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Sorcery! Parts 1 & 2 (PC) by dkirschner (Sep 3rd, 2026 at 15:47:16) |
I played Part 1 for about an hour. Apparently it's only 2 hours long, but I couldn't bother to get through it. It's an Inkle game, received in an Inkle Humble Bundle, and I had never heard of this early effort of theirs, so I was intrigued. I see the Inkle DNA in it, a branching storyline, minimal gameplay, roguelike-ish elements (this has a "rewind" button, so instead of starting a "run" over, you just rewind to a previous decision).
The story is typical high fantasy stuff. You're an unnamed adventurer going to get a magical crown. Choose which way you go on the map, see little scenarios, make little choices, engage in half-baked combat, die a lot. The combat is kind of a guessing game. You have stamina (health), and you can select how powerful your attack is, from 0 (defend) to 10 (a massive slash). The enemy will also select an attack power, but only sometimes reveals its intention in text. So if it hunkers down, then you should also defend, and not waste attack power. If it readies itself for a big attack, you should do a bigger attack, which will overwhelm it. Sometimes, it doesn't say anything, and you can be safe and defend (take 1 stamina damage) or you can try to attack. You take damage based on the difference between the attack power of your attack and the enemy's attack, though I didn't quite work out the math. So if you attack for 5 and the enemy attacks for 7 (whether or not it gave a tell), you take damage. And then there are spells, which is a whole mechanic where you manually enter three-lettered spells (HOT shoots a fireball, WAL forms a protective barrier, etc.).
That's it. I was yawning after half an hour. I mean, I found the style and setting kind of interesting, but the combat was frustrating, and it was just...reading high fantasy text. I have 10 better fantasy RPGs and fantasy books sitting around that I'd rather engage with. Pass. Sorry, Inkle! I'll try Overboard! and Expelled! soon.
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GRIP: Combat Racing (PC) by dkirschner (Sep 3rd, 2026 at 15:34:09) |
Really poor "combat racing" game. I played for under an hour. Tracks are uninspired and were already repeating themselves. The tutorial immediately made me skeptical because it would progress quickly through tooltips before I could read what the information said. It also had one part where it wanted you to use an item with R1, but the tutorial said use L1. And it was really confusing with the controls, calling L1/R1 something else, and also giving keyboard controls, because the tutorial didn't change based on whatever input was detected.
Anyway, it's a combat racing game. There are like 4 weapons only, a speed boost, a shield, and I guess a couple other things. In the campaign, you just race around the same boring tracks over and over through like 12 different tournaments, each of which (so far) has 3 different races. It's like the game has an hour of content and was like, "We'll just have the player do that 12 times," Difficulty seemed weirdly varied, like sometimes, I would be dead last forever after wrecking one time, whereas other times, I would wreck and no one would pass me. There's also a weird thing about manually resetting your car on the track if you crash/go off course. It doesn't just reset you like in any normal racing game. Instead, you have to reset yourself, and half the time I would reset myself backwards, like going the wrong way, and would waste like 15 seconds trying to orient myself. Totally unnecessary!
Yeah, really poor experience...but, it was in some Humble Bundle, and I can't resist a racing game with missiles and stuff. No real time or money lost on this one.
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Spelunky 2 (PC) by dkirschner (Sep 2nd, 2026 at 16:31:29) |
Gonna go ahead and retire this one, too. I realize there's a reason that these two extremely difficult games (Baba and Spelunky) were sitting in my "playing" category for years. Any time I picked them up, I'd go, "Nah, not right now, I'll come back to it when I have more time to devote." And I'd pick it up later, it would be hard, and I'd postpone again.
Spelunky 2 is like the first one. It's a hard as nails roguelike platformer. You die constantly. I made it to the first shortcut and I think last time I was playing (before this), I made it to the boss of one of the next levels. But today, no chance. I played for 20 minutes and don't think I lasted more than 2 minutes in a run. One thing I notice that's different about this one is that there are branching paths you can take. That is, once you get to the first checkpoint, you can go one of two ways, and sometimes those seem random? Or are they always a choice between the jungle and the volcano? Not sure.
Anyway, I as with Baba Is You, I really do like Spelunky 2, but it's bested my patience and precision, and I don't want to play it anymore or look at it sitting, judging me, in my backlog. On to something else! I'm playing the lowest rated and oldest games in my backlog next, then clearing out all non-Steam/PS5 games (i.e., freebies on Epic and GoG).
