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Post by Chema on Aug 20, 2020 10:13:41 GMT -5
Putting down Eternal Darkness after about 8 hours. Probably for good or for a few years. Not awful, but it's not doing much for me. The game switches through characters constantly - you play a character for about 1 hour in their time period, then they get killed in a cutscene and you move onto the next character. They're completely forgettable, included the supposed 'main character'. The sanity meter is just a weak gimmick and doesn't hide the fact that I feel no tension in this game since you can easily kill any monster with ever recharging magic/melee weapons. You're also supposed to play through the same 10-hour campaign three times to get the true ending, yeah no. Story is textbook Lovecraft. Quite a disappointment. Putting down Siren for good or for now. Atmosphere and music are really something, but it's clunky and focuses way too much on stealth for my taste - well, too much for a survival horror game with its survival horror clunkiness. Especially since you can't see a thing due to the fog - that was done intentionally so to force the player to use 'sightjack' and see through the enemies' eyes, might be a cool mechanic but I found it clunky and not smooth at all. I played Eternal Darkness two years ago and despite every issue you point out, I had a great time with it. I loved the setting of each level, the art direction and sound. Even if the story was textbook Lovecraft, I think it was well executed and never dragged down the gameplay.
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Post by Ex on Aug 20, 2020 12:13:55 GMT -5
I suppose 15-20 hours is the limit for me, can't invest more time than that in a single game. With RPGs, it depends on how much fun I'm having personally. I prefer RPGs to be 20-30 hours long, but after the 5th gen, 30-60 hours long started becoming the average in my experience. I'm still okay with a 60 hour RPG, but only if it's truly amazing. And we all know most RPGs are not truly amazing. New Vegas was truly amazing, but I still had to take breaks from it occasionally, to avoid getting overly burnt out.
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Post by Xeogred on Aug 20, 2020 13:07:57 GMT -5
I try not to worry about game length, but of course I'm always curious about those HLTB records too before I hit something up usually. I just definitely make sure to not play two long games at the same time. I guess that would be two 10+ hour games for me.
It's the best approach to shows for me too. It used to look daunting at huge episode counts, but not that much anymore, as long as I'm interested in said show of course. Life's short anyways, if you worry too much about this stuff you may just never play or watch something that you could have gotten through. It's not a race!
Dropping a game you've invested dozens of hours into stings more than usual for sure too though, but I've done it a few times. Dragon Age is always my favorite example in my head, since I was like 30-40 hours in and just gently dropped the controller to the floor and said "I think I hate this game". Never played it again. Guess it was just filler until that breaking point.
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Post by Xeogred on Aug 30, 2020 17:34:04 GMT -5
Battletoads has been on my mind a lot lately for whatever reason. I game over'd on the fourth level, the ice one after the Turbo Tunnel (it's not that hard guys!), I forgot if this one only gives you a few continues despite not giving a number, but yeah I think it's only three.
Still a big fan personally. Going to keep at it and see if I can beat it legit. I think I may have done it before but probably only once.
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Post by Sarge on Aug 30, 2020 17:40:27 GMT -5
Yeah, it's like three continues. If you're really good (or lucky), you can rack up 1-Ups by bouncing ravens around in the second level. It's pretty easy to drop them, though, regardless of whether you're using the sword beak or normal attacks.
It took me quite a bit of practice to get a legit run in. The last time I jumped back in, I'm pretty sure I lost it in Stage 4 as well. I'd forgotten quite a few of the hazards along the way.
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Post by toei on Aug 30, 2020 18:37:26 GMT -5
I've been playing Twinkle Tale on the Genesis, one of the great easy retro shmups. Top-down, human character, free movement. The usual comparison is the Pocky & Rocky series, but I like this game better. I used to mess around with it years ago, but that was before I'd ever beaten a single shmup, and I was really bad at it. It's pretty generous with credits, and you can take a few hits before you die (your heath bar gets bigger as you get further in). I haven't used all my credits in either of my sessions with it so far; if I die a few times I just stop playing and try again later. I might end up 1'CCing it, I guess.
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Post by Sarge on Aug 30, 2020 21:03:45 GMT -5
I really liked that one when I played it earlier this month. Of course, I didn't get a "legit" win, but I'm not terribly bothered by it right now.
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Post by Ex on Aug 30, 2020 21:38:43 GMT -5
Top-down, human character, free movement. Maybe that should be a theme for one of our Club Retros at some point. Human protagonist shmups I mean. I'm glad to see you gaming again toei.
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Post by toei on Aug 30, 2020 22:40:10 GMT -5
I 100% support that theme. It's my favorite subgenre of shmup. Also, if anyone here has yet to play Elemental Master, that'll be a good occasion.
I'm not sure why I just never feel like gaming lately. It's not like I don't end up wasting a bunch of time online anyway. I might never game as much as I did at one time, but I'd be happy with a little now and then.
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Post by Ex on Aug 30, 2020 22:59:51 GMT -5
I 100% support that theme. It could be your theme if you wanted, since we're doing the birth month CR thing next year. Well, it's certainly possible to get burned out, if one focuses on a singular hobby hardcore for too long. Not saying that's what happened to you, but I've done that before with other hobbies. Just not video games personally. The amount of time I'm gaming also depends on the time of year. Certain times of the year I just have more free time than others. Right now between time devouring home improvement projects, and endless yard work, my free time (and energy) isn't quite what it'll be in the winter. For example, my wife and I both spent almost seven hours today working on our yard and property. That's just how it is this time of year, when everything grows like mad. (Plus there's always a tree problem somewhere on our land in general.) I also think it's healthier for a person to have more than one hobby. Video games shouldn't be the only hobby someone has, but I've met people like that. I don't know how they do it. (Have one singular hobby I mean, I've met people who only read books as a sole hobby.)
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