wunty
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Post by wunty on Jun 19, 2023 19:37:59 GMT
The other thing with Soma is the weird way it handles dying. I've watched a couple of people play it and the reaction is always the same - confusion Oh? What do you mean? It's been forever since I played it and I can't actually recall that element of it.
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Post by Aunt Alison on Jun 19, 2023 22:13:19 GMT
If you get caught, you just respawn the first time and move more slowly until you find a healing thing. You only die properly if you get caught again before healing. It's just weird and doesn't make any sense. Kills the tension a bit as well
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Quasi
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Post by Quasi on Jun 20, 2023 0:02:15 GMT
Disonored 2 is easily the better game for me. Bigger in scope to the point where it makes the first game feel small in comparison. It's everything a sequel should be- take everything from the first game and make it bigger and better I still love the first one though
Though it's true that the thing with Sam is a bit questionable. I don't remember how that turned out in High Chaos, but I doubt it made more sense.
Functionally the same: He saves you for Emily's sake but tells you to go to hell at the end. Unless you've been really bad, in which case he tells the guards you're there, too. Not the most elegantly handled bit of the story, sure.
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Post by ToomuchFluffy on Jun 20, 2023 5:15:17 GMT
I didn't remember his justification for still helping Corvo, but yeah, I vividly recall him firing a pistol to alert them before rowing away.
Edit: On Soma. I can only agree on that. I never understood what they were going for with that and the visual effect is merely annoying. Nothing more.
Black Mesa (19 hours): I don't have too much more to say on it, it just felt like a mixed bag to me overall. The first Xen-chapter was quite impressive and while it was a bit long it had enough visual variety and there was less combat and more environmental story-telling. But Gonarch's Lair lasts too long without much of a reason for it in my opinion. At least personally I'm not the biggest fan of these kinds of actiony chase sequences. Similar case with the kind of strange Gargantua-chase after that. And Interloper was just very repetitive. Challenging too, but unfortunately rarely in an interesting way. For the most part one just keeps firing the Gluon gun. All of that scale seemed a bit wasted, considering that the game keeps throwing more samey puzzles or Controller fights at the player during much of the duration.
Oh, and it's about three times as long as Opposing Force and about twice as long as Half Life. That's part of the problem.
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wunty
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Post by wunty on Jun 20, 2023 8:23:37 GMT
If you get caught, you just respawn the first time and move more slowly until you find a healing thing. You only die properly if you get caught again before healing. It's just weird and doesn't make any sense. Kills the tension a bit as well I'm going to have to play it again as I really can't recall that aspect at all. Although a quick google took me here, which might explain what they were trying to do:
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Post by Aunt Alison on Jun 20, 2023 8:34:28 GMT
The problem is it's just an annoying state of being and I've noticed that once people realise what's happening, they become more prone to just making a run for it due to the relative lack of consequence for being caught
I think it's an issue with any horror game with stalking enemies. They're scary until you get caught, then they lose their mystique and just become annoying
I think the trick is to make you feel like you're in danger but design it so the enemy has to work really hard to actually get you. Stopping the player from realising that is the difficult part
The boss fight against the witches in Bloodbourne terrified me because I had those things slowly stalking me but they never once got me or even attacked. Not knowing what would happen if they did is what was so scary. I beat the boss first time and didn't take a single hit but even now the fight still creeps me out because of that first experience
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Post by Rubicon on Jun 20, 2023 9:10:22 GMT
19. Horace
This made me angry. Not for any of the platforming, which I didn't find particularly hard and can be done with a bit of patience (ironically), though I would say puzzles lack the rhythm of Celeste. It's the unskippable cutscenes (with the option to skip them bizarrely hidden away in the menus) that feel pointlessly dragged out to fit in another pop culture reference or the unskippable minigames (because what I really wanted was to play Guitar Hero in a platformer) constantly breaking the game up that pissed me off. I don't think it gets going until about chapter 12 and by that time I was done but gritted my teeth.
5/10
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wunty
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Post by wunty on Jun 20, 2023 9:22:32 GMT
The problem is it's just an annoying state of being and I've noticed that once people realise what's happening, they become more prone to just making a run for it due to the relative lack of consequence for being caught I think it's an issue with any horror game with stalking enemies. They're scary until you get caught, then they lose their mystique and just become annoying I think the trick is to make you feel like you're in danger but design it so the enemy has to work really hard to actually get you. Stopping the player from realising that is the difficult part The boss fight against the witches in Bloodbourne terrified me because I had those things slowly stalking me but they never once got me or even attacked. Not knowing what would happen if they did is what was so scary. I beat the boss first time and didn't take a single hit but even now the fight still creeps me out because of that first experience Oh I'm with you. It's a fault inherent in the genre. I think you've got to go all in and immerse yourself in order to actually feel the fear that the devs are working hard to instill. As soon as you try to "game" it, you realise what you're up against and yeah, you just fucking leg it.
