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Dishonored 2 (PS4) by jp (Sep 8th, 2026 at 16:17:20) |
Finished playing this last night and I've been chewing on my overall impressions. First thing is, obviously, that I really enjoyed it and I thought it was something quite special how the different missions had their own unique "thing" while all being fully coherent with each other, the game's world, the story, etc. Ok, the time-travel mission might be a bit of a stretch - because you're only able to play around with the mechanic of flitting between past/present in that one mission and never again...but still.
The other thing I really appreciated is how this also applies to enemies and what they do and so on. I vaguely recall from the first game that as new enemies were introduced, they were then THERE for the rest of the game (mostly) - so, the difficulty did sort of go up (even as things got easier because you had more/better powers/abilities). Here I was worried that the clockwork soldiers would then appear everywhere - but they didn't. Or that the witches would show up all the time after being introduced, and they didn't. They appeared when it made sense for them, and this helped keep things interesting and fresh rather than "incremental" if that makes sense.
I did find myself leaning into the same modus operandi as I went about playing the game - lots of blinking around to takeout enemies and for the most part I was pretty cheap when it came to using ammo and equipment. Because the game explicitly encourages you to lean into its' two main flavors (violence vs non-violence) - I felt that I had to commit to one. Sure, I could play differently each mission and sort of flip flop, but then I think I'd be excluding myself from both of the end-game trophies? (I decided to do the non-killing option for the main targets on all the missions, but I assumed that the end trophy would be binary - if either killed them all or did not kill them all, kill some but not others would have NOT resulted in either trophy, but maybe I was wrong).
I noticed a new menu option - for a New Game + and I now wonder if that's what I should experiment with next? I did spend about 30 hours just completing this one - and it's probable that the more violent mode is just faster. But, will I still have to scrounge around scavenging in new game+? That's what took a lot of time on the clock, and I don't think it even counts all the times I just let myself get killed because I inadvertently killed someone without meaning to.
The game's help tips - that appear during loading screens and you can switch between - are encouraging of the player to experiment, try stuff out, and so on - but I always felt cautious about doing that (and I'm not going to try the "never spotted"/full stealth mode of play either) and I've been wondering how they could have encouraged repeat play while still preserving the "this was your campaign"? (while playing it, rather than as an after-you've-beat-it option. I think I can now go back and do any mission, but I would have liked to have tried some earlier ones in that way so long as they weren't "wasted time" for the purposes of end-game trophies.
I guess this makes it all seem like end-game trophies can be a real bad idea for some types of games? (because they force your players to "pick a side" and commit to it, when you want them to experiment and mess around - even finding mixed-modes in between.) I never put points on lots of abilities simply because I knew they were "violent abilities" and so why bother if I would never use them. Similarly with the item upgrades - I spent so much money on the upgrades, for no good reason knowing that I wouldn't be doing any shooting...
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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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they are currently playing. A GameLog is basically a record of a game you started playing. If it's open,
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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)
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2323 registered gamers and 3381 games. 7920 GameLogs with 13423 journal entries. 5121 games are currently being played.
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Katamari Damacy (PS2) by Rhibecka |
| I really like this game so far and I'm excited to play more and develop a more solid opinion. |
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most recent entry: Saturday 12 January, 2008
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GAMEPLAY
Upon playing the game a second time I have gained a better understanding of the game and have found it much more enjoyable.
First of all, one of my friends informed me that the choppy language of the King is due to unusual translations of the game into English. I'm not sure if this is true, but this would definitely make sense given his strange wording which makes he seem off his rocker. I have also found the game much more enjoyable by not focusing on details of the game I found bothersome before. I realized that I was taking the game too seriously. It is really just a fun game about rolling a ball. What the king says in between your adventures and the cut scenes are not as important as dialogs are in most other games. Not understanding every sentence the King says (something I found bothersome the first time) will not hinder my game play.
I also found this game more enjoyable once I reached larger levels with a bigger Katamari. Since I always had trouble maneuvering, I appreciated having many large areas to roam through and larger items to find (plus it is more exciting to roll over people and cows now than thumb tacs!). As the levels increase, I feel each object's designs can be more appreciated as well as the overall creativity and uniqueness of this game. This time I played around friends, and even they found the game's creativity extremely entertaining (for example, the realistic cries of terrified people as you roll them over).
I still think the story is lacking, even though I know it has little to do with the overall point of the game. I have come to find the King's twisted sense of humor amusing (even though it is extremely depressing when he demoralizes you after failing a level).
After this game play experience, I would have to declare Katamari a very good game. Despite its flaws, it's overwhelming creativity in turning the rolling of a ball into an exciting and intriguing game make it a game worth playing and recommending.
DESIGN
This game is unlike any game I have played. Most games fit into specific categories, but what I admire about this game is that it doesn't. The designers took a simple concept (the growing Katamari) which does not sounds fun or intriguing and turned it into a surprisingly engaging experience. I believe much of this game's charm is due to the interesting environments you are put it. Discovering where you can go with the Katamari and all the sorts of things you can pick up keeps the element of surprise fresh throughout the game. Watching the objects you roll over as you race the clock makes this game both competitive and intriguing (which keeps the player wanting to come back for more).
The design is good in that each level presents new and unique surprises (such as discovering you can pick up fish in the lake). Each place provides a new level of interaction and discovery within the environment you are given, which keeps the game fun and each place unique. Although some levels had frustrating missions, their design creativity can not be ignored. For example, there is a level where I had to pick up bird eggs in hopes of finding a swan. This mission did not interest me, but the level itself was full of interesting places to explore and things to discover (I found out the hard way that a mouse trap will propel me through the air if I'm small enough). The innovativeness of each level (combination of good layouts, peppy music, and interesting objects) truly added to the game's overall fun tone and credit as a well designed game.
I also felt that the game's irony and sarcasm added to the game's fun mood. It was amusing having cheerful music play as you made your path of terror and destruction across towns. The King's sense of humor also added to the game's likability factor.
Although the game excelled in creating a great interactive environment and fun tone, I feel it lacked a solid story line. I found the cut scenes involving the "box people" pointless, and it seemed that what the King said never mattered. I felt the game should have either cut down his speeches and take out the cut scene sub-plot, or developed a more dynamic storyline. (Note:I have not finished the game yet, so I am aware that there could be an amazing ending which ties it all together perfectly and completely negates my criticism.)
At first I felt the idea of the Katamari was not intriguing enough to allow for a dynamic experience. However, once I got past the introductory levels I found it more easy to find the game play experience fulfilling. I feel that a stronger storyline may have helped me get into the game earlier. Despite this game's downfalls, I found Katamari Damacy a fun and rewarding game which succeeds in taking the player through a unique gaming experience by offering them a game design different from many of the more popular games of today.
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