Game opinions thread (what did you play, what did you think?)

roker

DOOM
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I missed out on both the GBA and DS offerings of Castlevania, so I would like it if they ported them over on the newer consoles so I can give them a try.

They were all really good but maybe not as good as sotn. It did feel watered down though by the time the last one was released but they're all worth a play, imo.
 

jro

Gonna take a lot
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I finished Huntdown on XB1 last night. I don't know if Coffee Stain just didn't have much faith in it or didn't expect it to catch on, but it deserves far more attention than it's received. It's a Contra/Slug-style 2-D side scrolling shooter, and the controls, level designs, bosses, and production values are all really good. It's also extremely reverent of 80's action movies, with the last boss being based on Sho Nuff and using several of his lines quite appropriately.

Far and away worth the $20 price tag and probably just ahead of Nioh 2 for my favorite game of the year so far.
 

MetalSlugVet

Another Striker
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I just picked up Eswat city under siege on genesis. I thought the game was fantastic but it did have some flaws And cheap moments. Most of the stuff I have head about this game is bad but I actually really like it.
 

k'_127

NeoGumby's Sycophant,
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Catch & Release VR - Steam / PSVR


If you have a VR headset with motion controllers, make sure to grab this. I'm not even into fishing games, and ended up enjoying the game a lot.

The fishing mechanics may take time to figure out, but once it clicks and you start advancing in the campign, you will get hooked.

Content-wise, the game is packed and kept surprising me the more I played.

The main issue I faced was that the in-game guide book (where it tells you where / how to catch each fish type) can be misleading or very vague. I had to rely on user posts here and there until someone started a youtube channel to show where to find the different fish types.

Bayonetta


LTTP (long story short, been waiting for a PS4 port).

Got the platinum, but I used cheats for the hard and very hard difficulty runs. I plan to re-visit the game later to S-rank all missions on normal mode legit (w/o the unlockable accessories) and may attempt hard mode on the same manner as well.

Not much to add here, I guess. What I really loved when compared to DMC, is how the game is designed to encourage you to explore the stages without penalizing you with the mission rank. Your time is only evaluated during battles. That, and having some sort of check points / auto-save after each battle, make it very encouraging to S rank the game. The combat itself is also so much fun with so many skills (witch-time and parry) and combos.

Biggest complain is the lack of variety in the locations. Most of the game maps either share the same color-theme, or re-colored locations of previous maps. Also, the way your combos are evaluated make it pointless to go deeper than spamming the same combo over and over again.
 

jro

Gonna take a lot
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Re: Bayonetta - I've always wanted to fight the super secret boss but man, 10 million halos has always just seemed like way too many.
 

k'_127

NeoGumby's Sycophant,
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There are easy ways to grind halos (~ 1 million per battle). I unlocked the boss fight, but it was just a re-skin of the lumen sage fight in climax difficulty (no witch time) with even more damage and no items.
 

jro

Gonna take a lot
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There are easy ways to grind halos (~ 1 million per battle). I unlocked the boss fight, but it was just a re-skin of the lumen sage fight in climax difficulty (no witch time) with even more damage and no items.

I suppose it probably also helps a lot playing on higher difficulties. The prices of the items would break the economy on their own if not.

It does seem kind of underwhelming as far as secret boss fights go. I still want to do it just to prove to myself that I can, but not really in a hurry.
 

andsuchisdeath

General Morden's Aide
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I just picked up Eswat city under siege on genesis. I thought the game was fantastic but it did have some flaws And cheap moments.

What are some of the flaws?

I was going to buy this game but now I might not!
 

Heinz

Parteizeit
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I revisited Goat Simulator last weekend. God damn that game makes no sense and is complete trash.
 

ForeverSublime

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The main issue I faced was that the in-game guide book (where it tells you where / how to catch each fish type) can be misleading or very vague. I had to rely on user posts here and there until someone started a youtube channel to show where to find the different fish types.

