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Griftlands (PC) by dkirschner (Apr 29th, 2025 at 15:53:58) |
This is a roguelite deckbuilder that’s neat in that you have two different decks and there is some interesting worldbuilding, with probably like 100 characters you can meet. It’s also narrative heavy. You play runs with one of three characters, each of whom has their own story. Unfortunately though, it never really clicked with me; I was always sort of bored. I played two runs with the first character, Sal, dying near the end of my first attempt. On my second attempt, I noticed “story difficulty,” set it to that, and steamrolled the second run. I left it on story difficulty and steamrolled the game with the second character, Rook, too. When I started the third character, I was sort of dreading learning his mechanics, the tedium of leveling up another set of cards (you can level up each card once by using it a specific number of times), the endless filler-feeling dialogue, and the tons and tons of negotiations and battles I would have to wade through to get to the end of another story that I didn’t care about. So, I played part of the first day for him to get a sense of the character and any new mechanics, then called it quits.
Here's how the two types of decks/combat work. The first is “battle” and needs no explanation. This is normal deckbuilder stuff. Do lots of damage and kill stuff. Some mechanics include “prepare” (a card is “prepared” when it is in the leftmost spot in your hand and can activate special abilities), “gamble” (one character has a coin that he flips, and some of his cards do different things depending on heads or tails), “burn” (deals damage over time), and so on. Each character has a few unique mechanics.
When you battle enemies, you can spare them or kill them. If you spare them, they might hate you (all the various characters you encounter can either hate, dislike, like, or love you). If you kill them, their friends might hate you. If you kill them in an isolated place, well, you got away with murder. It can be tempting to kill enemies because they drop items, and sometimes quite good ones, or maybe because they were real jerks and deserved it. But, when someone hates you, you get a debuff (e.g., status cards cost one extra action), which does go away if you kill that person later. When someone loves you, you get a buff (e.g., gain 4 defense and 2 power at the beginning of every battle). It’s obviously good to have a lot of people love you and few people hate you. I definitely had some hate debuffs that were pretty annoying to deal with.
The second thing you can do is “negotiation,” and this one is different. It’s the same basic idea as battle, except think of it as the passive option. This second deck is full of cards that are meant to manipulate, persuade, and intimidate others. In a negotiation, you have “arguments.” Characters all have a “core argument.” Then, they can make other arguments that do various things. All arguments have “resolve” (HP). When an argument’s resolve reaches 0, it is defeated. No big deal for a regular argument; these come and go during a negotiation. If your core argument loses its resolve, then you lose the negotiation.
So, there are generally two ways out of a situation: battle or negotiate. Sometimes, negotiations make subsequent battles easier. As you think about building your decks, remember that if you lose a negotiation, you might still be able to battle, but if you lose a battle, you can’t then negotiate…because you’re dead. That means that, for me at least, negotiation was far more useful, and I chose that option far more. On the other hand, there are more mandatory battles than mandatory negotiations, and bosses are typically trying to kill you, not argue with you. So, you can’t rely on only one deck; you must figure out how to balance them.
There are some other things to consider, such as the battle and negotiation grafts (like skills or perks you acquire each run), and then the various roguelite meta upgrades. You can unlock permanent upgrades for each character, perks that can be used on any character, as well as new cards that will appear in your runs.
In the end, it feels strange to say, but I wish I had just stopped after the first run. I feel like I wasted my time with this one hoping that it would click. There are certainly things I enjoyed (like the negotiations and trying to get a ton of characters to love me), but like I said earlier, I just found Griftlands tedious and boring.
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Gris (PS5) by jp (Apr 20th, 2025 at 20:25:52) |
I distinctly remember Gris getting a "meh" review score in Edge magazine. So, I was expecting to be underwhelmed gameplay-wise though wowed visually.
And yes, I was wowed visually (and aurally too - playing the PS5 version that makes use of the speaker controller in a cool way)...and the gameplay was sort of meh - but, it got better and better the longer I played!
Not counting the "hub" area, the game has four zones/levels that each introduce a mechanic, as well as some in-world things to interact with. And so, the game really goes from less to more as later levels incorporate more in-world mechanics as well as require use of the character mechanics you unlock. It also all makes sense with the game's theme and story and balblabla (ludonarrative harmony is what my students brought up).
