Mskotor

March + April update

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24% completed
40% beaten
13% unfinished
9% never played
14% won't play

Firstly 2 games I beat in March. But as it was only 2, I didn't see sense in writing post because of that.


When I started to play this game I heard "Do you REALLY want to beat it?". Turned out this game was crappy and buggy port when it was released. To the point it was unplayable.

But it turned out that it's perfectly playable. And sadly it's only good thing I can say about this game. Plot is standard - "go and avenge your friends". Enemies are utterly stupid (to the point that they can STAND ON their dead comrade and not raise alarm. As someone I killed near entrance of building is "outside" their patrol zone). Save system is disastrous - they thought that it's good idea to limit ability to save game anytime (you can do this 2 times on a map + there are few checkpoints along the way), as it will make game more "challenging". But ofc it doesn't work like this, and only force you to repeat the same boring sequence over and over again if you want to play stealthily.

Game gets a little better near the end, after unlocking most of useful abilities that allow you to move more freely around the map and kill enemies more quickly. Tho I wouldn't be surprised if people wouldn't have patience to stick playing long enough to see slightly better side of this production.



And games from April:







And few games I'm playing recently


- Star Wars: knight of the Old Republic (54 of 57 ach) - I hope it's last update on this game. I already did my DS run, now I need to load some older saves from LS and get remaining achievements

- Road to Gehenna DLC from Talos Principle (2 of 4 ach) - I think I will be at last able to beat it this month. I lack only 4th map puzzles and few stars.

- The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky - I was gifted this game directly, and I feel really bad for not playing in it so far. But I already beat another time-consuming game (Zestiria), so I will focus on this one now.

Trent

Thanks for the update, Mskotor. :)
You have confirmed my impressions of Dark, Mushroom 11, Evoland, and Event[0], and the fact that I only want to play the last of the four. Fortunately, it’s the only one that I own. :) I do have the first Evoland– have you played it and is it any different/better/worse?
So, question for you…do you consider yourself good at platformers? Pretty good? Average? Below average? Really good? I’m actually curious. The reason I ask is due to your characterization of Castle of Illusion as “simple and short” and boss fights being easy. If you got 11/12 achievements is 3.4 hours, in my book, you are very good at platformers. My other conclusion, of course, is that I’m even worse at these games than I thought. :P I never did get past the final boss; I tried many times, but it just didn’t happen, much to my kids’ dismay. We had to watch a video of the end of the game.
[Edit: It also occurs to me that lots of people might have played the original version of the game (a lot) so maybe they started with a leg up. Had you played the original?]
You mentioned Ori. I played on Easy– I’m certain it’s the only way I could have gotten past some of the escape sequences that almost made me give up– in Easy they add checkpoints. Ori was the hardest game I’ve ever finished, and you apparently pretty much breezed through it.
I hope this doesn’t sound like an attack– it’s certainly not meant to. But just remember that somebody reading this who isn’t great at platformers may think, “hmm, this game is easy and short, really made for kids– maybe I’ll be able to do it! And then they’ll find that it’s actually only easy for veterans of platformers who’ve probably been playing them since they were kids. =)

Mskotor

Hi :D

First of all I don’t see it as some way of attack. And don’t think that anyone would see it like this. I will divide my answer in parts, I like to organize stuff ; D

  1. I didn’t play in Evoland, so I can’t tell much about it. Only that I heard it’s different from Evoland 2. In 1st you start in “old style” and via unlocking certain “features” move into more recent game mechanic. So it looks kinda like DLC Quest (?) where you have to unlock jump, shot etc. In Evoland 2 you don’t unlock any new game mechanic, only ways of transportation and ability to jump through time between past, present and future. But you have the same abilities everywhere. So you swing your sword the same way in past and future.

  2. I consider myself moderate at them. I was able to beat Ori and Blind Forest, Dust: An Elysian Tail or Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate, but I suck hard in Super Meat Boy, They Bleed Pixels or Dustforce DX. In general I can play in games which require some skills, but not perfect timing. And Castle of Illusion is for me like this, you can miss most of the enemies, and environmental hazards aren’t at every step. As for last boss - I replayed it like 10 or 15 times. Most of the time it’s enough to stay in one place and jump rhythmically. I had problems when half of the flour fell down, and she was shooting projectiles and using this swirling attack at the same time.

  3. And I didn’t play in original version of CoI. I hadn’t been playing in platformers in general when I was young, I focused on RPGs and strategies. (You can read in my Ori review on BLAEO that playing it wasn’t sunshine and rainbows for me xD I did lower difficulty on those time-sequences 2 times, as I wasn’t able to get past them - in the tree and during owl chase).

Trent

Thank you Mskotor for the nice reply. :)

  1. Yeah, I think the first Evoland might be a bit more “accessible.” They probably needed to make the sequel “bigger and better” which is probably more than I need.
  2. Well like I said, my conclusion is that I’m probably even worse at platformers than I imagined. ;-) And yes, that last stage of the final boss is the one I couldn’t get past. I had enough trouble with the tower climbing sequence and the earlier stages of the boss…that last stage simply did me in. :(
  3. I re-read your review. It’s interesting that while I probably had a harder time in Ori than you did, I had a MUCH HARDER time in Castle of Illusion compared to you. I still think 15-plus hours in Ori is pretty impressive for getting the same achievements I got. If the Ginso tree or lava escape had been earlier in the game, I might have given up entirely. But by Ginso Tree I was already hooked, and by lava escape I was almost finished with the game.
Mskotor

Well there are games which people think are nice and soothing. And I find them boring or annoying. Or super hard (like FTL or Binding of Isaac xD). We can’t be good in everything.

About Castle of Illusion - in Ori you have broader view of the map, while in Castle of Illusion you can see only really small portion of what lies ahead. It can also be something that prevent you from playing it easily, as you can’t plan your movement beforehand. Plus most of the time it’s less “claustrophobic” and in CoI it’s mostly narrow corridors and bookshelves.

Lucky Thirteen

I played Dark a long while ago and I actually enjoyed the game, despite its shortcomings. The checkpoint system was infuriating indeed, stealth and limited saves just don’t mix >_<
Shame to hear that Mushroom 11 ends up being about timing though, I was very interested in the game as it kinda-sorta reminded me of Vessel.

Mskotor

You can watch gameplays from 6 - 7 levels. And decide if this amount of time-based sequences is ok with you. With me it wasn’t.

And yeah, Dark is enjoyable (in it’s own way) at the end. But it’s annoying at the begining, when you can’t jump further with blink or can’t kill silently enemies with shadow grip.

Arbiter Libera

Have you played any other Tales of games? How would you compare them to Zestiria if you did? Also, did you feel the absence of that DLC story if you didn’t have it?

Mskotor

Nope, it was my first Tales game. And if others are similar to it I think I won’t play them. I like RPGs, but Zestiria type of gameplay is not for me. Not in a long run.

As for DLC - I didn’t feel at all that story is not complete. I had to look on steam to see that there are DLCs at all. But at the same time it’s mostly cosmetic stuff. And one story that revolves around character that is absent majority of the game.

Arbiter Libera

Good to know. I also have the game, but I’ve been putting it off before getting the DLC. Seeing as it’s not really that impactful I think might give ToZ a go some time soon. Them JRPGs are such a time commitment, though.