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Post by Sarge on Nov 29, 2019 18:49:42 GMT -5
The next expansion to Shovel Knight, King of Cards, is coming out soon. December 10th, if the page I looked at isn't lying. Definitely looking forward to another dive through the game.
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Post by Ex on Nov 30, 2019 0:48:47 GMT -5
The next expansion to Shovel Knight, King of Cards, is coming out soon. December 10th, if the page I looked at isn't lying. Definitely looking forward to another dive through the game. Thanks for the notice. I just picked up Blaster Master Zero 2 for PC. Luckily didn't have to buy a Switch to play it after all.
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Post by Sarge on Nov 30, 2019 16:48:21 GMT -5
Oh, nice. Didn't realize they'd ported it over. Should be a fun time!
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Post by Sarge on Dec 3, 2019 12:40:39 GMT -5
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Post by Chainsaw Bilqis on Dec 4, 2019 4:17:10 GMT -5
Yes, I have been waiting for this game since 2016 haha. After just a few battles I have a good feeling about it. Combat seems like it will be very rewarding. Incoherence ahead haha: I am not that far, but it definitely builds on what has come before as expected, just as Minstrel Song led into The Last Remnant, Scarlet Grace is quite "modern" in a variety of ways (in terms of letting you know what you are getting into - as far as I can tell anyway, I expect some roadblocks). But also very different from the other titles (there are some similarities with Unlimited Saga but mostly in terms of the interface with towns).
The satisfaction of glimmering/sparking a new move remains, but you also get a free attack when you do this which is a nice way to not mess up your battle plans (unlike most SaGa games where the new move your character performs will temporarily replace the move you selected for that one turn, Scarlet Grace has your character perform both your selected action and the newly learned skill on the initial glimmer as far as I can tell).
You can also see your turn order compared to your opponents. I am sure some wrenches will be thrown into this later though, already been playing around with the various moves that change turn order, which is not new to SaGa games or anything, Quick Draw for guns in SaGa Frontier and bows in so many, Rapid Stream formation in RS2, etc, but it seems particular important in this game for reasons involving your BP points and combo attacks.
Then there is the handy "see all the effects of the move you can choose to use in battle" before selecting it instead of having to learn through repeated usage or going to menu screens out of battle. Oh yeah, another convenience is when a character is downed in battle they will still get their stat ups. Despite these modern day tutorial touches, the game is challenging (I mean, the fact I know you get stat ups after getting downed in battle is a good indicator haha). You also see a rating of the projected battle difficulty before it begins, like "Easy", "Normal", etc.. Seems like there is a lot of transparency about the various mechanics in-game, but the non-traditional presentation of the game environment still lends it a much-welcome sense of mysterious exploration (since you are basically spending the game exploring a world map haha). I am sure I will mess up quite often haha.
There are some "bonus" conditions in battle too, which is a cool thing. Not in a "trophy" or "achievement" way, it is cool because you are rewarded with extra items if you succeed (and the game tells you up front what the conditions are and what items will be rewarded if you perform said conditions in battle). Now, as to why this mechanic exists in terms of "the in-game world", I am not sure (usually one thing I like about SaGa games is being able to reconcile what happens in a "well, that is how it would be" way as if it were real - like most monsters not dropping any gold because why would they have gold anyway, or your stats not all staying the same until you get a level up and then everything miraculously goes up all at once, but rather they go up at various points after battle at their own pace mainly based on your actions performed over time, enemy monster variance due to an ecology system rather than just plain RNG, etc), but it seems like it will make for some fun challenges.
I'd say the only thing that does not impress me too much is just a minor, superficial thing based on taste and that is the model style of your characters, maybe it is the proportions of them or something (the monster enemies and their attacks look pretty cool though) or just too "modern" in style (but of course it is a modern game haha). But I am going to guess this is the lowest budgeted SaGa title yet which is not surprising at all (and no big deal because this combat is pretty addictive so far, just after the visual flair of SaGa Frontier 2, Unlimited Saga, Minstrel Song and The Last Remnant that it is worth pointing out). The world map looks great though (I love the "pop up" points of interest, an eye-catching flourish) and the opening was very impressive. My impressions are favorable for sure haha (but I am easy to please also, so do not take my game taste too seriously).
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Post by Ex on Dec 4, 2019 10:43:16 GMT -5
Sarge Chainsaw Bilqis I had no idea what you guys were talking about for a minute there. For those that don't know: I was thinking, "Hey I could play this on my phone!", but then GooglePlay told me that my phone is too old. (It's three years old now.) But then GooglePlay told me that the Android media server I bought last year could play this game. So I'd have to play it on the big HDTV in the living room - not ideal. I think I'll just get the PC version instead. Looks pretty good.
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Post by Sarge on Dec 4, 2019 11:25:20 GMT -5
I don't think my current PC will run it. Square Enix has what is probably a pricing error on the Steam version, $15.99. If it were Switch (or PS4), I'd be all over it!
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Post by Sarge on Dec 9, 2019 16:32:01 GMT -5
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Post by Sarge on Dec 10, 2019 15:07:25 GMT -5
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Post by Xeogred on Dec 10, 2019 18:52:03 GMT -5
What a time to be alive. Q1 this year was amazing with RE2R, Sekiro, and DMC5. But RE3R is going to be alongside Nioh 2, Last of Us 2, Cyberpunk, and FF7R... holy smokes.
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