 |
|
Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights (PC) by dkirschner (May 28th, 2025 at 07:51:46) |
This is a solid metroidvania, hits high marks in all aspects. It's not Hollow Knight and it's not Ori, but it's up there. It’s set in a dark medieval fantasy type world, has a beautiful soundtrack and great artwork. The story is presented in that cryptic souls-like fashion and told primarily through notes in the environment, usually written by characters that you defeat or White Priestesses. It tells of the Blight, a never-ending rain that falls, infecting people and driving them mad.
Combat and movement are both tight and responsive. There are like 25 weapons. I think that the most unique design piece is that your weapons are not weapons at all, but are the spirits of (mini)bosses that you defeat. Your character is a frail priestess and the spirits fight at her command. You can equip six of them at once (in two sets of three), so you always have a variety of attacks to deploy. Some are “main” attacks and others are “subskills.” The difference, usually, is that main skills can be used an unlimited number of times, while subskills have a specific number of uses before they run out. When you stop at a respite (save point), you refill your skill uses and health potions. Some main skills do have limited uses though, and near the end of the game, I realized that you can equip multiple main skills in each set. I had assumed that you could have one main skill and two subskills per set of three. This seemed so obvious to me that I didn’t even try to equip multiple main skills and only did so by accident! I wonder if my play style would have changed had I discovered that earlier. Anyway, some skills are melee, some are ranged, some excel at hitting airborne enemies, there is a strong poison cloud that deals damage over time, a movement skill, a stun skill, fast weak attacks, slow strong attacks, skills that can charge attack, and so on. Since you can equip six, you’ll have something for every occasion, and can really tailor them for boss fights. One neat thing is that you can use multiple skills at the same time. Since “you” are not attacking, your spirits can do so simultaneously. All skills can be leveled up using a specific type of experience, basic stuff.
The level design is pretty good, but the rooms do get kind of same-y and boring after a while. This sucks because you will backtrack a lot. The map doesn't help with this, since it doesn't give you much information. For example, the rooms are all represented with variously sized squares or rectangles and no other defining features. The only icons on the map are respites (save points), white lines connecting rooms you have been to, and red dots for entrances/exits that you haven't been through yet. Rooms will also turn orange if you have collected all the items inside, which was handy. But there are no icons indicating other objects, obstacles, or enemies. Metroidvanias often mark bosses on the map, mark obstacles with some icon indicating what it is or what tool you might need to bypass it, and so on. Given the amount of backtracking to explore new areas after getting new traversal abilities, it became frustrating that the map didn’t tell me which obstacles were where. This meant that I had to try and remember what obstacle was blocking the constant number of 10-20 unexplored entrances, making my way back through sometimes maze-like rooms to check each obstacle to see if I could bypass it now. So, the map was a bit disappointing, but I guess props for giving me a feeling of achievement and discovery by making me work for exploration.
Miniboss battles were easy, basically just buffed versions of regular enemies. I recall dying a few times on the first ones, but I think I one-shot like 15 of them. Boss battles were excellent and provided more of a challenge. Most bosses have three phases that predictably change at 66% and 33% HP. Most took less than a few tries, but I remember three that took a while, including the last boss, which I looked up how to beat because I just wanted to finish the game. I learned that a lot of weapon and relic combinations are (over)powerful. I had been dying for a good hour on the final boss, but after I looked it up and tried a suggested build, I killed it in two tries (and had full health, no health potions used!).
There is a sequel out. It has overwhelmingly positive ratings on Steam but it looks really, really similar to Ender Lilies. It would be another solid metroidvania to play, but if it's just more of the same (though by all accounts polished in every way), then I'm not particularly interested, at least no time soon. I do have Nine Sols to play on Game Pass (soon?), so maybe I’ll get a pretty direct comparison to another recent highly rated metroidvania.
read all entries for this GameLog 
- add a comment 
|
|
Pokémon Ranger (DS) by jp (May 26th, 2025 at 16:03:52) |
I'm pleasantly surprised!