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Baba is You (PC) by dkirschner (Sep 1st, 2026 at 17:19:17) |
Ooookay, I started this years ago, have come back to it a couple times, and always set it aside again because it breaks my brain. Last week, I decided I was going to tackle Baba Is You for real, and I beat the level I had been stuck on really quickly. "Great!" I thought, "I've got the hang of it!" A few levels later: "What in the world...?" And thus a pattern was born. Get stuck. Either figure it out or watch a video and copy it. Solve a few more levels. Get stuck. Figure it out or watch a video and copy it. Solve a few more levels. Get stuck. Etc. Decide I don't want to do continue this pattern for the duration of the game. Write GameLog. Close GameLog.
I had reviewed a couple papers about Baba Is You, so I was really excited to get back to it, thinking that somehow reviewing papers on problem-solving strategies in a notoriously difficult puzzle game would give me an edge. It did not. Also, those reviews were a while ago.
The game is brilliant though. It's so simple, but combines basic commands into complex strings. You start with two rules: "Baba is You" and "Flag is Win." You are Baba. Move to the Flag and Win. Each element--words and objects--can be moved around. You can reconfigure those first two rules to say "Baba is Flag," which turns Baba into a Flag and is game over (because "You" have to be something). But "Flag is You" works just fine. Suddenly, Baba becomes inert and you control the Flag. Move "Win" over to "Baba is..." (now Baba is Win), touch Baba with the Flag (which is now You), and You Win.
The level I am stopping at has the following rules at the beginning:
Water is Sink (anything that touches Water Sinks)
Baba has Rock (if Baba goes away, there is a Rock in his place)
Wall is Stop (can't pass through Walls)
Baba is Move (Baba moves when You do [note that You are not Baba here])
Rock is Push (You [whoever You are] can Push Rocks)
Flag is Win
Keke is You
Some commands are behind Walls, so You won't be able to touch those. Others are in the open, so those are the ones You figure out how to manipulate. In this level, Rock is Push and a combination of Baba has Rock and Baba is Move (where one "Baba" is used in both commands) are in the open. There is a Flag in the a space in the middle of a bunch of Water. Baba and Keke are in the open, too. So, the question is how to get You (currently Keke) to the Flag without Sinking in the Water. I actually figured it out. I have to move the words so that Rock has Rock, which means that after Baba Sinks in the Water, the Rock he leaves behind will also have a Rock. Keke can Push that Rock, Sink it, which produces another Rock, which Keke Pushes, Sinks, and produces another Rock...continue until a path is cleared through the Water so that Keke can get the Flag. Easy enough.
Often, levels build on each other. Not just new words ("has" is new in this level), but iterations on the same level. So, once I beat this level, it might give me some variation where, I don't know, the Water is Sink and Float, or something. Then you have to deal with that new property. It's going to get harder and I'm going to get stuck and the pattern will repeat.
So, in the end, I appreciate Baba is You, but I don't want to play it anymore!
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Dishonored 2 (PS4) by jp (Aug 29th, 2026 at 12:35:25) |
Finished the Dust District - and yes, it took me a while because I discovered a (to me) fun new ending. Since I've been trying to play non-violently, I've been focused on trying NOT to kill the main characters - just render them unconscious.
The setup for the Dust District is that your trying to get into this house with a crazy puzzle lock. There are two factions in the area and if you deliver the leader of one to the other, the other will help you out. Well, I solved the puzzle - so I could have moved on to the house, but I thought I'd take out both leaders! And then I came upon this additional plot to send some people hidden in these crates - and I got a new objective, pack up the leaders of each faction instead! I thought this was pretty fun and funny...so I did that.
Now, this area wasn't small - and I was taking a long time, but it turns out the house is another level entirely! So, not like the Clockwork mansion where you make your way through other parts of the city with the mansion at the end. Here, the house is another level entirely.
I'll see if I can finish that one some time soonish!
