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[Dalisclock]

They do that with Italian in the Ezio trilogy as well. Supposedly in that game it was explained as being a glitch in the Assassins' Animus, which led to bad Italian accents and words not being translated sometimes. Considering that Unity's story is a hack sent out by the Assassins, that's probably what did it.

I mean, the explanation probably won't make it less annoying, but at least there is one.

I vagually remember that but it's been so long since I played the Ezio games it didn't stick in my mind the way it does playing Unity right now. I think I'd honestly have to play them back to back in order to compare but I don't really feel like doing that.

But yeah, as usual, any problems can be handwaved by "THE ANIMUS DID IT!". Hell, like half of Odyssey is implied to be this because they were using 2500 year old skin cells or something and apparently filled in the gaps by feeding Herodotus's writings into the animus. This apparently explains why the animus can't tell if the DNA is from a male or female so just lets you pick one.

 

[Dalisclock]

More or less completed Jondo in Blasphemous. And of course there another area underneath that, which is a little less creepy but no less unwelcoming(drifting poison gas clouds, yay!). I at least reached the other side of the Jondo Chasm, which leads back to nearly the start with some useful stuff. Like the one lady who can knot my damn rosary and allow me to have more then 2 beads at a time equipped(for those who don't know, these grant some buffs/abilities, mostly passive).

With that being said, I have to think how cruel it is that it's so easy to Blunder up to the mountain path when you're meant to go down and around through the church and the cistern first. You certainly benefit from finding all the upgrade stuff along the lower route at the very least. At least I unlocked the Mountain elevator to i can skip the lower portion of the climb when I go back up there.

 

[Drathnoxis]

Still Celeste. I played a couple screens of level 8 and hated it immediately so I've been doing the B-sides of levels. I've finished the first 5 and found the difficulty kind of inconsistent. Level 2 and 5 were actually pretty easy, I got a lower death count on my first run through 2B than I did 2A. 3B was awful, timing dust bunnies is not fun at all. Now I'm on 6B and jesus christ! I've just made it through the first two screens and have probably died over 150 times already. The feather is the worst mechanic in the game, I don't know how any of the developers thought it was a good idea. You move way too fast and have next to no control over the thing. It's not even platforming, it's flying. I hate it! I hated it in 6A, but now the game expects ludicrous precision and it's not fun at all. Of course I absolutely refuse to turn assist mode on.

The B-sides are in general just too long and when you're playing them it always feels like there's no end to them. If there was some indication of how far you've progressed it would be a lot better. Super Meat Boy felt a lot better with each screen being an individual level, you could always tell how much more of a world you have left and it made a lot more natural stopping points. Not that Super Meat Boy didn't have its own terrible design decisions with those stupid retro stages that make you do a ridiculous challenge on 3 lives and make the gameplay a slog with a long death screen every time. Like I don't really get how developers can get things so right, and then turn around and sabotage their own design like they have no idea what made it good to begin with.

So yeah, feathers suck!

 

[Dalisclock]

Beat Tres Angustias in Blasphemous, so I guess I'm ready go tackle to the peaks for real this time. That was interesting fighting three spooky ghost ladies and maybe they have something to do with Altasgracias nearby.

 

[BrawlMan]

Oneechanbara Origin again. I made it Level 102 in Infinite Survival Mode. Way before getting there, I fought the boss, Anzu (zombie school girl with oversized Vega style claws). I managed achieving the two parry trophies: Parry 5 and 10 Consecutive Times. The best way to get it is by fighting her first boss form (not the 2nd time you fight her where she gains a new weapon) and parrying her Sonic Spin Dash attack. It is so awesome when you manage to parry the entire attack. I was on a roll with parries for a lot of survival mode, and especially deflecting nearly all of her attacks I was playing as Aya and managed to do this in Xtatic Form. A mode where you're more powerful, but more susceptible to damage. To add on top of that, I added aring makes you get to that form more quickly, but cuts your defense in half, practically turning her in to a glass cannon. I just keep adding challenges to myself. I do hope they bring parrying back in the next installment.

 

[NerfedFalcon]

After going back through all of the worlds to get all the treasure I couldn't get before without certain abilities, and struggling through the enhanced waves of Heartless everywhere, I'm finally ready to head to the final world of Kingdom Hearts 1. It's given me a little to think about, being close to the end: specifically, do I really want to try and play through every game in the series? 3's the big one that I haven't finished yet, the rest are all replays except for 0.2, so I could just skip ahead without missing anything. At the same time, I do kinda want to see if I can dedicate myself enough to beat them all in a row.

