.
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Ulythium
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Post by Ulythium on Feb 20, 2023 23:54:44 GMT
BioShock.
Maybe there's something truly original waiting to be said about this game, even after all these years...
... But I'm damned if I can think of it.
9/10.
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Post by Wizzard_Ook on Feb 21, 2023 8:51:53 GMT
Horizon Forbidden West
Mixed. Actually put this on the abandon pile a few weeks ago, but after a week of not playing I had an itch to carry on with it so it must be doing something right. A lot of the reasons I did abandon it - combat being flakey (and off screen attacks resulting in huge amount of health loss or deaths), janky platforming, Aloy generally being annoying and not that nice to be around still stand true, but I guess I managed to finally get in a rhythm with it and complete it. It's a looker, and the moments where the game does come together are reminders the potential the series has, but for every cool thing it does, it has one irritating thing too.
6 or 7 out of 10.
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Post by Chopper on Feb 21, 2023 10:18:21 GMT
I loved the call backs to Dark Souls 1 and they are actually the first thing I think of when I think of DS3, which is funny because I'm not a lore guy. Given the world was so different, it was unexpectedly touching to see some of the old characters.
Edit: Oh, I finished (completed a run on) Slice and Dice on Easy, Normal and Hard now so maybe I'll be able to move on. There are loads more modes though, and it's got its hooks into me deep. Great game, gives Slay the Spire (gasp) a run for its money IMO. I'm a long way from mastering even the classic mode and might not be able to replicate my Hard win for a while.
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Post by Trowel π΄σ §σ ’σ ·σ ¬σ ³σ Ώ on Feb 21, 2023 19:11:31 GMT
Titanfall 2 - 8/10 Great single player campaign - maybe a touch too short, but understandable giving the MP focus. Some brilliant levels and set pieces, and loved the pilot combat and weaponary far more than the titan loadouts - just a bit annoying that you only get to use the best weapon in the game right at the end of the campaign, especially considering where you get it from
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Post by Hanimalle on Feb 26, 2023 10:11:12 GMT
Roadwarden
What a fantastic game, it took me around 20 hours to finish it and I'm certain I'll come back to this one in a year or so. Everything from the art to the music as well as the writing felt cohesive and atmospheric in a way that strongly evokes a sense of place.
I'm very glad that the goal I chose for my character, which was simply to help people, was mostly fulfilled, especially given how I knew from the reviews that this wasn't a game with a fairy tale ending.
I will actually miss this place and (some of) its inhabitants. And, as is usual for me when I've finished a very good RPG, it will require some time for me (usually a few days) to move on from the sadness I now feel.
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Post by dfunked on Feb 26, 2023 10:17:28 GMT
Dead Space Remake - 8/10
Has a few dips with sections that really outstay their welcome, but for the most part it's an edge of your seat experience. Lovely graphics obviously, with an understated score that can really send tingles down your spine at times. I think I only ever played a few chapters of the original, so didn't have much of an issue with familiarity setting in. A decent length, too. Not too long and not too short. Just right.
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Post by pierrepressure on Feb 26, 2023 11:11:31 GMT
Super Mario Land 2 - 7/10
Last time I played this I was around 9-10 years of age. I never completed it at the time so I've had some unfinished business.
It plays well but is very easy, even later levels provide almost no challenge which was a surprise having been used to some of the more difficult Mario's in recent years.
Some really poor slowdown, not sure if anything can be done by Nintendo in the emulation?
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askew
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Post by askew on Feb 26, 2023 16:47:13 GMT
Everybody's Gone To The Rapture.
I loved it, up until the final hour when it started to frustrate me and wish it were over already. That said, the final piece of music was beautiful- the whole score is fantastic.
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Post by RadicalRex on Feb 26, 2023 16:50:06 GMT
Some really poor slowdown, not sure if anything can be done by Nintendo in the emulation? I'm no expert on this, but while overclocking to eliminate slowdown is common in e.g. NES and SNES emulation, it's suspiciously absent from any GB emulation I know of. Even Google returns next to nothing on the topic, and e.g. the Emulation General Wiki article on overclocking doesn't even mention the GB. I watched a video on hardware overclocking of a GB, but that generally increased the speed of the games instead of just removing slowdown. Again, no expert, but my guess is there's something about how the system works that makes it extremely difficult or downright impossible. Like, perhaps display update is inextricably linked to the number of CPU cycles, as opposed to NES/SNES where it updates 50/60 times per second no matter how many cycles have elapsed inbetween. Or something like that.
