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[MeshGearFox]

I finished Ethan Carter, which I thought started really strong but then it just kind of... ended without going anywhere. Like I thought the door puzzle in the house was really neat, and then that was... one of two actual puzzles in the entire game (and the Sea Thing puzzle wasn't interesting).

Playing around with Crysis and Blood Dragon now, since I rather enjoy the former and it's nice playing it on a system that can run it well, and the latter is just Vice City-flavored Crysis which is very much to my tastes. Holy shit does SSAO look unnerving though. It reminds me WAY too much of weird migraine visual things I have constantly.

idk i'll probably go back to... playing Shining the Holy Ark and Harvest Moon this weekend, though. Side effect of getting a PC that can run more modern stuff is realizing that I mostly wanted something that can handle Eurotruck 2, Raiden 4, and PCSX2 nicely, and that there aren't a ton of /next gen/ish things I care about.

I could upgrade my GPU I guess although the only things I vaguely want that wouldn't run on the R7240whatever I have are... The Witcher 3 and Ground Zeroes?

[gimymblert]

@mesh
LowSpecGamer
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQkd05iAYed2-LOmhjzDG6g

[s0]

another post on co-op adventure card games.

tldr: the warhammer quest card game has grown on me a lot while mistfall has, uh, un-grown on me.

the problem with mistfall is this: it has a lot of clever mechanics and it initially seems like it involves a lot of complex decisionmaking in a mage knight-y sort of way. however the "cleverness" of the mechanics somewhat masks that many decisions are not complex at all and the game is a lot more solvable than it appears, not least because enemy variety is extremely low (enemies mostly only differ in their attack and defense values and not much else) and you can just spam the same strategy in a lot of encounters. it's still a good game but it has lost some of its sheen for me.

warhammer quest: the adventure card game is the polar opposite. it looks like a simple mindless dice fest at first (esp seeing as the game it's based on is the ultimate random dice fest), but is actually a surprisingly deep game with lean rules and fun campaign play that flows rather well. not least because every enemy behaves differently which results in lots of dynamic enemy encounters that will require you to adjust your strategy. there ARE dice rolls for action resolution but it's pretty easy to manage your luck and very rare to get completely screwed over by the dice in my experience. character upgrading isn't as deep as in something like pathfinder or lord of the rings or even mistfall (there are no decks for starters, every character has 4 action cards + some gear), but in terms of actual gameplay mechanics it's better than a lot of "bigger" games in its genre, including lotr, shadowrun: crossfire and DEFINITELY pathfinder. it's also now my most played of these gams thanks to the quick pacing. also bonus points for being thematic and approximating a dungeon crawl pretty well, as far as card games with no "movement" mechanics go.

[Keops]

Playing Psychonauts. Never played it before and since there's a sequel coming out, I think it's a good time to get acquainted with the game. It's been a while since I played a platform game with lots of collecting.

[SirNiko]

Yoshi's Woolly World has cute little level previews on the world map similar to Mario 3D Land and World. However, levels that aren't unlocked yet are only a pile of craft materials like balls of colored yarn and things like buttons, springs or pins. When you unlock a new level the materials are used to assemble the level preview.

I like how it gives you very vague hints towards the theme of the next level, piquing your interest without giving anything away.

Some levels can be beaten much too easily by buying one-time use badges before the level. The volcano level becomes trivial if you buy fire immunity badge, for example. It isn't clear if the badges are meant to be a balanced part of the game, or the equivalent of unlockable cheats. They have fun, varied mechanics (like infinite watermelon seeds or ground pounds that clear the screen of enemies) but sometimes seem too powerful. Periodically the game lets you have a free badge for one level (as opposed to buying it with sequins, which is the only use for sequins in the game), further cementing it as a mechanic meant for normal play.

It seems like a mix of Yoshi's Island platforming (flutter jumps and egg throwing) with the level design (aesthetics and mechanics like terrain that you sew together or rip apart) of Kirby's Epic Yarn, which is great.

The Miiverse is a disappointment since all the posts are just players slathering random stamps across the screen and submitting. I'm leaning towards the belief that Miiverse stamps are an awful reward mechanic that discourages creativity. Swap them with an unlockable art gallery instead.

Overall it's really great, though. The aesthetics and varied levels make it a joy to keep beating levels to see what you'll discover or unlock next, and some of the collectables are hidden pretty cleverly and will be missed by all but the most observant players.

[s0]

it's by the same team as kirby's epic yarn and that warioland wii game afaik, so obviously the design philosophy (piss easy levels with bonus challenges to make them harder) is going to be the same.

[gimymblert]

Over powered items is a maintay in nintendo game since mario 3 like the cloud and p wing

[Landshark RAWR]

one of the badges lets you bring poochy into any level 10/10

[s0]

Serious question: how are there so many good kirby games but the only yoshi game that is really excellent is yoshi's island?

[SirNiko]

Kirby's copy mechanic means that you can approach the game in a large number of ways for platforming, fighting, and most puzzles. It just lets you play any way you like. That insulates the game from the level design, since even very plain levels can be fun since you get to fight with your chosen power.

[SolarLune]

^ That's true. If they had different colored Yoshis with different abilities like in Mario World, that'd help to make it a bit more fun to play regardless of the level design, I think.

[Conker]

I dunno Yoshi's Story is pretty great imo

[s0]

I dunno Yoshi's Story is pretty great imo

it's ok but level design and visual charm aren't even close to yoshi's island.

the other yoshi games ive played were mediocre to bad tho. yoshi's island DS is a bad joke, touch & go was basically a prototype for the much better kirby game with the same control mechanic and topsy turvy was a cool mechanic attached to a lame game.

[Schoq]

dunno why you expect much from the character that's basically mario's dog

[s0]

well YOSHI'S ISLAND was a really good gam, thats why.

[gimymblert]

fun thing the dog has a dog



DOGCEPTION

[Schoq]

well YOSHI'S ISLAND was a really good gam, thats why.

you mean Super Mario World 2: mario's dog

[SirNiko]

Yoshi suffers a bit from appearing in the main Mario games as well, which are likely to siphon off the more interesting ideas they have for him.

At any rate, I feel like they've captured a big part of the Yoshi's Island charm in Woolly World.

[s0]

well YOSHI'S ISLAND was a really good gam, thats why.

you mean Super Mario World 2: mario's dog

the title is literally written like this: super mario world 2 YOSHI'S ISLAND

also u play YOSHI in that game and mayro is a stupid annoying brat who does nothing except cry in a really obnoxious way.  

also as a dog i feel very insulted by this psot and demand immediate apology

[s0]

At any rate, I feel like they've captured a big part of the Yoshi's Island charm in Woolly World.

maybe ill buy it at some point. but first up are mario makker and donkey kong tropical freeze