 

[Hawki]

Currently playing Metroid Dread. Thoughts are on the respective thread.

 

[BrawlMan]

I finished Infinite Survival mode in Oneechanbara Origin. Once you get pass level 150, everything remains the same, and that point you either keep going or die. I think taking break from the game is best for right now. I gonna play Super Monkey Ball.

 

[Dalisclock]

Took down The Lady of the Charred Visage in Blasphemous. Interestingly, on my first try, which I couldn't manage with any of the earlier bosses(Ten Piedad took me quite a few tries to kill). So the door is open to the 2nd part of the game at last, though I think I have a few things left to do and explore before heading over there. Notably, there's another part to the Brotherhood of the Silent Sorrow to explore near Jondo/The Mountains of Endless Dusk and I should probably do that first(the old pilgrim needs me to clear a blockage for him there).

Yeah, the Mountains and the Convent were notably easier to tackle having done Jondo, Mercy Dreams, the Cistern and the Mountains of Endless Dusk. Not easy but not the brick wall they were before. It is weird to have to admit I just slaughtered my way through a convent full of masochistic murder nuns on the way to slay a Giant Saint Nun(Mother Superior?) who shoots lasers out of her hands. Then again, in Dark Souls 3 I killed the Pope, and this is arguably a step down.

 

[BrawlMan]

Been playing Crysis 2 again. It's amazing how if and when you know what you are doing or memorized the level lay out, you can cloak past most areas a majority of the time, and not even bother. Unless it's a forced or arena fight. I do think the open-ended design is a good thing, despite the more linear nature. At least it stays focused unlike the last game where you're fighting the Ceph and they take too many hits to kill and waste ammo. They're not fun to fight in Crysis. The sequel on the other hand are much more fun and engaging. It's even more fun when you're in an area and seeing the Ceph and CELL fight each other, and they're not aware of your presence yet. Reminds me of Far Cry: Instincts when you see the Crowe's Mercenaries, Krieger's Shock Troopers, and the mutants on the island going melee a trois during the late game. I think this is why I like the Crysis games so much. They carry the spirit of Far Cry better than the official sequels.

I played some more Super Monkey Ball and courses only get tougher in the 2nd and 3rd world. There are options to skip levels if you find them too hard, but your score won't be recorded. So at least there accessibility options and an assists mode, if a player desires.

Streets of Rage 4 I played earlier this afternoon and did some sessions of Survival. I still can't get pass level 33.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Beat Psychonauts. I don't think I have anything new to add to what everybody knows about the game. The overall universal takes sound about right. The Milkman Conspiracy is great and The Meat Circus sucks. Combat is dull and platforming is hell but for the most part the game makes up for it in the presentation. Fun characters, funny dialogue, some really creative design choices that owe more to point and click adventure games than your usual 3D platformers.

The reason why Meat Circus sucks is that it focuses on the absolute worst aspect of gameplay - platforming - while adding some novel nuisances that aren't at all present in the rest of the game, such as the escort mission (starring your typical slow, dumb, suicidal AI) and a time factor that doesn't really apply anywhere else. So you're tasked with precision platforming of such speed as you've never really trained for, all the while trying to beat either a timer or a friendly but dumb AI. And I thought the checkpoints were bad enough, but apparently they were even fewer and farther between in the original game, and the lives system wasn't put on pause like in the modern port.

Ranking the worlds (probably like 99% of rankings out there):

1. Milkman Conspiracy
2. Black Velvetopia
3. Waterloo World
4. Lungfishopolis
5. Milla's Dance Party
6. Basic Braining
7. Sasha's Shooting Gallery
8. Gloria's Theater
9. Brain Tumbler Experiment
10. Meat Cirucs

 

[Casual Shinji]

I'm in a spooky Halloween mood so I'm playing Resident Evil 2 Remake again, and it's still really fucking good.

It's remarkable that Capcom was able to make a third-person, AAA action game that is more focused on management skill than actual reflexes.

