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Johncarllos
Super Robot
Posts: 6811
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« Reply #4015 on: 6 September 2022, 23:58:27 » |
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John, that post alone got me to buy and play through Stray.
I enjoyed the game, but definitely not as cat as I would have expected.
I was expecting 3D cat simulator adventure in a post-apocalyptic wasteland and mostly visual, dialogue-free storytelling.
It certainly delivers on most of those things, and I think it could do with a sequel that focuses on closing in on what it would be like to be a cat. More immersion, I guess, is what I'd like to see. In terms of what that story would look like, they've left a few story threads to paw at and see what unravels.
I'm glad you enjoyed it. I have a lot of the same reservations. Thankfully the cost was worth it for a game where my wife enjoyed watching me play and guide my actions. Those are rare, ha. My biggest issue is total lack of replayability. Once it feels like it's picking up steam it just starts trailing into the climax. I feel like with the light item, they could have built a few more hours and puzzles into the game. The price of failure is high though, watching the 'game over' scenes is heartbreaking every time.
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I can skin anything smaller than a bobcat in 30 seconds.
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Johncarllos
Super Robot
Posts: 6811
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« Reply #4027 on: 1 July 2023, 00:25:39 » |
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I'm running Tears of the Kingdom right now. I like it, but it reminds me of all the things I hated about BotW. Unlike with BotW though, I've kind of got my fix of endless exploring and meandering and will probably play this one more straight through the story. I don't see myself clocking in another 130 hours in this one.
So how did that work out? I finally caved and got a switch, but I REFUSE to play a modern game at 720p 30fps. SO I did it all legally, and got a first gen switch, used the hack software recovery hack, modded it, ripped the keys and game, and am playing Tears of the Kingdom at 60fps 4k. Except the "computer program of dubious legality" (Yuzu) is still a work in progress so sometimes I deal with some stutters or a drop to 40fps. Can't wait for the 120fps mod if it ever comes. Oh and the game is amazing. It's been years since BOTW so it's like visiting a friend that has grown up. The detail and level design is mostly excellent, I love that eventually there is a way to cheese every puzzle. I've got 3 dungeons done and I'd guess I'm halfway through(?) The whole newspaper arc does a lot to make the world feel alive and like things that matter are happening all over. I'm generally 25/75 on main quest and side stuff respectively. Took one night and just unlocked the whole map (overworld and sky at least, ##### the gloom), took a night to get all the fairies, sometimes I just relax with exploration and side missions. I find a lot of internet content I'd binge on is getting boring/repetitive and I just jump on TOTK for an hour or two.
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I can skin anything smaller than a bobcat in 30 seconds.
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Majikn
Super Robot
Posts: 2357
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« Reply #4037 on: 17 August 2023, 03:52:14 » |
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Xero, Gravity Circuit looks awesome. Maybe I'll get it some day. BTW Majikn, I agree. Until this point I've been just vibing with standard resource amounts but upgrading the armor was the biggest hurdle. Enemies doing like 8-10 hearts of damage is insane, and a maxed out armor set getting that down to like 1-2 hearts makes it feel more like a Zelda game instead of dark souls.
I dunno. There are many reasons why the damage output from the enemies doesn't concern me that much, but I get why it can FEEL hardcore. Dark Souls is one of my all-time favourites and I feel like I failed to be able to articulate why on this site back when it came out, and I suppose playing those games more than prepared me for a difficulty spike in this type of game, but BOTW also just isn't difficult for me because you can exploit pause and eat a fully cooked meal at any time which is where those resources come in handy. Dark Souls felt almost like the older Zeldas in that way, if you ignore that you have to use the limited bottles as the action is happening. That's not the only reason though—the way TOTK tweaked things often makes you able to use accessible things far more to your advantage earlier on than you could in BOTW. Handheld weapons break too but now more than ever, swords and spears and bows are far from the only thing in your arsenal. I say all of this in the hope that it might make your experience of the game more enjoyable and less like a grind, but it's subjective I suppose. I can't necessarily tell you how to enjoy the game but I can tell you I enjoyed it more by focusing on the moment-to-moment, using tactics against enemies rather than relying on defense levels and health pools, and otherwise just doing whatever I fancied because the gameplay is so variable depending on what you feel like doing. I like TOTK but have barely played. Like Rez I got that fix from all these games that tried to clone the formula after BOTW like Genshin Impact so now with that feel and having a lil baby running around it's hard to find time to wander around in the game. But it's fun, it's cool, I'm eager to play more story (just easily distracted by side-things in the game).
