I've mentally categorized you as "the Metroidvania guy" since I've seen how many of them you've played. With this in mind, is there any Metroidvania game that stuck out from the crowd? In a good or bad or an interesting way.
What are you currently playing?
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(Jack Torrance voice): How do you like it?
You and your girl gonna do any other co-op games later?
Continuing Mass Effect 1: Legendary, I just left the Citadel having exposed Saren. While the gameplay feels dated despite the improvements (and let's face it, it wasn't that great even on release), there is no doubt that Mass Effect has one of the deepest and best realized settings in gaming, and I find myself appreciating that fact more as time goes on. There's so much detail and lore even behind mundane and boring details. The soundtrack also still holds up damn well: the theme that plays in C-Sec has that comfy quality to it that I feel we don't often see.
I'm trying to go for a more Renegade-heavy route this time, but I still have trouble selecting some of the dialogue options. The difference in the believability of full Paragon and full Renegade Shepard is just too much to ignore: paragon Shep is an at times naive goody two-shoes doormat, but still comes across as sensible. Full paragon Shep is a sadistic, irresponsible, psychopathic jackass. And I guess people can have fun with that, but for me it just hurts the immersion when the game presents the dichotomy between them as somewhat equal. Playing renegade Shep feels sensible to me only in the scenario where I'm specifically trying to roleplay as a huge asshole with giant authority issues.
Edit: also something I've started unintentionally recognizing is how lopsided the alien race representation is in terms of gender. Do we ever see any clearly female-coded alien NPCs in the entire trilogy besides asari, quarians and that one female krogan in 3? It just makes me think of that point Yahtzee made years and years ago where male individuals of a species can be hideous malformed monstrosities, but the females are "basically just discolored human hotties with bad dentistry". Considering how many alien species there are (vorcha, batarians, elcor, hanar, salarians etc.) sure the writers could at least make a token effort to hide their barely disguised fetish tendencies (those hips on the female quarians, hot diggedy!) Of course you have the get out of jail free card of "well we don't really know if they conform to our understanding of gender", but come on. Nearly every species encountered in the trilogy abides to male presentation with voices, physiques and silhouettes. That is excluding the hanar which are just jellyfish-like blobs, and the faceless mook enemies of geth and the Collectors.
I'm trying to go for a more Renegade-heavy route this time, but I still have trouble selecting some of the dialogue options. The difference in the believability of full Paragon and full Renegade Shepard is just too much to ignore: paragon Shep is an at times naive goody two-shoes doormat, but still comes across as sensible. Full paragon Shep is a sadistic, irresponsible, psychopathic jackass. And I guess people can have fun with that, but for me it just hurts the immersion when the game presents the dichotomy between them as somewhat equal. Playing renegade Shep feels sensible to me only in the scenario where I'm specifically trying to roleplay as a huge asshole with giant authority issues.
Edit: also something I've started unintentionally recognizing is how lopsided the alien race representation is in terms of gender. Do we ever see any clearly female-coded alien NPCs in the entire trilogy besides asari, quarians and that one female krogan in 3? It just makes me think of that point Yahtzee made years and years ago where male individuals of a species can be hideous malformed monstrosities, but the females are "basically just discolored human hotties with bad dentistry". Considering how many alien species there are (vorcha, batarians, elcor, hanar, salarians etc.) sure the writers could at least make a token effort to hide their barely disguised fetish tendencies (those hips on the female quarians, hot diggedy!) Of course you have the get out of jail free card of "well we don't really know if they conform to our understanding of gender", but come on. Nearly every species encountered in the trilogy abides to male presentation with voices, physiques and silhouettes. That is excluding the hanar which are just jellyfish-like blobs, and the faceless mook enemies of geth and the Collectors.