That being said, it's a pretty relaxing and flowing kind of game - nods to Journey in there as well - and there isn't really a fail state, though you can get stuck on puzzles and some dexterity-timing dependent puzzles. There's some swimming bits that are just glorious - as you dash from "water bubble" to "water bubble" (blocks of water in the air) - and I loved swimming up waterfalls.
What impressed me the most though were two things:
1. I kept on trying to "go the wrong way" and most of the time, it was the right way.
2. The onboarding and tutorials are really, really well done. You notice a thing, or do a thing, and then that's the thing you have to do later to solve puzzles and so on. It feels very natural and very normal.
So, I'm actually excited to try Neva now...
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Lost in Blue 2 (DS) by jp (Apr 18th, 2025 at 18:46:41) |
Perhaps the strangest thing for me about this game is that it's a bona fide survival game on the DS. In my mind, the genre is more recent than 2006! I'm thinking of all the indie survival games (craft stuff, gather food, don't die of hunger or thirst) and then ones on Steam..and here's this game - a sequel no less - and it's straight up THAT. Survival. And there's two characters to boot - and you can die (I did, pretty soon it turns out).
I guess I was surprised by how quickly I did die - and, from a novice perspective, it felt sudden and a bit unfair. As in, CLEARLY there was nothing I could have done differently to survive. I spent too much time exploring was probably the main problem, and I left the boy behind in a cave we found, and I'm not sure that's what you're supposed to do? You have to keep both of them feed, hydrated and energized, and I felt like I had my hands full with just the one character.
I think my biggest mistake was probably not getting the spear for fishing made sooner? But then, I'm not even sure how you're supposed to use it - and all the other food I kept scavenging wasn't really doing much. Like, you'd eat it and not see a huge effect. I'm guessing there's something I'm not understanding and it makes me wonder if a full reset makes the most sense? (instead of loading into a saved game that's already doomed/too heavily stacked against success).
Perhaps the strangest thing (for me) about the game is that there's a super simple mini-game for cooking! You collect stuff to cook and also stuff to use as spices and then need to sort of trial and error recipes - though I could set the boy (the character I was not controlling directly) to cook and he'd come up with his own stuff... it's weird.
And it's a sequel? I guess I should look up if this is a port to DS from someplace else? It would make more sense in a way - the game is also low-poly 3D as you wander around the environment. Still...I might just put it on the shelf.
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Phantom Abyss (PC) by jp (Apr 6th, 2025 at 19:14:27) |
I'd heard of the game's hook (or gimmick if you will) as, everyday it's a different 1st person platforming game/run, and if you die - that's it. Play a different run later.
I'm guessing stuff changed along the way, though the concept is still here - it's a reasonably challenging rogue-like 1st person platforming game. I've had fun, you have a whip to help you climb and each level has different modifiers (the whip has an ability) and you can pick up boons in your run (if you have enough coins to afford them) and hopefully make it to the end. BUT, you see a bunch of ghosts for everyone else who played this level - if someone died, you can collect their spirit or something for a small heal! During each run you collect keys you can use to buy permanent upgrades, and so you go up the progression ladder of many roguelites...
Someone described this as first person temple run, which is close enough? I mean, the levels themselves are a lot more interesting than the "mere" reaction times that temple run goes for, here you can side-step/etc. stuff - and there are different paths, and in all you can be a bit creative for how you approach stuff...I've had fun so far - unlocked all the green levels and I've started on the blue ones!
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Cuphead (Switch) by jp (Apr 6th, 2025 at 13:37:03) |
I only get to play this when my son comes around - and we play together and I realized, yeah - I need to either start practicing seriously or just give up. And, I enjoy playing it co-op, so there's not much sense in practicing, so I decided to give up.
We did make it to the 2nd island(?), and played some of the levels there - but I was clearly starting to see a steeper path to success. As in, it too us (mostly my fault) more and more tries to make less progress. He's already played it, beat it too? So, not much point for him really.
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most recent entry: Tuesday 29 March, 2011
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Heroes of Might and Magic 3: Complete Edition: Tuesday March 29th
Heroes of Might and Magic 3 (HoMM) is a turn based strategy game for the PC. Players can play against the computer or other players (up to 8 total players at a time). The game takes place in a fantasy setting with dragons, undead, and all manner of creatures inbetween. The object of the game varies per map but ranges from total conquest to resource acquisition.