 

[Drathnoxis]

Played through OneShot based on a recommendation I got a year ago from a user here that it was "Pretty much Undertale with better art, characters, lore, and music." While it was pretty decent I wouldn't go that far. Personally I enjoyed Undertale more on every level except art. The art style in OneShot is gloomy, but still very appealing with a great use of coloring. The characters are simply not very well developed in OneShot outside of the main character Niko, who is passable, but not amazingly interesting. None of the other characters hang around for long enough to get very much development. The story is alright, and kept me interested well enough with its lore, but as for living up to the games tagline of being "a game that knows you exist" it really does not have much interaction at all. It finds out your name from your PC username, and has some trivial puzzles involving the filesystem of your computer, but that's the extent of the facade. I simply cannot buy into the premise that I personally am talking to Niko when I'm given at most two inconsequential dialogue choices, mainly just yes or no. It's an interesting premise handled decently, but no more.

One of the biggest drawbacks compared to Undertale is that there is simply very little gameplay. Undertale was a unique take on turn based combat that was actually very fun to play, and even beyond that the world had a lot of little things that you could do to interact with it to make it feel alive. There is no gameplay to speak of in OneShot, except some incredibly basic adventure game exploration and puzzle solving. You're here for the story and the story alone, it's pretty much a visual novel told in RPG Maker. I don't regret my time with the game, it being quite short, and feel it was a pretty decent experience.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

I'm in a spooky Halloween mood so I'm playing Resident Evil 2 Remake again, and it's still really fucking good.

It's remarkable that Capcom was able to make a third-person, AAA action game that is more focused on management skill than actual reflexes.

I screwed up my playthrough by getting to the lab without getting the flamethrower and running out of ammo shooting those damn plant things that were in my way with the backtracking I was doing finding keys or whatever. Don’t recall if I had other saves close by or if the game was locked to one save file but I was too frustrated to bother redoing it, because of that crazy tunnel maze under the police station.

I did later start a new playthrough but went back to finish some other games.

 

[Casual Shinji]

I screwed up my playthrough by getting to the lab without getting the flamethrower and running out of ammo shooting those damn plant things that were in my way with the backtracking I was doing finding keys or whatever. Don’t recall if I had other saves close by or if the game was locked to one save file but I was too frustrated to bother redoing it, because of that crazy tunnel maze under the police station.

I did later start a new playthrough but went back to finish some other games.

I never bother fighting the G-creatures in the sewers, I just pack a bunch of stun grenades for the run to the King and Queen plug. Fighting those bastards can eat up so much ammo. I also use the sub-machine gun for Claire and the flamethrower for Leon during the second Birkin fight, it's a lot more efficient than using heavy damage weapons.

The fourth fight with Birkin in Claire's run is always a bit tense though, since I really need enough sub-machine gun ammo after having emptied the mini-gun into him to put him down within the allotted time. During one run I only had the grenade launcher and a whole bunch of accid rounds to fall back on (after the mini-gun) and it just wasn't doing enough damage fast enough.

 

[NerfedFalcon]

I never bother fighting the G-creatures in the sewers, I just pack a bunch of stun grenades for the run to the King and Queen plug. Fighting those bastards can eat up so much ammo. I also use the sub-machine gun for Claire and the flamethrower for Leon during the second Birkin fight, it's a lot more efficient than using heavy damage weapons.

The fourth fight with Birkin in Claire's run is always a bit tense though, since I really need enough sub-machine gun ammo after having emptied the mini-gun into him to put him down within the allotted time. During one run I only had the grenade launcher and a whole bunch of accid rounds to fall back on (after the mini-gun) and it just wasn't doing enough damage fast enough.

Guessing you're playing on Hardcore then? Never really had issues like this when I ran through the game on Standard; most of my ammo-management trouble was in the early part of the game before getting the diverse arsenal and full-size inventory.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Guessing you're playing on Hardcore then? Never really had issues like this when I ran through the game on Standard; most of my ammo-management trouble was in the early part of the game before getting the diverse arsenal and full-size inventory.

Yep, never played it on Standard. I just want that old-school Resi experience and Hardcore really delivers on that. It's strange because even on Hardcore I end up with a shitton of health and ammo at the end - In my last run as Claire I still had 15 or so flame rounds for my grenade launcher and I hadn't even made any acid rounds the enire game. But then a lot of your succes hinges on what you have on you at the moment. Hardcore also gives you less inventory space (atleast four blocks less I think), and when most of your weapons end up taking up two blocks by the end it can be tough to balance ammo amount and health amount.