It's up to the devs to immerse you though, and in all honesty, I think Frictional are one of the ones that are capable of it. It's telling that I don't recall the death mechanic but I do recall getting utterly fucking freaked out at multiple parts of the game and borderline traumatised by the ending.
Two words: Jin Yoshida. Motherfucker still gives me nightmares.
As an aside, I'm playing The Bunker right now and they've done it again. I spent fifteen minutes cowering in the dark when the generator failed too scared to move.
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wunty
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Post by wunty on Jun 20, 2023 9:25:45 GMT
I actually think action horror games make it work better. Look at FEAR. You're overpowered to fuck, killing soldiers left right and centre, yet it's still terrifying. See also: Condemned. The supernatural elements work hand in hand with the elements in the game that can actually kill you, so you never really know if that jump scare that's just happened will result in very real enemies arriving to kick your arse. You end up on edge the entire time.
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ekz
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Post by ekz on Jun 20, 2023 9:59:46 GMT
FEAR instilled a genuine horror towards creepy small children in TV/movies/games for me. I was playing demonologist or whatever it is the other day with mates and a child laughed in it and I shit myself.
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Post by Bill in the rain on Jun 20, 2023 10:01:32 GMT
I never really found FEAR very scary. It was an ace action game, and the horror dressing was fine, but I never really thought of it as a horror game.
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wunty
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Post by wunty on Jun 20, 2023 10:04:46 GMT
It's more the constant sense of dread. Fwiw I personally find FEAR 2 more scary, but nothing beats the department store level in Condemned.
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Tuffty
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Post by Tuffty on Jun 20, 2023 10:21:32 GMT
Fiance is playing SOMA currently and she has enabled the option to remove the monster threat. I thought it would be that they disappear entirely but instead they're there, they do chase you it's just that they're no threat. Doesn't exactly help her because she hates being chased anyway lol
Fitness Boxing : Fist of the North Star - 6/10
An odd one to quantify because technically you don't really 'complete' a game like this but I have seen everything the game has to offer at this point so I feel qualified to speak on it. I'd say this is really for FOTNS enthusiasts only. It already is essentially a reskin of Fitness Boxing 2 from my understanding, unless you know or care enough about FOTNS there isn't going to be anything here to entice you or convert you into a fan. The presentation of the FOTNS aspect is extremely barebones, you can see they had no budget for it. The big confrontatation against the antagonists amounts to displaying panels from the manga with some of the worst voice acting. All round voice acting is poor, you would expect that with the source material having plenty of guys getting passionate and screaming that there would be more energy during your workout routine but they're so dull and monotone I'm convinced thatToki sounds like they just got an AI to voice it. It doesn't look great, there's a handful of stages and songs so there is a lot of repitition and some exercises requiring big movements to the side or ducking don't register properly.
And yet I was still enticed enough to come back to it everyday. I have a hard time finding the dedication to stick to daily exercise but the game does enough to gamify it that makes it enjoyable to me. The Daily Workout routine mode is goot at providing a rigid structure and set plan depending on what you want to achieve, whether it's full body workout, losing fat, building stamina or focusing on specific parts of the body. On it's hardest setting you go through a full hour routine where on average you'll have thrown around 2000 punches in addition to stepping back and forth. As the sweat's rolling off me each time and I do feel immensely satisfied enough to contnue playing through to the point where I recently passed the 50k total punches goal. I wouldn't say it's a replacement for going to the gym but as something to keep the body going and giving the body a workout is enjoyable so personally I'd say the game is prob an 7? Your mileage will vary depending on how much you like the source material and the novelty of having these characters as your fitness instructors.
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wunty
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Post by wunty on Jun 20, 2023 11:01:52 GMT
Talking of FEAR. Trepang2 is getting pretty good reviews. Wonder if there are any plans for a console release.