Pregame:
While choosing a map, players have the option of selecting a town, a hero, and a starting bonus. There are a total of nine towns to choose from. Half of the heroes available to each town are geared towards "might" (military power) or "magic" (spell casting). The available starting bonuses are extra gold, extra resources, or an artifact.
Heroes:
Heroes are the player's generals. Each hero has a specialty which is either in a creature type or a secondary skill. Aside from this, each hero also has four stats: attack, defense, spell power, and knowledge. Attack and defense both affect the troops a hero commands. Spell power dictates the effectiveness of a hero's spells. Knowledge multiplied by ten are the hero's spell points. Secondary skills can be acquired by levelling up or through other miscellaneous means. Secondary skills affect many different aspects of a hero from their combat abilities to additional resources gained per turn. Additionally, heroes can carry artifacts which in effect act as stat boosters or interchangeable secondary skills. As heroes level up, they gain plus one of one of the four stats.
Towns:
Towns are a player's base of operations. Each town has a number of structures in common with others as well as unique structures it can build. Only one building may be constructed a turn, as well as a limit of only one building per type (a player cannot build two of the same creature dwelling). Common to each town are seven creature generating buildings. These seven buildings create a number of creatures the player may pay gold to recruit to their army. Additionally, each creature building may be upgraded to purchase an upgraded form of the creature from then on. Common to all towns are also taverns (recruit heroes), a marketplace (trade resources), a town hall (generates income), a mage guild (learn spells), and a fort (provide creature growth and defenses for the town). Each town has a number of unique buildings in addition to these which provide such benefits as additional spells, additional creature growth, the ability to purchase artifacts, and other benefits. In order to stay in the game, a player must own at least one town. If a player is without a town for seven days (turns), they will automatically lose. On each map it is possible to find non alligned towns and claim them.
Resources:
HoMM uses wood, mercury, ore, sulfur, crystal, gems, and gold. Resources are used to build structures as well as recruit the more powerful creatures. Players may use their heroes to "flag" (capture) a structure on the map which produces a certain number of a resource per day. Each resource is important, but should the player find themself in excess of one and in want of another, they may use a marketplace to trade resources. The greater number of marketplaces owned, the better trade rates available.
Creatures:
There are seven creatures associated with each town, plus one upgraded form of each creature. Creatures are often referred to as levels one through seven in reference to their power (seven being the highest). To balance this power, creature growth is enacted on each town. Based on certain factors (a town's fort/upgraded versions, external dwellings owned, etc.) only a certain number of creatures are generated to be purchased at a town per week. On the first day of each week, players may purchase as many creatures as are available (per creature growth). When creatures are purchased, they are placed into a "stack" with a number showing how many creatures of that type are currently a part of the stack. Stacks may be split, but only a total of eight slots for creature stacks exist at a town (seven for heroes). Each creature has its own stats (attack, defense, speed, health) as well as possible special abilities (cast spells, do additional damage to another creature, etc.). Creatures not associated with any town are also available should a player encounter a dwelling to recruit them from.
Combat:
Combat takes place in a few different ways: hero vs hero, hero vs wild monsters, hero vs town, and hero vs town with hero present. There are minor differences in these combat types. In any combat, a player's creature stacks will be represented on screen by a graphic of the creature type and a number showing how many are left in the stack. To defeat your opponent, simply defeat all his creatures. Heroes do not directly take part in combat. They provide passive benefits (their stats) as well as may cast one spell per round (all creatures have had a turn to move/attack). A hero may retreat (able to recruit them again in town with everything but their creatures intact) or surrender when faced by an enemy hero (pay a gold sum to retain creatures as well as everything else). Creatures may move and melee attack, but ranged units must choose to fire or move. However, a random "morale boost" (which can be affected by many different means, mostly artifacts) may allow creatures to take a turn twice. Generally, creatures are either melee or ranged. Melee creatures must attack units directly next to them while ranged units fire a projectile. The further away the unit being fired upon is (as well as across any obstacles in the battlefield) affects the damage dealt. Additionally, when ranged units are adjacent to an enemy unit, they may not fire and may only melee attack. As all units are subject to morale, they are also subject to luck. Luck randomly appears when attacking and doubles the damage dealt. When attacking an enemy town, their defenses come into play. Depending on the level of fort they have built, the battlefield will have a moat lining the castle wall as well as zero to three archer towers which provide extra damage per round. The defending town gains an advantage in the form of a wall which keeps all units out except flying units, as well as providing additional damage.