Perhaps inadvertently, a lot like real fishing culture.

Aside: I've always sort of dug little parallels like this where the game aesthetic reflects the physical world. Street Fighter II is a good example. The game is about two characters squaring off in conflict, just as the two players are. This works really well with the arcade scene at the time, where just like the game, you're traveling to find opponents/players worth your skill level. Some say there are people still seeking the next challenge. Ceremony means nothing to them.
 

Late

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Started FFXV yesterday, it's about a Japanese boy band that goes camping, drives around in a convertible, and fights monsters. The battle system seems a bit spazzy, even in wait mode; great gfx tho, and I like the main theme. The biggest downside is that the PS4 sounds like a hair dryer at certain points.
 

jro

Gonna take a lot
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Finished Maneater on XB1. Very repetitive, not much variety in the mechanics, somehow still hard to put down. Chris Parnell's voice work was a nice touch.
 

jro

Gonna take a lot
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Finished Shantae and The Seven Sirens on X1 - I've liked the Shantae games well enough, but this is the first one I've finished. Much more of a Metroidvania than a straight platformer, and mostly good. Its mobile roots come through in some of the simple game mechanics, most glaring probably being the oddly boring boss fights.

Also some extremely opaque requirements to progress through the game, with there being multiple occasions where you're required to talk to a specific character with zero indication of who or where that character is. I'd compare some of the requirements in this to the req's for getting the good ending in Momodora 4, and even those were easier to find.

Fun little distraction overall, with very charming characters and writing helping out a lot.
 

LonelyWarbler

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Started FFXV yesterday, it's about a Japanese boy band that goes camping, drives around in a convertible, and fights monsters. The battle system seems a bit spazzy, even in wait mode; great gfx tho, and I like the main theme. The biggest downside is that the PS4 sounds like a hair dryer at certain points.

XV is a solid game. It feels like the devs spent all their time focusing on the brofest at times. The final chapters of the game are super rushed and linear compared to the rest. I still loved playing XV though. Especially in the post game segments with the changes to the car.
 

oliverclaude

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I played Rockman Mega World... a fantastic compilation of the first three Rockman games, ported from the Famicom on to the Mega Drive with a twist. A lot of people don't like that 'twist', thoguh and in the end, it seems to be a matter of how much you're attached to the original releases on one side and on the other, how much you're a Mega Drive fan. I'm a huge one, so the reworked audio-visuals, as well as the whole collection, are right up my alley.

First, I noticed that the Yamaha YM2612 was used to great effect by Kinuyo Yamashita of Castlevania fame. Warm, catchy chip-tunes will greet you right after the Capcom jingle. Equally, graphics make use of the most renowned Mega Drive patterns: tiles, bricks, industrial structures and all nature like clouds or trees will give you a perfect Mega Drive feel and occasionally remind you of other games on Sega's former flagship. Additional parallax planes and the (in)famous color palette are also on board, making it a well rounded package.

What's with these sour rebukes towards these ports you probably heard about? Well, the criticism regarding controlls is a minor, because they work excellent in their own right, with the only gripe being a slight difference compared to the original design: the addition of sidestepping. It performs tight, but also causes a nanosecond-short delay before running off. Yet, in my opinion, that difference adds Rockman kind of a new element and as an avatar, he even gains additional character because of it. It's easy to imagine how the same critics would miss that feature, if it was implemented in the original games, but "corrected" on later ports.

No, the real gripe is slow-down, or rather inconsistent slow-down, which can take a little adaption, notably during boss fights. Overclocking solves the problem, though, so it's only an issue if you play it on default, but even so: once you adapt to it, the overall brilliant atmosphere of the games will make you forget about it during those heart stopping encounters with Wily's mechanical henchmen − especially because, this time around, they're practically flicker-free.