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In a good way (S+), Monster Boy, Prince of Persia and Ultros (and Tunic, if that's considered MV). Both Tunic and Ultros nail the thrill of discovery while constantly challenging your understanding of the game and its mechanics. Monster Boy is ridiculously delightful, rich with secrets and super engaging, start to finish. PoP has a super complex yet incredibly intuitive combat/movement system that animates and feels spectacular, coupled with some remarkable QoL features. And really its only hindrance was a distinct lack of personality, unlike the other games I already mentioned.
In a bad way (C+ and down), Chronicles of 2 Heroes, Minoria and Omega Strike. Minoria is an inferior, shorter, cheaper, generally more linear and definitely easier Momodora from the same devs and while there was nothing dreadful about it, it was very underwhelming. Omega Strike is just too simple and repetitive to leave an impression. Chronicles of 2 Heroes was barely playable - too many bugs and softlocks, made worse by terrible level design. I finished it out of spite, but out of every game in the list it's the only one I didn't even bother to earn the Platinum trophy.
A+ games: both Alwa games are great and very cleverly designed, Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth is a solid (if short) Symphony of the Night clone, and Laika is layered with atmosphere and personality while having one of the most original and satisfying gameplay mechanics in an MV.
B+ territory there's Astronite, Headlander, Knight Witch and Vernal Edge. All of these games have neat conceits from a gameplay or presentation standpoint that make them well worth checking out but they're kinda flawed in some capacity, in my opinion. Astronite is a fun but very tough 1-bit send-up to Metroid with a rather unwelcoming beginning, Headlander has a fun dual gameplay mechanic (you control a floating head and whatever body you posses) with typically funny writing from Double Fine without much flair for puzzles or exploration, Knight Witch is a twin stick bullet hell shooter that barely qualifies as MV and Vernal Edge is self-described "character action" ala DMC that only truly comes together once you're halfway through and have ammassed the totality of the main character's movements and abilities.
Not co-op but we're taking turns with BPM at the moment.
Maybe Borderlands 3 just because it was free last month with PS+ and we have some nostalgia for the series, having played 1, 2 and Pre-Sequel. Our first co-op campaign was either Borderlands or RE5, I forget. So either that or finish Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime, which is one of those games designed to test each other's patience.
Whenever we just want to play something to kill some time we always default to Overcooked or Duck Game.
What's that?
Have fun. I do recommend Streets of Rage 4, The TakeOver, Double Dragon Gaiden, or Shredder's Revenge, if either of you are interested in those for some really good co-op brawler fun. Final Vendetta or Fight n' Rage as well, but those two you are wanna get on a deep sale.
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Still working on Spiderman remastered. Was more game left, but I am getting closer to the end, at least till the DLC.
I also grabbed a bunch of Shootemups and Blaster Master 2.
I did enjoy Blaster Master after I dled an equalizer so the high pitched highs didn't make my ears bleed and I'm glad I did since Blaster Master 2 is pretty awesome so far.
I also grabbed a bunch of Shootemups and Blaster Master 2.
I did enjoy Blaster Master after I dled an equalizer so the high pitched highs didn't make my ears bleed and I'm glad I did since Blaster Master 2 is pretty awesome so far.
I don't see how Tunic could possibly be considered Metroidvania since it's predominant inspiration is overwhelmingly Zelda. If we start to argue that Zelda games are Metroidvania we'd have to change the name to Zeltroidvania and it'd be chaos to the classifications.
Well, there's a lot of overlap between MV and Zelda-likes, so I think Tunic is at the very least adjacent to the genre. But Tunic also has an interconnected world, backtracking and ability gating. It's just that the gating has less to do with getting new skills or weapons - which you do, anyway - and more with the player's shifting understanding of the world's mechanics. So it's more like knowledge gating rather than ability gating. Start a new game simply knowing everything that you do about the world by the end and it becomes a wildly different game.
