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[Nillo]

The only bad thing I can say about it so far is that the rules for retreating are kind of weird and you will probably have to go through retreating several times before people understand how and where you can retreat from a battle. There are a lot of special retreating rules (for example: as defender you cannot retreat to a space the attacker came from).

But other than that I think it's a very intuitive game. The order system is unique but you can explain it in 1 minute: players put the orders in a stack and the order that is on top of the stack resolves first.

[Faust06]

Downwell is great, I just wish there was more of it.

[s0]

im very bad so ive rarely even gotten beyond level 1-3  

seeing as how WELL the gam is apparently doing, maybe WE'LL get some dlc or a sequel somewhere DOWN the line?

[Tanner]

My roommates and I bought Guitar Hero Live last night and it seriously rules. I haven't cared about plastic instrument games since DJ Hero existed and every change that was made is for the better. I have small hands for how tall I am, and I always had trouble reaching all the buttons on the old guitars. The new layout fixes that entirely, though it's rough for my shortish fingers to reach back and forth between the rows sometimes. And the FMV stuff is seriously awesome and well-done. GH TV is really neat, too. I am so surprised that I like this so much.


I also bought Pandemic Legacy with some friends and I think we're going to play our first game this weekend. Super excited.

[s0]

i always embarrass myself playing guitar hero bc i try to approach it like real guitar and fail miserably lol

[ThemsAllTook]

I'm not really sure I get Downwell. I had an OK time with it, but playing it so far hasn't left me wanting more. I've been to the catacomb a few times, but whether I get there or not doesn't feel like something within my control, so much as a matter of whether the game decides to put too many dangerous things in my way. The pace of the game seems to be tuned just slightly faster than my reaction time, and the visuals around the player are too busy (especially on a gem high) for me to be able to track my position out of peripheral vision. I can either look at the player and know where I am, thereby missing upcoming hazards, or look at the edge of the screen and not be able to stay on a platform.

Maybe I just need to spend more time with it and build the right skills. It's certainly a game I feel like I should like, and I wouldn't say I dislike it, but it seems just a bit short of the sweet spot somehow.

[s0]

i actually prefer downwell on mobile. the HUD layout is way better imo. the controls are excellent for the platform too.

i think one "revelation" i had is that you don't HAVE to play fast. it's actually in your interest to slow down and land in safe spots as much as you can. the entire game is basically about managing your speed more or less.

[Faust06]

i actually prefer downwell on mobile. the HUD layout is way better imo. the controls are excellent for the platform too.

i think one "revelation" i had is that you don't HAVE to play fast. it's actually in your interest to slow down and land in safe spots as much as you can. the entire game is basically about managing your speed more or less.

That's true, I suspect part of the reason combos are implemented is to encourage the risk-taking of bouncing indefinitely.

[saturdaymorning]

Combos reward you with more gems, charges, and health. I imagine it's hard to buy things from the shop without combos, and the more charges you have, the more you can slow your fall by shooting and not actually ending your combo.

I really like the music in the water area. It's one of the more frantic areas, requiring you to rush for the oxygen bubbles, but the music is completely relaxing.

[s0]

Odallus: The Dark Call

just when i thought i was officially sick of metroidvanias and retro platformers, a really nice one like this comes along. also always neat to play a "retro" game that doesn't try to be pointlessly "hardcore".

[Mariofan0]

I'm still playing Disgaea, All Day, Every Day, so business as usual I guess.

Haven't really poked around on the forums for awhile, so stopped by to see whats up, seems most everyone is an Otter now, but other than that nothing has changed.

