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Hades (PC) by jp (Dec 12th, 2024 at 21:55:59) |
I'll admit that I was skeptical of Hades - not that it wasn't a good game, but rather that I would enjoy it. This is mostly because my current memory is that I played Bastion and Transistor and thought they were ok, but not "OMG this is the best thing ever" as sentiment at the time seemed to indicate. So, I thought that this time around, I'd have some fun perhaps but would ultimately be "meh" about Hades.
And I was wrong. I mean, I started playing - very surprised that it sort of jumps right in with no tutorial or explanation - eventually died and wanted to jump right back in again. And, I've been doing that for a bit now.
The game is definitely compelling in that way - you get random boons, you wonder how they work, how they combine with others, and off you go again. And, each time around there's some little detail that's new: a new character, some dialogue with an NPC, etc. so you feel like you're really making forward progress.
So far I've gotten to the 3rd big area boss - haven't defeated yet..and things have started to turn. I'm starting to get a bit tired, almost bored...and the game feels a bit grindy. You have to go again and again to make very little progress in the meta... if I was a better player I might have won already - but I'm not. So, I'm sort of stuck grinding away.
I'll turn god mode on - it gives you some defense against damage - and it gets better each time you die. (more grind?) We'll see how far I'm able to make it - I am curious to see the end. Definitely will not be doing the extra meta-game end stuff though...
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Maneater (PC) by dkirschner (Dec 9th, 2024 at 20:56:22) |
Patrick and I decided to bail on Maneater. Neither of us is feeling the shark RPG. The beginning was fun. You're a big-ass shark and you chomp on people on the beach, on their boats, in the water. Their screaming, the blood, the way you can thrash around, is all hilarious. But then it turns out that was your shark mom, and you're actually a little shark at first, and you start in a super boring place and have to get bigger by eating super boring fish. The game appears to be a massive grind-fest. I don't know how long it takes to get bigger, into open water, to where you're back rampaging on beaches, but we played a couple hours and we're just eating like "level 7 clownfish" or whatever, collecting resources for upgrades, and still trying to figure out how to jump effectively. And getting chased by giant crocodiles from time to time that are double our level. Pass.
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Untitled Goose Game (PC) by jp (Dec 1st, 2024 at 20:35:49) |
Ok, this was fun, but not THAT fun.
It's - perhaps unexpectedly, more of a puzzle game than a chaotic "goat simulator" game? I knew it wasn't wild chaos like goat simulator - but it was definitely more sedate and structured than I imagined. But, it's fun - and the task list is really neat. It basically layers a puzzle on top of another. From the item on the list - I need to figure out what the puzzle is (how do I do the thing or, for trickier ones, create a situation such that the thing that needs doing gets done) and then figure out how to execute it.
I've cleared the first two areas - I think there are two or three more? So, not a very long/big game. I think. The new areas might be huge? I doubt it.
My main concern is that since I imagine the puzzles will become more convoluted, I'm worried that the wonkiness in the controls (mostly the thing the goose is locked on to seems wonky at times) will lead to a spike in frustration later on. I hope I'm wrong but we'll see.
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Kentucky Route Zero (PS5) by jp (Nov 27th, 2024 at 18:43:01) |
Chapter 5 was surprisingly underwhelming. Almost boring if I'm being honest.
You play as a cat, which was fine. You have to run around town finding conversations - some are UI-evident others just require that you sit there an listen. There's a lot of sitting and listening, much more than choosing. So, I started to get bored and...well, the ending was sort of a fizzle for me because of this. I couldn't tell you what happened in the end (I think there are different endings based on choices you make) but...no bang, no whimper, no nothing is how I'd describe my experience with it.
It seems unfair for me to say it like that. Perhaps I just was really tired that day? Not willing to really pay attention? Could be.
Overall though, I did enjoy the game and think it was an interesting experience. Most salient for me is how cinematic it is - there's lots of interesting camera work, and framing, and more. And even the interactive parts are changing around and in this sense there's a nice amount of variety. But I think I mentioned all this already. Didn't change with Act V. So, all's well in that sense.
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Impostor Factory (PC) by dkirschner (Nov 24th, 2024 at 19:37:03) |
I thought this was the last in a trilogy of games starting with To the Moon, but I must not have been paying close enough attention. After being confused how it related to To the Moon and Finding Paradise for most of the game, it turns out to be a prequel of sorts. It's a bit different than those other two as well, in that this one is part murder mystery. That was definitely the most interesting part until the end. The murder mystery is in Act I. Act II was boring and overly sentimental, narrating the intertwining lives of two of the characters. Act III ties the two previous acts together, and finally explains what this has to do with the previous games, and circles back to being interesting again.
I should probably stop playing these Freebird Games games. To the Moon was awesome, but the others have been fine. The emphasis is on story, and the overall plots are neat. The writing is good, but characters tend to feel one-dimensional, and there is like one brand of humor throughout the games, which alternates from being silly/funny to childish and back. They are slow gameplay-wise, often with very little interactivity. What interactivity there is is often an illusion. For example, in Impostor Factory, in Act II, you have to collect memories, little orbs, to progress from area to area. But you don't have to actually DO anything to get the orbs. Just click on characters and listen to the story and you'll get your orbs. They're unmissable. Perhaps I am just no longer wowed by the overall concept since it's been three games now.
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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,
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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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2261 registered gamers and 3214 games. 7738 GameLogs with 13223 journal entries. 5098 games are currently being played.
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Fat Princess: Fistful of Cake (PSP) by jp |
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most recent entry: Thursday 9 September, 2010
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I guess some games really need to be played online in order for you to both make sense of them as well as learn to play them. The problem with playing "solo" in a game like this is that since all the other characters are controlled by AI it's really hard to get a sense of the game's dynamics. How can you plan strategy, or even tactics, when you have no idea what your "teammates" are doing? (and why) It doesn't help that they won't yell at you for not doing the right thing either... It's a greater problem in this case because this game features varying objectives (from level to level) AND what seems like a rich and interesting variety of character roles. For many of the missions, I've assumed that I'm the only character who will pursue the direct goal (when it's an offensive one, such as capturing the enemy princess). This doesn't make for a very compelling experience since it gives you the sense that everyone else is just messing around.
I guess that's one of the things that makes Left 4 Dead such a brilliant game. You can learn how to play from watching the AI. Fat Princess is much to frantic for that to work, unfortunately.
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