I like your use of the word tried, there. I never gave Genshin Impact or anything like it a chance, to be fair.
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The Exorcist has taught me that when I'm losing an argument I may save face by vomiting on the opposition.
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Mikero
Super Robot
Posts: 11986
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« Reply #4039 on: 17 August 2023, 18:45:39 » |
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Nah, that sounds more like one of the many games attempting to copy it's success like Tower of Fantasy. It's definitely a real game, there's hundreds of hours of story and open world content as well as limited events, etc., and it's not strictly a mobile game unless you're into torture. Mobile is just the main revenue stream because of the Asian market but it's cross platform with PC and console, where it is actually playable imo.
I've played it for a long time (on PC) and in general I still think it's pretty fun, though I'm at a place now where the only excitement comes out of new story patches as I'm caught up with everything else. I didn't like the prologue stuff in the early game at all to be honest, that part is boring to me, but after that there's a solid game with good story and gameplay. In relation to other games of the type it also offers a lot more polish, a key aspect that led to a cavernous drop off for Tower Of Fantasy and the like.
That is as long you don't become a degenerate gacha player and just go with the free wishes. I still play it casually and even as an f2p player I have cracked characters and weapons enough to clear the hardest content in the game, so I don't think there's any real reason that anyone should get trapped by the monetization.
Gameplay-wise the exploration is good, they took BOTW's "climb-anything" approach to the open world and in 2020 there wasn't much of that. The story ranges from decent to really good depending on the chapter. Inazuma (all of ver 2.0) for example was excellent and that lasted a whole year. Ver 4.0 just released this week bringing in a whole new region again so hopefully that's fun.
What I liked about the gameplay most was the transformative reaction mechanic of combining different elements in combat. Instead of it being a simple pokemon style thing where water is weak to electric, etc., they made a cool system for different ways elements can react to each other. It's actually a pretty fun interactive system that makes characters all feel distinct. That made the combat really unique and fun. Unfortunately they don't want to expand that any further at this point because they specifically don't want the game to lose casual appeal, and imo that decision makes things far more bland and the content too easy for a verteran players.
For the record I'm talking about playing the actual game itself, which I think is fun. But to be absolutely clear: I think the parent company is awful, so I absolutely do not support them monetarily in any of their games (have been trying out their new one). I do not like gacha as a concept in general for a game either, and I also absolutely abhor the community/fans of the game online, they've done some awful #####.
But I'll stand by that in a vacuum the gameplay and design is still very good even if there's those exterior problems.
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TheRedPriest
Matrix Marine
Posts: 3413
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« Reply #4048 on: 30 August 2023, 22:00:35 » |
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I picked Tears of the Kingdom back up after 2 months to do some final grinds with the dupe glitch before I reconnect the Switch to WiFi. I decided to fill out the depths map as well, since it's MUCH easier to use flying machines to get to the light roots, and those use parts, zoanite, and charges, all of which I can quickly dupe back to 999. Also, I need to expand my battery to max, and that takes a LOT of zoanite. Even with the dupe it's EXTREMELY slow to do. I honestly don't see how Nintendo expected people to max that out normally without spending literally a year or more grinding for it.
However, once I finish those things, I'll probably go back here and there and do stuff in it. Hopefully I've made enough supplies to be able to complete any tasks/quests I decide to do later.
Once that's done I have a few Survival Horror and Metroidvanias I want to start.
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Doctor Mario is not a real doctor. Do NOT let him touch your genitals.
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