Quite a few reviews refer to it as a Metroidvania; it's also its third tag on the Steam page. If you go to r/metroidvania you'll find a recurring theme of posts like "Is Tunic/Death's Door/Iconoclasts/Owlboy/Rain World/Arkham Asylum a Metroidvania?", where stricter people than me speak for or against classification. That's where someone coined 'Metroidbrainia' for MVs gated by knowledge, which is definitely the case of Tunic and Ultros.
But then again I would never recommend it as a Metroidvania. I would explain that it could technically be construed as one, and how it touches on a lot of what makes a MV fun.
BPM: Bullets Per Minute. It's a roguelike rhythm shooter where you can only fire/reload/etc, basically everything other than move, to the beat of the soundtrack. Think FPS x Crypt of the Necrodancer.
I got Streets of Rage 4 as a PS+ freebie but neither of us are super into beat em up brawlers. It always boils down to "I take the dudes on the right, you take the ones on the left" and that gets boring quick. There has to be like a fun synergy between character classes or a variety of things for each of us to do. That's kind of the appeal of something as basic as Overlooked or Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime, having each player naturally assume a specific task or control over a particular aspect of gameplay.
Depends on what you're doing and how you're doing it. I will say there is an update that came out where they brought back team up attacks from the previous games to promote that extra synergy. Though I doubt that's going to bring either of you back into the game.
SOR4 does have that, but not the style your interested in.
Don't worry, The Rogue Wolf already answered that one. Thank you.
I'm playing Jotun.
It's a boss rush game in the vein of Shadow of the Colossus or more specifically indie top-down versions like Furi and Titan Souls, but there isn't much of a rush and the downtime between bosses feels a little bit like busywork.
You play Thora, a Viking warrior who's suffered a lame death and in order to get into Valhalla must now impress the gods by slaying six jotuns (jotnar?) across the different realms of Norse mythology.
The game has hand-drawn art, which looks awesome on the bosses but is lost on teeny tiny Thora as she very slowly rolls across the screen. You have a light and heavy attack and that's about it, apart from a swath of "god powers" that have very limited uses and effects.
You're very slow and very weak and most fights have you crucially relying on positioning, as you try and navigate massive AoE attacks while contending with boss RNG. It's all pretty daunting and you're not allowed to get comfortable or greedy. There're also some neat challenges like time trials and no damage or no magic.
The in-between stuff has you slowly exploring very small levels for runes to unlock the next fight, with collectibles in the form of new God powers, Idunn apples to raise HP and some lore tidbits. You don't usually fight anything in these and it mostly boils to navigating bullshit environmental damage, like falling rocks or gusts of wind. Each level has its own gimmick.
The atmosphere is nicely put together. There's a reverential awe to the narration (Thora and Odin's), which is delivered in Icelandic and really sells the ritualistic aspect of the game. The environments are fairly generic but every now and then you get an intriguing or downright bizarre sight like Jormungandr swimming ominously beneath a frozen lake or Mimir's head sticking out tortuously from an overflowing well.
So overall it's a pretty fun game, evocative and easy on the eyes, with some weak connective tissue in between the really exciting parts.
It's a boss rush game in the vein of Shadow of the Colossus or more specifically indie top-down versions like Furi and Titan Souls, but there isn't much of a rush and the downtime between bosses feels a little bit like busywork.
You play Thora, a Viking warrior who's suffered a lame death and in order to get into Valhalla must now impress the gods by slaying six jotuns (jotnar?) across the different realms of Norse mythology.
The game has hand-drawn art, which looks awesome on the bosses but is lost on teeny tiny Thora as she very slowly rolls across the screen. You have a light and heavy attack and that's about it, apart from a swath of "god powers" that have very limited uses and effects.
You're very slow and very weak and most fights have you crucially relying on positioning, as you try and navigate massive AoE attacks while contending with boss RNG. It's all pretty daunting and you're not allowed to get comfortable or greedy. There're also some neat challenges like time trials and no damage or no magic.
