What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast

[Rynnec]

Doesn't the music also sound GBC-quality? That's one of the complaints reviewers noted the most when the game first came out.

[Foggle]

I don't thing that it's lazy as much as it is rushed. Anyways, I anticipate that critics will most certainly rip it to shreds, but like I said, I'll just see what PG fans and maybe even Korra fans think of it. It'll probably be far inferior to PG's usual products, but it still might be worth experiencing in the same way that something a game like Genji is worth a playthrough.

Yeah, rushed is probably a better description. They might not have even had an entire year to make it.

Also, I wasn't offended by anything. I was just a bit frustrated that you seemed to be mistaking what I was trying to say in that one post I responded to, where you made it seem like I was vouching for the game, which I wasn't. I don't know if it's really good or mediocre or crap. I just meant that I still wanted to try it despite what it looked like from just watching. I don't know how I can be anymore clear than that.

My response may have come across as flippant, but I didn't mean for it to. I did think you were vouching for the game, and I was actually happy that (I perceived) you were, since it would mean that someone whose opinion I trust actually thought it became better after unlocking the bending powers.

Anyways, like I said, I'm not going to bother arguing about this, anymore.

I'm not sure if it even qualifies as an argument. Looking back, it seems more like we just have different expectations and standards for specific games, so that clashed a bit.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Doesn't the music also sound GBC-quality? That's one of the complaints reviewers noted the most when the game first came out.

Listening to HOD, track-quality aside, COTM sounds more 8-bit and HOD sounds much more sophisticated.

Obviously it doesn't matter so much now (Classic Castlevania thrives on chiptunes), but at the time when you heard what the GBA soundchip was capable of, it didn't sound very impressive.

[gunswordfist]

i beat mother 3 within this hour. uh...

[Spark Of Spirit]

I just lost a ton of progress because for some reason they don't put any save points after bosses and an enemy stun-locked me to death because there is no frame of invincibility after being hit. Which means if an enemy pins you against a wall for any reason, you're dead. Oh yeah, and after beating that easy boss (everything in this game is easy, except when it cheeses you), I didn't get any sort of reward except to continue exploring this very boring castle. Hooray.

Why do people like this game? I simply don't see how COTM could be considered inferior to this.

[gunswordfist]

i started little samson yesterday. the game is hard but i've been trying to advance anyway because the game has a creative cast. little samson himself is like mega man with ducking, a faster rate of fire and wall climbing. he can even hang from ceilings and throw his rocks. the dragon is kind of like this game's version of tails but with fireball breath and lesser flying capabilities. anyway, years ago i only got past the initial stages twice but they were much easier this time around. the 2nd boss, not so much. i hate his 2nd form.

[gunswordfist]

beat mortal kombat tonight. that's 2 of the funniest games beaten in 2 days in a row.

[gunswordfist]

i beat the arcade ladder on mortal kombat today with kung lao. having a projectile using teleporter is the key to beating shao kahn. lao's ground hat is good at stopping shao's projectile animation.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Beat HoD, the good ending.

Yeah, it pretty much stays the same the whole way through. It's a fairly dull game that's pretty easy, other than the lack of invincibility after hits, and the dual castle concept doesn't make the game feel any bigger. The good ending is pretty vague to get, too, since it's the only way to actually fight Dracula, and yet after all that, it's kind of a cheesy boss that is easily bested with Cross+Bolt combination and healing items. Since the game throws money at you, I entered the final boss with 50 potions and 50 large potions and still had $20,000 to spare.

Despite everyone saying this is a bigger game than COTM, well, it's not. For a comparison, I beat COTM at level 53 with 10 and a half hours of play. I beat HoD at level 47 with barely 8 hours of play.

Anyway, I'm done and will probably never pick it up again.

Up next: Aria of Sorrow.

[gunswordfist]

so you can fight dracula in that game? i remember the story saying there were 2 draculas and i ended up fighting neither.

[Foggle]

I'm nearing the end of The Evil Within now. Chapter 11 actually ended up being very good when I gave it another try, and the second half of the level was fantastic. For anyone who's wondering, I wouldn't worry too much about the game devolving into RE5/6 with a bunch of gun-toting enemies - you'll only be getting into firefights for about 30-45 minutes total out of the game's 15-16 hour run time. It almost feels like a giant piss-take on what Capcom did to Resident Evil, in a way.

The first half of chapter 12 was probably the only bad part of the entire game so far; thankfully, it only lasted maybe 10-15 minutes, and the second half of the level was pretty fun. Chapters 13 and 14 were fantastic. I honestly didn't have much trouble with the chapter 14 boss. It was a great fight IMO.