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Post by dfunked on Feb 26, 2023 20:19:49 GMT
Soul Hackers 2 - 7/10
Decent enough SMT/Persona style combat with a few twists to the formula. It's mostly let down by the utterly drab environments it drops you in (with a couple of exceptions)
It's free on GP this coming week anyway, and worth a look if you fancy scratching that turn based combat itch.
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Post by Nitrous on Feb 26, 2023 20:25:04 GMT
The Quarry (PS5)
Completely missed this upon it's original release despite really enjoying Until Dawn. It recently joined the ps plus extra catalogue so thought it'd be worth a go at least. It took until about the 3rd or 4th chapter to get really get going but I enjoyed this just as much if not more. Its not exactly scary and for those who hate QTE you can expand the timing from the options along with how long you have to make story decisions.
Next up...
Sifu Playing on the easiest difficult setting which was patched in after release I eventually got the hang of things. Getting to the end isn't so much a problem it's more about doing so while reducing the number of deaths you go through.
The first level in which you reach a corridor is simply amazing. It's probably one of my favourite parts to this game and it's a shame the development team couldn't utilise the perspective used more often. Fantastic game, now I'm going to watch The Raid (again) π
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Post by π on Feb 26, 2023 20:50:47 GMT
Yeah, game boy games are tied to clock rate inherently, so unlike NES/SNES overclocks where it just fixes games that canβt maintain frame rate, overclocking a GB speeds everything up.
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Post by bichii2 on Feb 26, 2023 23:46:56 GMT
BioShock.
Maybe there's something truly original waiting to be said about this game, even after all these years...
... But I'm damned if I can think of it.
9/10.
WOULD YOU KINDLY TELL ME WHAT IT LOST A POINT FOR!!?
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Ulythium
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Post by Ulythium on Feb 27, 2023 0:15:33 GMT
bichii2 Good question! A couple of minor technical issues - not surprising for a game of its age, I guess - and the need to switch hands for plasmids and weapons seeming a bit clunky (I believe they changed this for Infinite, but I haven't played that yet). Minor quibbles, to say the very least. The only game to which I'd give 10/10 (thus far) is Sekiro, so I'm probably hard to please as well.
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Post by bichii2 on Feb 27, 2023 0:23:48 GMT
Oooooh infinite is absolutely amazing as well but I prefer the original slightly. I'd go bioshock ten with infinite getting a nine.
Yeah I don't have many tens, maybe.
Bioshock, botw, sekiro, Bloodborne, mario64, half life 2, Deus ex. The last of us. Halo 3.
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Post by ToomuchFluffy on Feb 27, 2023 5:06:05 GMT
bichii2 Good question! A couple of minor technical issues - not surprising for a game of its age, I guess - and the need to switch hands for plasmids and weapons seeming a bit clunky (I believe they changed this for Infinite, but I haven't played that yet). Minor quibbles, to say the very least. The only games to which I'd give 10/10 (thus far) are Elden Ring and Sekiro, so I'm probably hard to please as well. Still need to get to Infinite, but Bioshock 2 already had gotten rid of the need to switch.
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Post by brainbird on Feb 27, 2023 7:05:38 GMT
Mafia 3
I have a hard time rating it. I really liked the setting and the story and there is attention to a lot of details. On the other hand there are a few weird design choices and it's ridden with bugs and glitches. So 7/10 maybe? Knock a point or two off if you're not ready to tolerate its weaknesses.
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Post by Nanocrystal on Feb 27, 2023 7:20:53 GMT
Add a couple of points back on for that soundtrack though!
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Post by brainbird on Feb 27, 2023 7:23:01 GMT
True, the soundtrack is great. One of the best and up there with Vice City.
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Frog
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Post by Frog on Feb 27, 2023 7:29:49 GMT
Bioshock would lose a point for the combat and writing. Its still a 9/10 game though.
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malek86
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Pomegranate Deseeder
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Post by malek86 on Feb 27, 2023 7:38:08 GMT
Bioshock loses a point for stretching the entire last section far beyond the point where it outstays its welcome.
That's a common problem with games though. There are some, such as Half-Life and Dark Souls, which I might have scored 10 except that not nearly as much care was put into the last parts of the game as in the early ones, and I can't in good faith give 10 if the game isn't amazing from start to finish.
It's really only Quake, System Shock, Outer Wilds, maybe the original Binding of Isaac?
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Post by Chopper on Feb 27, 2023 7:57:56 GMT
My only 10 is Demon's Souls. Maybe it should lose a fraction due to the overlong boss runs to Flamelurker and Allant, and possibly the original pure bladestone bit.
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