[Cobralad]

beated alan wake last week, kinda see where Deadly Premonition coming from. Its likely that Swery got impressed by shadowy rednecks so he decided to insert them into his Twin Peaks fangame. He also used Alan Wake as a facial animation reference, cos hoo boy it sucks. Characters look like John Freeman with bab lypsync.
Other than that i liked story and characters, it has lots of good intentional humor, probably in a way to mimic Stephen King. It has some cool concepts, although its a shame they dont really interact much with gameplay.
Whole gameplay mainly involves you draining shadows with flashlight and it can get really frustrating, although after beating it i realised that i was playing on hard, so maybe its gets better on normal. Camera and movement are also hard to get used too, Wake sprint is the worst. I wonder if New Game+ unlocks better ending, playing game all over is shitty way to get better closure to a story.

[Alevice]

i couldt progeress much in alan wake because the shooter-but-not-quite was really annoying, as you say, the running is the worst. I c\ant stand these sort of mechanics anymore tbh

[s0]

i completed alan wack because it was easy and short enough but found it kinda dull tbh

[Alevice]

im terribad at those games so certain areas took forever and a half and got tired of that shit

[cynicalsandel]

playing batman: arkham origins. i only got it because i traded in a bunch of gamecube strategy guides and gba sp carrying cases i didn't need anymore and nothing in the store appealed to me. had to choose something.

unfortunately, i already regret it. i enjoyed arkham asylum, and beat arkham city even though it had lost my interest part way through. i purposefully didn't get origins or the newer knight because i felt it would be a waste of money (for me).

ultimately, i think arkham asylum benefitted from being in a very narrow location and the more open world the later games got, the less i enjoyed them. also, the first game felt somewhat fresh while now it just feels overdone.

but it's probably just because i'm some jerk who is completely exhausted by violence and most mechanics in modern games. i guess i'm doomed because of my taste.

[s0]

it sucks how open world has become synonymous with "huge area without a lot of interesting things to actually see or do". open worlds are the new corridor shooter levels.

[cynicalsandel]

i much prefer something like wind waker. most of the game was water, but everything that wasn't has interactable elements. there are things to do on every island. however, games like infamous and the later arkham games (i don't play too many open world games, so i can't speak for all of them) are very dense but with very little to interact with. the most you can do is scale the many buildings that exist.

i hear people complain endlessly about the sailing in wind waker, but it's still less frustrating than constantly grappling to the top of a building, gliding down from said building, and then grappling up to the next building across the entire map. (i suppose the "grinding" on rails in infamous escapes some of this, but still isn't fun)

the size of open world games is impressive, but i've always been more excited by worlds where everything is meticulously designed. i'd take something concise that lacks unnecessary filler anyday. from an early age i never had the interest in GTA that many people surrounding me did. i'd like to blame it on nostalgia, but i think it just has more to do with my personality. honestly, i just feel like my time is being wasted by the massive amount of unutilized space.

[gimymblert]

[geeking]

Type of open world gameplay:

- quest network: scattered quest giver give quest that makes yo go to place where you will have other quest - see skyrim

- theme park: activity affordances (generally self contain) scattered through the map, each activity advertise themselves through distraction visible from afar, heavy use of POI, POV and landmark see skyrim, banjo kazooie

- puzzle exploration: force you to see spatial relation between place, easter egg style of goal, path planning puzzle toward the goal then execution of that path, see mario 64, zelda

- lock and key: locked doors is used as visible prompt, key are either a puzzle or an exploration duty, opening lock might required skills even with the key found, some door are shortcut to better navigate, see zelda dungeon, metroid

- breadcrumbing: world filled with collectible, path are organized through collectible breadcrumb, easter eggs to stumble upon, see donkey kong 64

- layered navigation: new item mean new path are available in old place with the same landscape, notably shortcut and new challenge,

- base attack: bases are scattered around the world to be attacked, goal are generally inside an increasingly cluttered space that define approach base on distance. First the safe but open distance, second is ranged engagement with low cover density and clear line of sight, third is the close space encounter with short line of sight, favored melee and stealth with high cover density that break line of sight.

- sandbox playground: filled with action affordance and clear short feedback loop, activity are emergent by stringing together multiple action affordance and the clear systemic consequence, see gta.

[/geeking]

[s0]

i don't like the sailing in wind wacker lol