The in-between stuff has you slowly exploring very small levels for runes to unlock the next fight, with collectibles in the form of new God powers, Idunn apples to raise HP and some lore tidbits. You don't usually fight anything in these and it mostly boils to navigating bullshit environmental damage, like falling rocks or gusts of wind. Each level has its own gimmick.
The atmosphere is nicely put together. There's a reverential awe to the narration (Thora and Odin's), which is delivered in Icelandic and really sells the ritualistic aspect of the game. The environments are fairly generic but every now and then you get an intriguing or downright bizarre sight like Jormungandr swimming ominously beneath a frozen lake or Mimir's head sticking out tortuously from an overflowing well.
So overall it's a pretty fun game, evocative and easy on the eyes, with some weak connective tissue in between the really exciting parts.
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Not making progress in Banjo Tooie, don't know if the shoes to climb up walls and let me access next part of overworld are found after defeating that giant fish in the locker that I complained about. Vaguely remember this snow and fire level and dinosaur level that I want to play again, but damn.
DMC-inspired Soulstice is a drag. Blue color pallet got old months and months ago. Another highlight of R3 being bad for lock-on and Z-targeting being objectively superior. In DMC, you can thrust easily by holding R1, but here like in Ninja Theory's DmC you have to push the stick twice, messing you up all the time, and it's hard to tell when the lock is engaged because there's so much on the screen. With Z-targeting (like Zelda, DMC, MGS3), you actively felt the lock-on as you held the button down. But can't do that easily with that shit button R3. Thanks, Dark Souls; fuck you, From.
Playing Breath of the Wild, second time. Relaxing.
DMC-inspired Soulstice is a drag. Blue color pallet got old months and months ago. Another highlight of R3 being bad for lock-on and Z-targeting being objectively superior. In DMC, you can thrust easily by holding R1, but here like in Ninja Theory's DmC you have to push the stick twice, messing you up all the time, and it's hard to tell when the lock is engaged because there's so much on the screen. With Z-targeting (like Zelda, DMC, MGS3), you actively felt the lock-on as you held the button down. But can't do that easily with that shit button R3. Thanks, Dark Souls; fuck you, From.
Playing Breath of the Wild, second time. Relaxing.
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Still playing Blaster Master Zero 2 and I gotta say, these games keep impressing me. The difficulty is nicely bumped from the first game, which was much too easy. (there is a higher difficulty mode called destroyer, but you have to beat the game with the true ending to play it) the new characters are fun, it also goes some places that I wasn't expecting. I think I am getting near the end, looking forward to seeing where the story goes and what I will be doing in 3.
Playing Ninja Gaiden III (NES) - A special rom hack version where the US version plays more like the Japanese version, and brings back missing graphical features and sounds.
For the last week or so, I decided to go back to The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker and finish that up, which I finally achieved tonight. It's... I don't want to dislike it. It's got a lot going for it; a good story, a great visual style, a charming cast of characters, some decent dungeons and items... but ultimately, what brings the game down is a non-stop sequence of minor issues building up until they're too big, as a group, to ignore. That and it's just kind of easy, which may not necessarily be a "flaw" as such (YMMV), but I just don't really go for it. Ocarina's generally better put together, Majora is the storytelling GOAT, and while I won't say Twilight Princess is a perfect game, far from it, its highs are a lot higher than TWW's in my opinion. And then there's Breath of the Wild, which is practically just its own (really great) thing...
Probably won't play it again, with all those other options from the same series on my list (I did beat Ocarina once before but a replay could be nice), but if you've ever thought about it, and you have the means to play it, worth giving a shot. The worst main-series Zelda (which is not TWW) is still better than most games. Just, don't feel bad if you end up giving up on it, like I almost did several times.
Probably won't play it again, with all those other options from the same series on my list (I did beat Ocarina once before but a replay could be nice), but if you've ever thought about it, and you have the means to play it, worth giving a shot. The worst main-series Zelda (which is not TWW) is still better than most games. Just, don't feel bad if you end up giving up on it, like I almost did several times.
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