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Eternal Sonata (PS3) by dkirschner |
| Not much idea what to expect. Hopefully it's a pretty story and excellent music. ----------- Story was lame, Chopin totally divorced from the story. Combat generally but, gets button mashy and blocking begins to feel cheap. |
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most recent entry: Friday 23 May, 2014
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Ok, first off, the premise of this game is so incredibly unique. That drew me in 100%. I’ll talk about how great it is. But the premise is covered up with a layer of mediocre JRPG fare that I am not enamored with. I’ll talk about why this game should have been so much better too. Full disclosure: I quit after around 20 hours, probably near the end of Chapter 4. So if something amazing happened after that that made the game worth finishing, I don’t know about it.
Here’s the premise. The game takes place inside Frederic Chopin’s mind as he lays on his deathbed. Chopin was a famous composer in Austria and France back in the day. Chopin is a playable character, and he meets people in this fantasy world he has created. Presumably, the fantasy world reflects some of his own struggles with life and death, his passion for music, his love life, the political situation in Europe at the time, and other aspects of his life and time.
There are historical cut scenes every now and then with a slideshow of real paintings that tell the story of Chopin’s life. One I remember was about him running off with a woman, another about his breakup with the woman, one about his political views and so on. These cut scenes are an INCREDIBLE part of this game. They contextualize Chopin as a person, and they contextualize his compositions, one of which plays in the background of each scene. They also presumably have something to do with what is going on in the fantasy world of his deathbed dream. Presumably.
I looked and looked and I can’t figure out the parallels between the compositions and these beautiful cut scenes and the rest of the game. This is where Eternal Sonata breaks down as a truly unique idea. The Chopin stuff is really just a thin coat of shine on an otherwise mediocre JRPG. You start to see through it and eventually it wears off and you realize that that was some cheap polish.
The fantasy land in Chopin’s mind, although imbued with beautiful art and an excellent soundtrack, is drab. You follow a bunch of annoying kids around who get inexplicably and impossibly involved in world politics. When I knew it was headed for disaster was when a couple characters, who are upset over taxes on goods that they sell in the city, decide to travel to the king’s castle and complain. Right, like the king is going to entertain two kids who don’t understand how taxes work. The king, by the way, is the most obviously evil king stereotype. He reminds me of Joffrey Baratheon in A Song of Ice and Fire. He looks just like him, and he sits askance on his throne insulting his subordinates, speaking in a cruel and smartass manner, plotting, planning, and being generally bad. His master plan is to get people hooked on “mineral powder”, which turns people into mindless zombies after a while, so he can have a big army to invade another city. The whole mineral powder idea is explained to death when it really takes one sentence to understand. The characters are such idiots that they really just do not get it, they don’t understand taxes, they don’t understand why mineral powder is curiously the only good in the kingdom that isn’t taxed (to get people to buy it duh), they are just mentally useless characters.
So there is another city and some rebels and yada yada, typical and simple JRPG political stuff. You might be asking yourself at this point what anything has to do with Chopin. The answer is “nothing.” Chopin is just dropped into the middle of an often childish fantasy JRPG. He’s just a character you can play as who occasionally gets a special pretty cut scene talking about his real life. It could have been Mr. T or President Obama or Doge and the effect would have been the same.
All the standard JRPG elements are here: most of your characters are annoying kids, explore towns and click on everything hoping to find items, visit shops to upgrade equipment, requisite mediocre at best voice acting, lots of bumbling NPCs in villages who repeat two meaningless lines of dialogue, level up to increase stats and learn new skills, find treasure chests, go through big confusing dungeon areas, overly evil bad guy, and on and on and on. Unlike many JRPGs, this one is very linear. You can’t ever explore outside where you are supposed to be. There also aren’t any side quests.
Another thing that should have been cooler are what’s called “scores.” Throughout the game, you find musical scores. Sometimes other NPCs will want to play a score with you. They play their score and you choose a score to accompany them. Some sound good together and some are dissonant. This was fun for a while, but I have like 15 scores now, so every NPC I see that wants to perform, I have to sit there and listen to all of my scores to see which one the NPC likes. You get a grade and get rewards if you match a score. The thing is, you can’t just tell by reading the music what the score will be. Some NPCs like crappy sounding scores so you really do have to sit and listen to them all. Really. Boring. Also, nothing to do with Chopin besides the fact that it’s music-related, and nothing to do with the game besides that it’s a little side activity in an RPG.
To sum, story and fantasy world = inconsistent with Chopin and history lessons, overall disappointment.