Usually when you can get a Pokemon game for a decent price it means that it wasn't very good. And, I thought this one was sort of sequel of sorts to the Pokemon mystery dungeon games, but it isn't! What I'm enjoying so far is that it has the collecting and travelling parts of the games, but without any of the micromanaging (or really managing) RPG side of things. You're a young Pokemon ranger - they're sort of Pokemon community cops who help people with their Pokemon (so, not really crimes - just "oh no, there's some grimers in the water treatment plant, please help!"). The catching part is 100% action based - you use the stylus to draw circles around Pokemon (there's more to it than that, because you can use other Pokemon to help you out, but mostly it's frantic drawing on the 2nd screen - trying to catch them...), and that's pretty much it. I mean, you have a device with energy, Pokemon have abilties that can help catching, but also to overcome obstacles in the world, every Pokemon is "one use" and then you set them free... and that's it. Mostly story! So, I'm on Mission 5 (I'm guessing there's like 12 or so?) and it's pretty fun - the Pokedex seems smaller and you improve just by moving along on the story...
Neat stuff, and a nice surprise!
read all entries for this GameLog
- add a comment
|
|
Lux-Pain (DS) by jp (May 21st, 2025 at 12:10:24) |
Started playing this the other day and I didn't have the box or manual with me so I wasn't quite sure what to expect. So far it seems like a pretty straightforward paranormal visual novel - there's more reading than playing/interacting though I found it interesting how the game wears the "trappings" of systemic stuff and gameplay.
So, you get experience points for doing the (so far only "gameplay" sections) and you level up - and it says that stuff improves, but I can't tell if it really has and it doesn't seem to matter much either. I haven't tested to see if the game has a real fail state (game over) or not.
It's kind of hard to explain what's going on because I think there are issues with the translation - there's lots of typos and stuff like that in the text, but the concepts/ideas in the story are also obfuscated to me somewhat. But, maybe it's just the way it is? The idea is that there's some sort of "entity" (demon? person possessed by a demon?) that can then infect others - and they end up killing themselves (while doing bad things along the way), and this infection is a problem in that it spreads sort of easily. You play as a character who's part of an organization that's trying to stop this, and the main task is to find the "main" (patient zero) baddie. You have a power - which sort of exists because of an artifact which lets you see people's bad thoughts - but they're also like these "lava lamp-like bubbles" that you have to locate in them (it's like they're the infection) and then you tag them and then you learn about the character... This is the most frequent way to get XP - if you tag the bubbles quickly you get bonus XP in addition for the tagging itself.
The game takes place in a village and you're a transfer student at a school and so you spend time visiting locations and talking to people trying to track down the "baddies" - it's mostly on rails, so you can visit 3 locations in any order, but you end up seeing them all regardless.
I would say I'm not particularly enthused - I'm maybe 3 hours in (bit less) and I've had one "boss fight" (you tap on a thing when it gets white to do damage) - but I'm guessing the rest of the game is sort of the same? I'm not sure what I'll do yet BUT...
Again, the trappings of system (and RPG systems/mechanics) is interesting to me - it makes the game seem deeper than it is really.
There's also a lot of busywork moments. Stuff that you need to tap on just to tap on really. In the beginning I though there was some gameplay/choice, but I was just wrong about that. For example, right after getting the "bubbles", you then drag them to the character and press "x". And then you get a scene you can skip (with text that floats in, and it's creepy and you read it to know about the character). I've been skipping them all because...it's a bit slow. But the prior step now just feels like busywork.
read all entries for this GameLog
- add a comment
|
|
Monster Hunter: World (PC) by dkirschner (May 21st, 2025 at 11:13:31) |
Next up is a retirement (ooh, ahh!). I bounced right off of Monster Hunter: World. Never played a Monster Hunter game before and am surprised that I don't like it. But after playing a while, at least I understand why. My expectations were a bit different than the reality. I know that the name of the game is what you do, but I assumed there would be more narrative or more traditional, tight, RPG or action RPG elements. But I would characterize the game as a massive grind. I know that this is how it is described (kill monsters to get materials to improve equipment to kill bigger monsters to get more materials to improve equipment, etc.), but I just thought there would be something else to it. And I'm sure that the hunts get more exciting, but I also know that the game is long, and I don't feel like grinding my way there to begin enjoying it after 50 hours or whatever.
