 |
|
Pokémon TCG Pocket (iPd) by jp (Sep 17th, 2026 at 20:24:16) |
Hmm, still "playing" though I would very often forget to "check in" when I first arrived in Rochester. So, for a hot minute, I though I might have been done with it.
The other night I played the card game - demo at a store - and was surprised to learn that the card game is basically a super set of this game. I guess I didn't have a real conception of the difference between them - I thought that the cards were all the same, but they're not! This actually made me a bit less interested in this game, since it really is a watered down version of the regular card game.
I do think it's an interesting approach that I don't know of other examples? Because it really does seem like a subset rather than a "new" or "different" or "variant" version. I wonder if someone's looked closely at them?
read all entries for this GameLog 
- add a comment 
|
|
Lorelei and the Laser Eyes (PC) by jp (Sep 17th, 2026 at 20:19:59) |
I feel bad that I didn't keep on playing this one. At this point all of my handwritten notes and reminders and things I'd figured out are long gone...and this doesn't seem like the kind of game you can just pop back into. I think there's too many things going on. So, I'm just going to call it my loss and close out the game log...
read all entries for this GameLog
- add a comment
|
|
Record of Lodoss War: Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth (NSW) by jp (Sep 17th, 2026 at 20:18:03) |
Still playing! I'm surprised myself, to be honest. I usually hit some sort of wall with these games - usually a boss fight - I try for a certain amount of time, eventually give up and move on.
I'm currently on the 5th stage, right before another boss battle with one in the can already. The story is - I think pretty obviously - one of a character (Deedlit) in some sort of nightmare/dream hell...so I'm curious how this will end. Sadly, I don't remember how/when the anime ends, and I have no idea if this game is supposed to take place somewhere in the regular continuity?
The fire an arrow at a gear puzzles are still a bit annoying - mostly because timing is a bit tricky for some of them, but I've been able to get past without too much trouble even if there's a bit of frustration at times.
I also feel like I'm getting better - in general - at the boss fights. I've realized how maintaining distance is important, I'm also getting better at swapping between the yellow/blue modes because when you're at level 3 with one, you automatically heal, so if you take a hit, switching over is a way the heal up and it's saved me more than once.
The map is really dense and convoluted in a way that's quite impressive. I guess I'd describe the overall map like a giant rectangle and it seems like it's all pretty much filled in! I wonder how much more there is to the game. The 4th stage felt rather short, and looking at the map it doesn't seem like there's many more places it could go (I guess an entirely new map would be the obvious?)
Fingers crossed that I'm able to continue...
read all entries for this GameLog
- add a comment
|
|
Bridge Constructor Portal (PS4) by jp (Sep 12th, 2026 at 16:02:23) |
Oh, the main reason I got bored is because, once the levels start to get a lot more complicated, I found myself in the situation of having to painstakingly "rebuild" bridges from scratch because my first attempt just just off by a little bit...and you can't really do things like select a whole construction and, say, move it to the left a little bit...you just have to built it again from scratch, which got a bit tiresome - felt more busywork.
That being said, because the physics simulation isn't quite 100% predictable - there are moments of genuine surprise and laughter. Each level has essentially two goals - get one cart across and get a convoy (multiple, that come out at a regular rate) of carts across. The convoy part was definitely more fun because your bridge might work for one cart, but oscillate a bit such that the next cart barely missed, and then there's a whole pileup with carts flipping and getting stuck or the entire bridge swinging out of control.
read all entries for this GameLog
- add a comment
|
|
Bridge Constructor Portal (PS4) by jp (Sep 12th, 2026 at 15:58:36) |
I played 40 plus levels, it was fun, didn't take too long but began to get a bit tiresome (which is why I've bailed and moved on).
This game is a portal-themed bridge-constructing game in which carts move automatically and you have to build structures that will sustain/hold them on their way to a pre-determined exit. It's physics based, and having taken static mechanics as an undergraduate I appreciated the load-balancing/bearing principles behind a lot of the gameplay.
However, the game's gameplay is portal-themed and not portal-based. In the main Portal games (1 and 2), the cognitive challenge comes from figuring out where to place portals and how to navigate yourself (your character, in first-person view if I recall) around an area such that you can reach the exit. In this game, the portals (and later gels for speedy and bouncy effects) are already placed - you just need to build bridges. This is fair to the game's title - just an observation not a complaint.
In fact, the existence of portals arguably makes the puzzles themselves more interesting because it affords larger areas withing a single screen/area. If a level in this context is a large rectangular "diorama" - there are only certain ways to navigate from, say, the top left corner down to the bottom right. Portals allows the game's designers to create different navigational paths that violate the regular rules you'd have to follow in a normal space - Portaling around is basically teleporting (going from A to B without traversing anything in between) - so you can have more "interesting" routes you need to build bridges in.
I haven't played the other games in the series, which I assume have their own interesting mechanics and level-things to avoid/make use of, and I wonder if "teleporters" were used in their earlier games? If so, then this game is a lot less interesting - after all it limits itself to portal themed things (switches, sentry guns, the gels, etc.) while the other games could presumably have all that and much more.
Still, as a theming exercise, it's really well done - GladOs and more...and fun little interstitials every 10 levels (or was it 20?).
read all entries for this GameLog
- add a comment
|
|
|
|
|
GameLog hopes to be a site where gamers such as yourself keep track of the games that
they are currently playing. A GameLog is basically a record of a game you started playing. If it's open,
you still consider yourself to be playing the game. If it's closed, you finished playing the game. (it doesn't matter
if you got bored, frustrated,etc.) You can also attach short comments to each of your games or even maintain a diary (with more detailed entries)
for that game. Call it a weblog of game playing activity if you will.
[latest site fixes and updates]
[read more]
|
view feed xml
|
 |
|
2323 registered gamers and 3383 games. 7922 GameLogs with 13431 journal entries. 5118 games are currently being played.
More stats
|
 |
|
Super Mario Bros. 3 (NES) by Shawn |
| CLASSIC! |
|
most recent entry: Friday 25 January, 2008
|
After playing Super Mario Brothers 3 for the NES for a longer time, my statement stands, it is a great CLASSIC.
GAMEPLAY
After playing the game for an extended period of time I still find it fun and attractive. The interesting thing about it is that for me it is a love and hate relationship. You play for 30min and then you die and have to redo what you just spent the last 15 min on. You say "screw this!" and walk away, then 5 min later you walk back and say "no, I am going to beat this".
The gameplay flows and the levels are different enough that it is not repetitive. Also you have that amazing soundtrack of funny beeps and noises to motivate you while you play. You find your self adding to this music with your own interesting sounds before too long.
DESIGN
The design of this game was amazing for its time, and to still be playing it so long in the future it must have to be amazing. What I think makes it such a good game is that it is simple to play but amazingly difficult to master. You can always get better at it. There are also different ways of solving each obstacle. You can take your time or try and run right through everything. The tone of the game is uplifting. A perfect example of this is that on one of the world maps the background pixels that form palm trees dance to the music. This game is fun while being attractive because it get hard.
I found myself loosing interest at some times. You get stuck on a level and after trying so many times, you still lose. One negative thought that I have on this game is that you can work so hard on progressing in the game and then hit a hard spot and have to do so much over again. Then to get back to the spot and die again, this is where you lose some of your audience.
After playing this game, I am a little inspired to create my own game. This game has simple graphics and simple movement yet is fun. This shows me that to create a good game you do not need to have amazing graphics.
All in all, Super Mario Brothers 3 is a great game and will definitely be remembered as one of the first CLASSICS.
[read this GameLog]
|
|
|