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Post by ToomuchFluffy on Jun 20, 2023 11:52:32 GMT
The problem is it's just an annoying state of being and I've noticed that once people realise what's happening, they become more prone to just making a run for it due to the relative lack of consequence for being caught I think it's an issue with any horror game with stalking enemies. They're scary until you get caught, then they lose their mystique and just become annoying I think the trick is to make you feel like you're in danger but design it so the enemy has to work really hard to actually get you. Stopping the player from realising that is the difficult part The boss fight against the witches in Bloodbourne terrified me because I had those things slowly stalking me but they never once got me or even attacked. Not knowing what would happen if they did is what was so scary. I beat the boss first time and didn't take a single hit but even now the fight still creeps me out because of that first experience Oh I'm with you. It's a fault inherent in the genre. I think you've got to go all in and immerse yourself in order to actually feel the fear that the devs are working hard to instill. As soon as you try to "game" it, you realise what you're up against and yeah, you just fucking leg it.
It's up to the devs to immerse you though, and in all honesty, I think Frictional are one of the ones that are capable of it. It's telling that I don't recall the death mechanic but I do recall getting utterly fucking freaked out at multiple parts of the game and borderline traumatised by the ending.
Two words: Jin Yoshida. Motherfucker still gives me nightmares. As an aside, I'm playing The Bunker right now and they've done it again. I spent fifteen minutes cowering in the dark when the generator failed too scared to move.
I did my replay of Soma in Safe Mode and I still was rather careful and creeped out much of the time.
Fun fact: Yoshida might not attack you in Safe Mode, but if you throw something at him, he will still retaliate
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wunty
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Post by wunty on Jun 20, 2023 11:58:31 GMT
I just remember opening a door, way way down there in the trench, and he was just... standing there. I completely crapped myself.
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Post by ToomuchFluffy on Jun 20, 2023 12:01:17 GMT
I certainly remember.
I think part of why Soma worked so well was that they had a good amount of different threats that worked by completely different rules.
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malek86
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Pomegranate Deseeder
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Post by malek86 on Jun 20, 2023 14:50:19 GMT
I never really found FEAR very scary. It was an ace action game, and the horror dressing was fine, but I never really thought of it as a horror game. True, but I think what made FEAR scarier was that there weren't many other first-person horror games back then, so it stood out, even if the horror part was secondary to the shooting.
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Post by ToomuchFluffy on Jun 21, 2023 12:57:15 GMT
Finished Off-Peak, a small (30 minutes) free game (steam). The weird imagery and music felt reminiscent of The Norwood Suite and sure enough it's by the same people. It's essentially just some free-form First person exploration, listening (text only) to some people while looking at the environmental detail.
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wunty
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Post by wunty on Jun 21, 2023 13:40:17 GMT
Talking of FEAR. Trepang2 is getting pretty good reviews. Wonder if there are any plans for a console release. And like that, they've just announced it's coming to consoles later this year.
Sweeeet.
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Post by Hanimalle on Jun 22, 2023 7:21:40 GMT
Stasis : Bone Totem
I have really enjoyed this one a great deal. I don't want to go too deep into spoiler territory since this is best experienced without too much knowledge about what to expect. Suffice to say, this was one of the best horror-themed point-and-click game I've ever had the pleasure of playing.
Amnesia : The Bunker
Another really strong horror game. I have to say, I've never once been disappointed by Frictional Games. They somehow always manage to reinvent themselves with each new game while staying true to what made the original Amnesia such a hit.
I will admit I think I've made a mistake by choosing the easy difficulty level as it did take some of the tension away from the game by giving me too many resources. It's not too much of an issue however as this is a very replayable game so I'll make sure to pick a harder difficulty level in my next playthrough.
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wunty
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Post by wunty on Jun 22, 2023 7:26:54 GMT
I’m making slow progress with The Bunker. Doesn’t help matters that I pretty much freeze completely every time I hear the bastard.
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Post by Samildanach on Jun 22, 2023 14:13:30 GMT
These three shmups were released in Feb 1992, let's get straight to it!