 

[Dalisclock]

Took down Esdras and his sister in 2 tries in Blasphemous so I've made ot the Patio of Silent Steps(which has a very Castlevania feel to it, even more then the rest of the game). Fighting Esdras does kinda explain what the deal is with him showing up in a couple places along the way, after you've entered a building, making a short speech, and then running back off the other way. It's weird like he's following you but for some reason never confronts you but at least that got a payoff. It was interesting seeing him call on his (possibly dead) sister, who has that whole angelic thing going for her, who you fight near Jondo and even more interesting learning you get one chance to fight her 1 on 1 there. After that fight, she apparently doesn't reappear there, so if you die to her, you miss out on an achievement for killing her. I did manage to take her down and I didn't think she was that hard.

I went back to poor Gemino, who was pretty much dead but at least I gave him the burning oil and I guess kinda finished his quest? Maybe? He was pretty much absorbed into the tree but he does talk to you and thank you for the hot oil so....yay? I did get some things from him and think they have to do with the tomb nearby(which now has a bunch of disturbingly human looking trees around it) but I can't tell what to do next there since I can't use anything. I also keep meeting the old pilgrim dude along the way(much like Siegmeyer from Dark Souls) but hell if I know how the hell he's getting this far when he can barely walk.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Took down Esdras and his sister in 2 tries in Blasphemous so I've made ot the Patio of Silent Steps(which has a very Castlevania feel to it, even more then the rest of the game). Fighting Esdras does kinda explain what the deal is with him showing up in a couple places along the way, after you've entered a building, making a short speech, and then running back off the other way. It's weird like he's following you but for some reason never confronts you but at least that got a payoff. It was interesting seeing him call on his (possibly dead) sister, who has that whole angelic thing going for her, who you fight near Jondo and even more interesting learning you get one chance to fight her 1 on 1 there. After that fight, she apparently doesn't reappear there, so if you die to her, you miss out on an achievement for killing her. I did manage to take her down and I didn't think she was that hard.

I went back to poor Gemino, who was pretty much dead but at least I gave him the burning oil and I guess kinda finished his quest? Maybe? He was pretty much absorbed into the tree but he does talk to you and thank you for the hot oil so....yay? I did get some things from him and think they have to do with the tomb nearby(which now has a bunch of disturbingly human looking trees around it) but I can't tell what to do next there since I can't use anything. I also keep meeting the old pilgrim dude along the way(much like Siegmeyer from Dark Souls) but hell if I know how the hell he's getting this far when he can barely walk.

I think if Gemino thanked you at all for the oil then you're good for his quest. He should be one of the tree dudes at the tomb you found. You'll eventually get something to use there. Good you beat Esdras' sister Perpetva, she drops something useful (at least for me) to use up against the fight with Esdras. And I don't know how that played for you but he's one of the hardest bosses in the game. Usually ranks pretty high in any list.

I don't know if you care at all about achievements but since you mention a missable one, there's a couple that require two playthroughs because getting one cancels the other (unless you use separate saves). Then again unless you're doing the no-flask run and got past the bridge in 3 and a half hours then you have a few playthroughs to go. I did those two separately cause I didn't want the pressure for my first playthrough.

 

[Dalisclock]

I think if Gemino thanked you at all for the oil then you're good for his quest. He should be one of the tree dudes at the tomb you found. You'll eventually get something to use there. Good you beat Esdras' sister Perpetva, she drops something useful (at least for me) to use up against the fight with Esdras. And I don't know how that played for you but he's one of the hardest bosses in the game. Usually ranks pretty high in any list.

I don't know if you care at all about achievements but since you mention a missable one, there's a couple that require two playthroughs because getting one cancels the other (unless you use separate saves). Then again unless you're doing the no-flask run and got past the bridge in 3 and a half hours then you have a few playthroughs to go. I did those two separately cause I didn't want the pressure for my first playthrough.

Achievements I only care about if they're not crazy hard or labor intensive to get. So I don't care about Plating games because it's generally far too much time and effort invested. However, if they're things I can do with some reasonable effort, sure, I'll try it. So getting the pilgrim to the end of the line seems doable(at least right now). I'm trying to imagine a no flask run.....Hell, apparently there's a NG+ where you have to take a substantial debuff to start and even that sounds rough.

Anyway, is there any explanation how your character comes back after dying? I can't help but think it's tied to the hundreds of corpses in the starting area who look similar to you but honestly it's hard to tell what's going on.