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[s0]

Playing Omens of Ice, the new expansion to Elder Sign (this is the physical boardgame, not the digital adaptation). After Gates of Arkham turned ES from "kinda ok" to "very good", I was having pretty high hopes for this new expansion which uses a similar format (new "game mode" with custom adventure deck, mythos deck and ancient ones). They've only been partially fulfilled though. The new game mode does add some very interesting mechanics with storm tokens you place on adventures, supplies to manage and a day counter as an additional timer. It's probably even more challenging than Gates is and possible even more thematic. Also the exclusive ancient ones have very distinct abilities that are triggered often, which is cool. The game is also played as a two-stage "campaign" now with special story adventures that need to be completed in order to advance to the second stage. Each stage has its own adventure deck.

The problem is, the mechanics it adds are all rather fiddly and bookkeep-y. You're going to be pushing a lot of tokens around and distributing them on adventure cards and etc. It also takes a while to actually "get going" with the two phase setup. The abundance of midnight effects on adventures and monsters makes the midnight phase take a lot longer.

The good thing about Gates was that it complexified Elder Sign and added challenge while preserving the game's identity as a "light" game. Omens of Ice adds too much overhead imo. I also dislike the way it pressures players. Gates fixed the base game's lack of tension by removing the entrance shop, making the mythos deck really brutal and having gates block adventures. Omens uses a secondary timer, a dwindling resource to manage and the storm tokens (basically random effects) you put on adventures which is not only a lot less elegant, but also much more fiddly (as I said above) and dilutes the game's mechanics.

[gimymblert]

Playing assassin's creed 1 for the first (actually second time, I pause) first arrival in the first city, I'll play the ezio trilogy, liberation and freedom cry.

[shellbot]

Finally got around to playing Transistor.
Beautiful.

Now I need to go play Bastion

[Nillo]

I wonder if a reason Transistor is so short (compared to Bastion, at least, which has more endgame content) is because the gameplay breaks down very quickly. You can't see it at first, and it's incredibly fun while you're still figuring out the different combos and experimenting on the enemies. But after you find a combo that deals thousands of damage with no chance of enemy retaliation there isn't much value in continuing with the game; at that point it's a solved puzzle.

[shellbot]

I wonder if a reason Transistor is so short (compared to Bastion, at least, which has more endgame content) is because the gameplay breaks down very quickly. You can't see it at first, and it's incredibly fun while you're still figuring out the different combos and experimenting on the enemies. But after you find a combo that deals thousands of damage with no chance of enemy retaliation there isn't much value in continuing with the game; at that point it's a solved puzzle.

That could very well be the reason. Either ways I appreciate the length. It didn't feel the need to drag on, which is a pit WAY too many games fall into.

[Nillo]

Another thought: Some ppl criticized Transistor saying that it feels like an "extended tutorial" because it doesn't let you use most of the functions until very late in the game. But if you had those skills from the start then it would be more obvious just how easy it is to break the game by combining them in some specific ways. So I think it's necessary for the enjoyment of the player that they don't get all the tools for creating those combos until the game is almost over.

[shellbot]

Another thought: Some ppl criticized Transistor saying that it feels like an "extended tutorial" because it doesn't let you use most of the functions until very late in the game. But if you had those skills from the start then it would be more obvious just how easy it is to break the game by combining them in some specific ways. So I think it's necessary for the enjoyment of the player that they don't get all the tools for creating those combos until the game is almost over.

Exactly. Personally, I think the game was very well-paced. It tip-toed that line between boredom and anxiety very well. That's masterful game flow if I've ever seen it.

I think the biggest downside to the game overall would be that it was rushed. Playing through it, you can kind of see where corners were cut during development. That was probably a factor in the length. Once again, not that I mind the length, I enjoy it... But there were certain assets that could have used a bit more TLC.

But that's just my opinion

[ｂ∀ ｋｋｕｓａ]

playing some vaporwave level-based borderline difficult endless runner named NO THING






it's worth its small price , and the music is good

[gimymblert]

vaporwave?

[gimymblert]

I think it's the latter, this kind of aesthetics has been there forever.

edit:
I was confused at first because I read vaporwaRe, lol

[Tanner]

now you know how I feel every time I see that goddamn thread of yours

[ｂ∀ ｋｋｕｓａ]

Playing Enter the Gungeon  and my first death isn't even gun related

[s0]

is this gam good? i've been kinda EYEING it

[ｂ∀ ｋｋｕｓａ]

Yeah, he gameplay is pretty solid. It's less hectic and fast than Nuclear Throne.

Used to be a huge fan of Nuclear Throne, but this one is the new king.

[SolarLune]

Saw on Steam the reviews basically said that the game was hard and that it really depended on getting a good gun in the first few floors. Was that your experience too, or no?

[ｂ∀ ｋｋｕｓａ]

The game is hard because it's really close to japanese bullet hell.
And so far (6hour gameplay) i didn't really feel that it depended on getting a good gun.
It mostly depended on which boss i get on each floor, as some have easier bullets pattern.

imo it's less dependant on getting a good gun in the first flours than Nuclear Throne.

[Tuba]

9 hours into Enter the Gungeon, I can finally get to the 3rd boss... and die!

Some bosses are easier than others but they are well balanced for each floor.

There's still some luck involving the guns and the items you get though and the key dependency can be very frustrating, specially when you have money to buy a key but the shop doesn't have any. :/

[MeshGearFox]

Stuff I been plaping:

Eternal Blue Complete - As I mentioned, between WD's translation and some... overall off-ness, I did NOT like this. Which lead toooooo

Eternal Blue - Imported the Sega CD version. Sprite art's gorgeous, where it was pretty garbage in the remake. A fair bit harder/bigger/"chunkier"/"weightier" all around. Liking it a lot. Playing through it in Japanese can be pretty slow going but at the same time it's, well, really rewarding, and I don't have to deal with Vic Ireland's muted homophobia/misogyny/being a goddamn 12 year old.

Ogre Battle - Ended up taking a break from this. The battles were feeling kind of one-note -- take a few towns, and then enemy units start streaming out of the enemy capitol so you defend towns you have while slowly moving your front forward. It's still fun it's just like, it's not something I could binge on.

Earthbound Zero - I remember this being really grindy but I just picked up Loid and I haven't had to grind /at all/ and it's actually been quite fast paced? I'm surprised but I'm REALLY enjoying it. The atmosphere's equal parts bleak and nostalgic

I want a physical copy, but the GBA version has really bad music, I don't have anything that can run Famicom games so that'd be strictly for the shelf, so...

[Bricabrac]

Fallen London is currently my favourite way to waste time during office hours. It's often grindy, but the setting is nice and it's full of fellow roleplayers, so overall I'm having a good time.

I also bought a 3ds solely to play Rune Factory 4.
Farming simulator are my weakness.

[s0]

Have you played stardew valley?