Koutetsu Yousai Strahl, (Arcade Archives) UPL's final release before they went bankrupt and it is definitely not quite as good as their very enjoyable Earth Defence Force release prior. There are a lot of similarities however, from the way you choose your weapon loadout at the start of each level, to the general feel of the game. Stage 1 has you flying over jungle and into a cave, pleasing at first but a little dull on repeat playthroughs due to lack of challenge. Stage 2 is in stormy clouds with some nice parallax scrolling. Unfortunately it goes on far to long and has quite a few dead spaces between sudden bouts of mayhem. My least enjoyable as a result. Stage 3 involves an ever deteriorating city-scape. The difficulty is starting to ramp up, but it is still very much manageable and the action mostly keeps flowing. Stage 4 is based around and then into a gigantic airship; undeniably a cool level and the second best for me. That leaves Stage 5, the enemy base, as my favourite by far. Visually it is fairly unremarkable, but the gameplay is at its absolute best here as the screen scrolls fast in diagonal directions keeping you constantly utilising your multi-directional arsenal to take down enemies from all angles. The final stage is just the final boss, and it is serviceable but a little dull after the adrenaline of the stage before. I think the money was running out by then and it just had to be shipped. So in all, a game that suffers from a weaker first two levels and final boss, but has 3 rather good stages making it well worth a look. 3/5
Star Trader (X68000) Not exactly a name you would expect to be applied to a shmup, however Falcon (or Ys & Trails fame) released this as a shmup/visual novel hybrid for the PC-88 computer and had an outside company port it to the more powerful X68000. The PC-88 version shmup segments were apparently very poor, and here they have been much improved. The visual novel segments have been ditched in favour for 3 long cutscenes. The first two levels seem quite promising, almost Thunder Force-esq, with lots of action, great music and cycling power up drops that tease lots of powerful options. Stage 3 is a little shorter and with less energy but very oddly from now till the end of the game there is not a single further power up... and your ship doesn't carry over the extra weaponry from the previous stage. Utterly bizzare since the base ship is a little dull. Anyway beat this level and the boss and sadly the game rapidly deteriorates further. Stage 4 seems half empty and has no boss. Stage 5 is manic at least but ends quickly and has a very lackluster boss. Stages 6 & 7 are even shorter still and upon completion you are left thinking 'that's it?' Maybe they ran out of time or budget; I think it would have been much better had they concentrated on delivering 5 good levels and ditching some of the pointless long cut scenes. Oh well. 2/5
Gate of Thunder (PC Engine) Oh this is my cup of tea. No surprise as it was coded by the same devs that did Thunder Force III, one of my favourites. Seven levels of pulse-pounding horizontally scrolling mayhem as you take on Don Jingi and his mechanical hordes. The music is utterly fantastic and hard mode spices things up with new enemy placements rather than the usual increase in bullet numbers. I still prefer TFIII since there was more weapon choice in that game, and Gate's levels are almost all variations of mechanical bases, so could have done with a bit more variety perhaps. Never mind, it was still a top tier game for me, 5/5
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Post by Hanimalle on Jun 22, 2023 17:32:52 GMT
I’m making slow progress with The Bunker. Doesn’t help matters that I pretty much freeze completely every time I hear the bastard. He's quite terrifying isn't he ? And much smarter than the monsters from the previous games to boot.
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Post by ToomuchFluffy on Jun 22, 2023 18:26:12 GMT
Oh, really? I wonder if that's really the case. Frictional seem to be big fans of simple AI. Less chance of anything breaking and destroying the illusion too early.
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wunty
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Post by wunty on Jun 22, 2023 18:50:54 GMT
All I know is he makes me crap myself
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hicksy
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I'm good for some but I'm not for everyone
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Post by hicksy on Jun 22, 2023 20:58:27 GMT
Horizon Forbidden West - 8.5/10
All mainline and side quests completed, all errands and collectibles completed. Arena, Hunting Grounds and half the Racing events skipped.
Main Pros: Largely stunning game, great audio and soundtrack, some terrific cut scenes, combat is mostly a joy, good storyline and many great side quests, good characterisation, terrific heroine, varied and interesting map, it’s huge (strap in for a long ride)
Small Cons: Climbing mechanics could be a bit sharper, your assembled gang and mainline story characters are more talkie than a bunch of talkie toasters (about 10hrs into the game just skipped all nonsensical and non core story discussions), it’s huge (just under 70hrs clocked… probably 30hrs unnecessary filler although most of it still fun and addictive)
Could do better/hopes for 3rd game (please): At no point (from what I could tell) do your decisions in quests, tasks or dialogue choices have any significant impacts (like changes to a world location or loss of a gathering party character etc.) even close to end game. Would be nice to feel like your player choices could have some impacts rather than just following a pre-destined path.
Highly recommended and if you enjoyed the first game, a no brainier…
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Post by Hanimalle on Jun 23, 2023 19:12:33 GMT
Oh, really? I wonder if that's really the case. Frictional seem to be big fans of simple AI. Less chance of anything breaking and destroying the illusion too early. I guess it might just be my perception of it but it's definitely less predictable and more reactive than the AI in the original Amnesia for example. Reminded me a little bit of the AI in Alien : Isolation at times.
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Post by ToomuchFluffy on Jun 24, 2023 12:19:02 GMT
Well, it certainly sounds worth giving a try down the line. The demo just showed that I'm not really in the mood for this kind of Horror right now.
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wunty
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Post by wunty on Jun 24, 2023 13:55:51 GMT
It really is terrifying. Making progress though. It’s very good indeed. Might end up being one of my favourite horror games.
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