Some things that made me bounce off include:
1. A gazillion items to pick up. What is all this stuff? If you walk around in the field, you are prompted every 2 feet to harvest an herb or mine some ore or something.
2. Inventory management. Inventory was full very quickly, which prompted me to sit there trying to learn what all the stuff does. Short answer: crafting.
3. I usually don't enjoy crafting a lot of stuff in games, so this was not good for me.
4. Annoying cat puns.
5. The map is so busy, and the first area was super confusing to navigate.
6. Boring story and characters.
7. "Tracking" monsters was a matter of clicking on enough footprints to "level up" your knowledge of it or something. Then, you follow some glowing flies around until you see it. This did not make me feel clever, like I was hunting. I was following a green path of fireflies the whole time and pressing B when prompted to "study tracks."
8. The UI is really cluttered and could be improved in so many ways.
9. You have to play online (though you can set your game to 1 player). I didn't know there was such an online multiplayer focus.
In the end, Monster Hunter: World feels like a single-player(ish) MMORPG. My days of World of Warcraft are far, far behind me, and this brought back all the memories of years of grinding in that game. I can't do it! And now I know that Monster Hunter isn't for me!
read all entries for this GameLog
- add a comment
|
|
Quantum Conundrum (XBONE) by dkirschner (May 21st, 2025 at 10:48:42) |
Been playing this with Patrick for most of the semester and we finally beat it last night. It's a mixed bag, but overall positive. It absolutely rides the coattails of Portal, and we read that it was directed by the lead designer on Portal, so no surprise at the similarities. I'll get the negative things out of the way first:
1. It tries to be funny, but it falls mostly flat. The funniest things were Ike (this little imp creature that makes silly faces at you) and the way that the paintings change when you use the abilities (often funny and surprising!). What was supposed to carry the game's humor--the narrator/uncle--didn't. He delivered his lines just fine, but they didn't land. Given that you play as a child, he can't be as sarcastic as GlaDOS in Portal. Given the more family-friendly aesthetic, the jokes were sillier. Given that he and the child actually don't seem to have much of a relationship, nor is it developed throughout the game, there's little relational history and context to draw from. And he usually only pipes up in between puzzles to make brief comments that don't add much.
2. The level of precision required for the first-person platforming was rough. Many puzzles require excellent timing and precision for jumping, throwing and catching objects, and so on, and the game just didn't handle that well. The movement controls are oddly both too tight and too floaty at the same time (I'm sure I'm mischaracterizing this in my description, but this is what it felt like). We OFTEN fell off flying objects, jumped too far or not far enough, missed catching things because of the camera, and so on. Actually, it was irritating for the first half of the game, and it became funny to us as the levels became more complicated. Like last night, Patrick tried for 15 minutes to execute the moves on a puzzle before handing it to me to finish. It would take 1 minute to figure out what you need to do and 14 minutes to accomplish the task. I felt bad watching Patrick sometimes because he's not great at precision controls, so he would fail and fail and fail, hand me the controller, and I'd do on the first try what he'd tried 20 times (though I certainly failed my fair share of times because of the controls!).
3. The ending was uninspired and happened quickly. I'm not entirely sure why what happened happened and I don't care. It obviously set up a sequel that never came.