Gameplay:
Players manipulate their heroes around a preconstructed map in order to accomplish a specific goal defined before play (usually defeating all other players). Each hero has a set amount of movement he/she can use per turn before being unable to travel further. Once a player has used all their actions (or has decided to finish without enacting anything else), they may end their turn and the next player's turn begins. The map has a fog of war style covering except after a part has been uncovered it stays that way. Scattered about the map are many different structures, artifacts, resources, and creatures which may help or impede the player. Any number of effects can be associated with the multitude of structures in HoMM. Many buildings were simply taken from a town and made into a standalone structure (creature dwellings are a common example of this). Some of a town's unique structures may also appear on the map. There are too many different types of structures present in HoMM to name, but generally speaking the majority of them boost morale or luck, give resources, or allow learning of a skill. Players must take what they can from other players, amass an army to overtake their foes, and do so before their opponents do the same.
Play Session One:
For the first play session, I choose a campaign mission on "hard" (one level above easy). In this mission, my goal was to acquire an artifact called "The Ring of Vitality." I would lose the scenario if I lost all my towns and didn't capture one for a week or if I lost my main hero named Gelu. I started with one town (Rampart) and one heor (Gelu) whose specialty was "Sharpshooters." This specialty allowed Gelu to upgrade elves (a Rampart unit) into sharpshooters (who incur no range or barrier penalty). Sharpshooters turned out to be very powerful. However, it seemed the majority of my enemies started out much further developed than I did, and I had to fight an uphill battle. Often I would begin to explore a certain area and then run away as a hero of a much higher strenght than i could handle would appear. After many restarts, I did finally acquire the ring. I would like to note that often making one mistake (from mistakes such as "didn't recruit enough creatures" to simply "being in the wrong place") would spell the end of your gameplay session. Thankfully, it is possible to save at any point during your turn. It seemed highly beneficial to know where everything on the map was and less beneficial to have a strategy.
Play Session Two:
For the second play session, I choose a four player map with the Tower town and the easy difficulty. The goal was simply to conquer every other player. In this playthrough, I was placed in a position with unfavorable terrain, and therefore had a severe movement penalty. It seemed unfair to have been dropped into a condition I couldn't control. As I continued to explore, suddenly out of nowhere, two of my enemies appeared, but both were quite underpowered compared to me. They seemed to throw themselves at me and make foolish mistakes often. I did not finish this playthrough as a game takes many many hours to finish, but I don't doubt I would have won.
Overall:
HoMM is a seemingly deep strategy game. Players may employ a number of tricks to get ahead or swindle other players out of towns/resources/etc. However, when playing against the computer, the difficulty seems to be off kilter. Easy difficulty involved being under challenged while one step up involved barely hanging on. There are four higher difficulties past "hard." I feel these difficulties don't increase the AI's thinking capability as much as it "cheats." I suspect opposing players start out with more resources, creatures, and better heroes than the player does. This is an artificial jump in difficulty as it isn't a tweak in difficulty but a tweak in impossibility. Instead of being marginally impossible it could be completely impossible (if you decided to choose the hardest difficulty).
Nonetheless, HoMM is a deeply engrossing game. There is enough micromanagement to be fun while not being too inclusive. Playing against computers can only be so fun, but playing with humans can be much more so. Allies are assigned on certain maps which make for a fun experience, and on maps without allies, temporary alliances can be forged. It adds an entire new dimension to the game.
The only complaints I have about HoMM are the length of time it takes to play a game and the unforgiving nature of the difficulty settings. An average game on an extra small map takes around two to three hours to complete (the largest map is labelled XL). The difficulty is unforgiving in that losing your strongest hero is often a death sentence (as you are also losing a good chunk of your troops), and computer players will beeline straight for your town (regardless of if they know where it is) upon your hero's defeat. Despite these flaws, HoMM is a highly addictive and fun game.
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