[Nel_Annette]

I've been playing Ring Of Fates in short, half-hour bursts. Can't take too much of this game at once. Not a good sign.

It also dawned on me that last year, I was miffed because Sonic Lost World and Assassin's Creed IV were coming out the same day. I blew about $100 that day. This year? There's two Sonic games. There's two Assassin's Creed games. All four come out the same day.  Frick, I am so glad I have barely any interest in any of them.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

So, seeing as how Foggle and I were bickering about it the other day, I just thought that I'd talk a little about its reception.

Now, I haven't played it yet, but the general consensus from critics is that it's a piece of shit (as I predicted they would say), but actual fans of character action games seem to think that they are blowing it out of proportion and that it's a better game than what they are giving it credit for.

One commentator that I frequently listen to is TheSeraphim17, who regularly does guides for games on their hardest difficulty settings, and sometimes even no damage runs, which he has done for games like Bayonetta (with a Pure Platinum ranking on every stage on Hard mode), Resident Evil 4 (on Professional difficulty), and The Evil Within (on AKUMU difficulty with no upgrades or keys). What that essentially means is that, if nothing else, he knows his shit whenever he talks about games. He recently started his guide for The Legend of Korra, which according to him is not up to Platinum's usual standards, but he also claims that a lot of the criticisms of this game by critics are flat-out untrue, and that for what it is, it's a fun character action games with nuanced combat mechanics that make sense once you understand how the game works. His taste in gaming usually lines up a lot with mine, which is probably why I listen to him so much, so I'll probably give this game a try. I will. Nay that, he is a MASSIVE fan of Platinum, so his opinion can be a bit biased in favor of them, but when he says something like the combat is good and that the mechanics are solid, he has a reliability where I know he's not bull-shitting, considering that he understands the importance of those better than most gamers that you'll ever find uploading videos on YouTube. Another commentator that I listened to, Bick Benedict, also surprisingly liked the game, and in his case he's not a big fan of Platinum (he likes Bayonetta and Vanquish, but none of their other stuff). So considering that he's much less biased, that's the opinions of 2 people who I trust far more than any critics, so based on that, it seems like this game isn't necessarily a huge blemish on Platinum's great track record as most critics would have you believe (and quite frankly, it wouldn't be the first time that they bashed a game made by this development team). The general consensus is that it's no Bayonetta 2, but it's not supposed to be since it's made to be more accessible to general audiences. For what it is, it's a fun action game in the same way that a good but shallow beat-em-up is. It may not be as deep and intricate as their other games, but as a game in and of itself, it's competently designed and has nuance in there for those who care to practice with and get more skilled at it. That seems to be the general consensus among PG fans, anyways, and I just happen to believe them in this case.

[Foggle]

I read some comments from people who've beaten the game and it seems like the consensus is that Korra is kind of crap for the first hour or so, but once you unlock all your different bending powers it opens up a lot and becomes really fun. Unfortunately, that's a good fourth of the game that isn't considered to be so hot, but you can of course replay the first parts in NG+ with all the powers unlocked. So, sounds good to me, if a little below par for Platinum.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Even then, you have to consider how bad this game would've been if it was handled by literally any other third party developer than Platinum. Basically, the consensus from actual gamers and not crappy journalists is that, at worst, it's a mediocre but perfectly functional character action game that is below PG's usual standards, but it isn't by any means a bad or broken game, which is what reviewers would have you believe (and which I've heard numerous people say is flat-out untrue). Also consider that the game was clearly made in under a year, and had an obviously low budget to work with.

Now consider what would happen if Activision just handed it off to any other studio. At best it'd maybe be semi-functional and completely uninspired, but most likely it'd just be a broken piece of garbage that had absolutely no semblance of fun to it whatsoever. Even with everything stacked against them, and even though the game clearly has flaws and lacks their regular level of polish, it's still amazing that PG was able to put out a respectable product with what little they had to work with. It's downright criminal that neither Nick or Activision are even doing the slightest thing to help promote the game. It's almost as if they just want it to fail.

Also, among other things that I've heard, a lot of people who've actually spent time with the game seem to agree that it is most certainly not a button-masher. As TS17 said, you can get away with mashing in the early stages, but after the first few levels you're going to get your ass kicked unless you know what you're doing, like in all PG games. Also, by seeing his gameplay along with his commentary and how he explains the combat mechanics, it's clear proof that the game's fighting system is actually very competently designed and has a legitimate logic to it.

I think what he said at the end of his chapter 2 video makes sense: the game is by no means a great action game along the likes of Bayonetta or PG's usual titles, and it has flaws, but it's also by no means a 3/10, which indicates a broken and completely unplayable game with absolutely no merit of fun to it.