That's it! Those are the negatives. The positive, though, is the puzzles. They are great, consistently fun and challenging. You're in your uncle's crazy science mansion, and there are four ways that you manipulate objects to solve puzzles by swapping to different "dimensions." First, you can make objects "heavy." Second, you can make objects "fluffy." Third, you can slow time. Fourth, you can reverse gravity. Only one dimension can be active at a time, but by choosing sequences of dimensions, you do some cool things. For example, one common object is a big safe. You normally can't pick up a safe (or other large objects), but activate the fluffy dimension and it becomes light as a feather. This way, you can move safes around to toss them through windows (throw and change to "heavy" before it hits the glass), depress buttons (place them them change to "heavy"), or fly through the air using a combination of dimensions. For example, carry the safe with fluffy, throw it and quickly slow time, jump on top of the safe you just threw, use reverse gravity to travel upward, and (voila!) you've used a safe to get to a ledge above you.
Puzzles utilize various combinations of dimensions, and often you have to find these little capsules to trigger the dimensions in the first place. So task 1 will be acquiring the capsules for dimensions in a puzzle area, then you can start solving the harder puzzles in an area. It is totally linear though, so it's not like you'll be trying puzzles you can't complete. Unlike something like The Witness, you're always at a puzzle you can solve. So if you can't figure it out, then it's you. Like Portal, there are various obstacles and death traps, including deadly pools of "science juice" (like acid), lasers, robots that push you off ledges, and so on.
I do recall getting bored and sleepy earlier on, but to be fair, we were always playing Quantum Conundrum at night after work, and I have learned that puzzle games are a genre not best suited to play while exhausted at night. Nevertheless, it held our attention, and by at least halfway through, we were thoroughly enjoying the puzzling. So, the short version is: Portal is better by far, but Quantum Conundrum scratches the itch.
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
|
 |
|
2292 registered gamers and 3274 games. 7807 GameLogs with 13276 journal entries. 5119 games are currently being played.
More stats
|
 |
|
Natural Selection (PC) by bchang953 |
| No comment, yet. |
|
most recent entry: Tuesday 15 January, 2008
|
Gameplay:
However, after playing the game for a few hours and mastering the basics of the strategy of the game, it immediately started to become boring, and began to seem like simply an average FPS. Playing as an alien for a while was enjoyable as I was able to fly around and climb on walls, but also became quickly became boring. To attack a marine as an alien really doesn't require much skill as there is no precise aiming mechanism (for the marines either for that matter... The most widely used strategy when shooting as a marine was the "spray" method where the player would simply hold down the trigger and get the cross-hair somewhere near the enemy). Much of the time as an alien, to attack a marine, you would simply hold down the trigger and run up to him, hopefully surprising him, and hope your gnashing teeth would take him out before his rifle took you out.
As the games went on and on without any rest I began to feel mentally fatigued from the constant stress in the game, to the point where it eventually ceased to be fun anymore (which is the point when I quit it and played some Counter-Strike instead).
Design:
Upon starting the game, it seems to be akin to the smash-hit mods for Half-Life of Counter-Strike and of Day of Defeat, except instead of being set in the present or in the WW2 era (respectively), it is set in the future, as the player must choose to either be a marine or an alien, both with a variety of classes with various strengths and weaknesses.
However, this game has several distinct differences from the others. Both races may make use of weapon/armor upgrades attained by securing various resource points throughout the map. There are no "rounds" in Natural Selection. Each game goes on until the other race is wiped out. Thus, each game is a constant struggle to obtain resources and to kill the enemy at the same time. The RTS aspect (which Unknown Worlds highlights as a major selling point of the game) of the "commander" gives the game added depth. This hybrid/complex aspect of the game seems to give it a distinct edge over other "standard" fps games.
However, stripped down, Natural Selection is basically the same as Counter-Strike or Day of Defeat, except worse. The fact that there are no "rounds" is actually detrimental as it doesn't give the player any rest time to the point where the game just becomes tiring. The actual maps themselves are fairly poorly designed in that they are all indoors and seem very constrictive with very little hint of an outside world. One feels like they are in a controlled videogame environment.
The lack of ability to become a true master at the game because of lack of skill required by the game is also another reason why it will never be as good as Counter-Strike or Day of Defeat. All in all, the "commander" part is fun for a while, but if you're looking for a real FPS mod for Half-Life, go for the good stuff.
[read this GameLog]
|
|
|