Now, the battle system is pretty sweet! This is largely what kept me playing, that and seeing new areas because the art and music are so good. The battle system is a mix of real-time combat and turn-based combat. I’ve never seen anything quite like it. It’s simple, yet strategic. Let me explain. First, there is a mechanic I’ll call “light and dark.” On any battlefield, there will be lit areas and areas in shadow. Sometimes these are static, sometimes they move (like a chandelier is swinging on the ceiling, or the sun moves across the field), and every character casts a shadow behind them. Depending on whether a character (you control all 3 of yours in turn) is standing in light or shadow, she has different attacks. You can set these, and right now I can set 2 light and 2 dark. So if I’m standing in light, then Light Attack A (or whatever it’s called) will trigger when I push triangle. If I’m standing in dark, then Dark Attack A will trigger. You can switch between sets (like A, A ; B, B) by holding R2. So standing in light and holding R2 and pressing triangle will trigger whatever is set for Light Attack B. It’s cool.
You do have a certain amount of time in which to act. There is a Tactical Time gauge and an Action Time gauge. Tactical Time is how long you have to think about your movement and attack before the Action Time gauge begins. The Action Time gauge measures how long you have to actually act. As soon as you perform an action, or as soon as the Tactical Time gauge runs out, the Action Time gauge starts ticking. And both are real short. The gauges depend on something called “party level”, which increases at specific points in the game. I think I am party level 3 or 4. Party level changes some of the combat rules. So for example, in the beginning of the game, you have unlimited Tactical Time, so you can sit and think about attacking all day. Each level, Tactical Time decreases. I think I’m at like 5 seconds now. My Action Time is also down to 4 seconds, so I have 4 seconds to run around and attack stuff before my turn ends. I like these mechanics. They keep combat quick, intense and force you to be strategic.
What I DON’T like about the battle system is that it devolves into a lot of button mashing. X is your regular attack and you build up strength to press triangle and unleash special attacks. So the vast majority of combat looks like this: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [next character] xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [next character] xxxxxxxxxxxtriangle. [next] xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [next] xxxxxxxxxxx [next] R2+triangle, triangle. TONS of button mashing x. It wears my thumbs out and makes me tired. There are reasons I’ve only put in about 20 hours over like…how long? A month? Jesus.
The other lame thing about combat is blocking. Every enemy attack (from the front) gives you a chance to block by pressing circle, which reduces damage taken. This is usually fine, but it can feel extremely cheap. It basically turns every enemy attack into a quicktime event, *shudder*. On the one hand, it sort of encourages you to learn enemy attack patterns to block, but on the other hand, oftentimes with stronger enemies and definitely with bosses, it FORCES you to get the button presses just right or die. Bigger enemies hit real hard and if you don’t block their attacks, you will lose to the most basic of them. Blocking has been more or less optional for most of the game, but for the past few hours of gameplay, I seem to have encountered that point in time where I have to block the majority of attacks. Tedious.
I’ve done the last two dungeons twice because of dying near the end of them to *drumroll* missing a couple blocks. Like I said, it feels extremely cheap to be able to do really well in combat, and be smart and all that, but die because you didn’t press circle in the 1/10th of a second that it gives you to press it. This is fine in an action game or something, but missing some blocks and then having to replay an hour-long dungeon is just lame.
Speaking of dungeons, some of them are really linear and others are giant mazes that seem to exist for no purpose other than to make the game longer. Very few of the dungeons have actually been relevant to the story. This makes me sort of angry to spend so much time doing something so pointless to the big picture. Maybe they also serve just to level you up, because in the early part of the game I did have to grind levels. I was worried about that, but it turned out to not be a big deal, probably because I attacked every enemy on the map all the time. But the maze-like levels can be pretty tough to navigate. I had to use a walkthrough on the first or second one. Luckily that one was the worst so far, though I hear talk online of far more annoying mazes later in the game. No thanks. I like puzzle dungeons that I can think and solve, not eternal trial-and-error pits.
Anyway. I’m glad I tried this game out because there is some cool stuff to experience. All in all though, I am frustrated by how mediocre it’s become when it should have been so much more enthralling. And ultimately, the battle system imploded on itself because the block mechanic feels so cheap and I’m tired of dying and having to redo dungeons.
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