So, for me personally, the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages, or rather the only disadvantage, which is slow-down, but I can understand, that if you're not a Mega Drive fan, these remakes will leave you cold, disappointed or even seriously annoyed. It's defining, that the US, where the most ravaging reviews come from these days, didn't get an official retail release of Rockman Mega World. It seems that for once, Sega displayed exemplary foresight and care in regards to their American customers.
 

andsuchisdeath

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LoneSage

A Broken Man
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God, is it E-SWAT or ESWAT?

oh, it's ESWAT.

Sorry guys. I've been spelling it wrong for over a decade.
 

jro

Gonna take a lot
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For the love of God, do not play 1971 Project Helios. I kind of liked the bargain-bin Mutant Year Zero feel enough to waste 8 hours or so getting to the final mission. Second-to-last mission (mission 8) had a lot of bugs, maybe half of which made me repeat combat encounters, but then the last mission, JESUS FUCKING CHRIST fuck me.

One encounter in particular is basically beholden to RNG. You do the exact right moves and maybe you win, or you may lose if you don't get the perfect roll on 50% hits. I managed to win it twice, but both times the game decided that there was some unseen enemy that I hadn't killed, so the fight kept on going. And all the while, you lose HP every turn due to the freezing weather. After a couple of turns of no enemies to kill but the game thinking there's somebody out there that's not dead yet, you die, and lose.

I put up with it for about 10 tries, lost seven and won three or so. After the last one, that I won, game fucked up again and wouldn't let me proceed. Reset, tried to come back (why? I dunno, fuck me I guess), and my save data was corrupted to a place that made all of my characters turn into a different one that's not in the mission (!!) and I'm immovable.

So I deleted the game and requested a refund, which I don't expect to get, but seriously, how does this shit pass QA? I don't know if I'eve ever seen a more broken game.

Yeah that's a bit of rant but this game deserves it.
 
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NeoSneth

Ned's Ninja Academy Dropout
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Warhammer : Chaosbane - PC
Picked this up as it's a clear Diablo clone set in the Warhammer Fantasy setting. It's good for what it is, but I would not spend more than $20 on this. Each chapter has you going back to the same map 7-10 times, and then you get to a fairly decent boss battle. Only 4 chapters in base game. 2 DLC ones which are quite good.
The biggest positive is the characters and the skill customization. It looks intimidating at first, but you can really kit our your character with different builds. Quick customization slots allow you to save multiple skill builds and gear loadouts.

It's no where near as good as the other Diablo clones out there, but they are adding content over time. Might be a slow grower.
 

jro

Gonna take a lot
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Warhammer : Chaosbane - PC
Picked this up as it's a clear Diablo clone set in the Warhammer Fantasy setting. It's good for what it is, but I would not spend more than $20 on this. Each chapter has you going back to the same map 7-10 times, and then you get to a fairly decent boss battle. Only 4 chapters in base game. 2 DLC ones which are quite good.
The biggest positive is the characters and the skill customization. It looks intimidating at first, but you can really kit our your character with different builds. Quick customization slots allow you to save multiple skill builds and gear loadouts.

It's no where near as good as the other Diablo clones out there, but they are adding content over time. Might be a slow grower.

I found that game to be repetitive as hell as well, and I also still similarly couldn't put it down until I had finished it. The minute-to-minute gameplay is very enjoyable, and like you said, character building is done well and is rewarding. WH40K Inquisitor: Martyr has received a ton of impovements since it came out a couple of years ago, seems like Chaosbane could indeed see similar post-release TLC.

I finished The Foundation DLC for Control now that it's finally out on the XB1 version. Probably my favorite game of 2019, and I had been very much looking forward to playing its DLC, but Foundation was a massive letdown. It doesn't tie up any of the loose ends from the main story (supposedly AWE is going to do that later this summer, but after not bothering to even try twice I don't think Remedy deserves the benefit of the doubt), the area is both drab and boring to play through, and the new powers are uninspired and again, boring, at best. The main boss fight is okay. The best part, easily, is a hidden sidequest that reminded me a little of the Ashtray Maze in the main game but isn't as good.
 
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