toxicitizen

Lol, what part of an almost 10 years dev cycle made you think the game's issues could be patched? They had plenty of time to get it into shape, if they couldn't do it in time for launch then it's probably just not feasible. I don't even want to imagine how it ran on PS3...

Whew. There was a bit of a Souls-like materials grind there at the end but it's finally done. Time to move on from this masterpiece.

Honestly, I put something like 20 hours into the first Nier (or however long it took me to get to the second half of the game) and at this point I've pretty much spoiled the entire thing for myself. So I get it, I've seen what the game does that made people react so strongly to it. But I still think it has nothing on Automata. Automata destroys it in every conceivable way. It's not just a more competent game mechanically. It even out-Niers it, if that makes any sense. I'm confident that even if I had played Nier all the way through to NG+ and whatnot a few years ago, I still wouldn't feel about it anywhere near the way I feel about Automata. I mean, at this point if they ever remaster the original Nier I would buy it and play it. Mainly because all the things I've seen about it have actually made me interested in playing it again. I'm even interested in checking out Drakengard, to an extent. So this isn't just me trying to shit on Nier because I thought its gameplay was poor. If you actually loved the first Nier that much, then I don't even know what to tell you about Automata, dude. Hold on to your butt.

NieR:Automata. Finally got the true ending tonight and holy shit, that was a hell of a ride. I think it might actually be one of my favorite games of all time. I am so fucking glad I ended up impulse pre-ordering it at the last minute. It's similar to the original in a lot of ways but it blows it out of the water in just as many others. The gameplay actually being very good this time around certainly helped but it goes even further than that. At this point I'm pretty sure Yoko Taro went to Square-Enix and pitched them the game like this: "I want to make Nier 2 AND Metal Gear Solid 2." "Nier sold like shit and we don't own Metal Gear Solid. Besides, you're not getting the budget for two games. You need to pick one." "It IS one game." "Here's your check." Seriously, if this game isn't remembered in the same way MGS2 is then something went horribly wrong. I'm honestly hesitant to make my usual in-depth impressions post, this game just needs to be experienced and I don't want to risk ruining any part of it. I think I'm gonna have to keep playing and get all the non-main/joke endings and achievements because what the hell do you even follow this up with? Nothing I pick could possibly compare. Unlike a certain other member that won't be named, I'm not one to say shit like this lightly but I'm calling it now: this is going to be my damn GOTY. I am so excited for you right now. You're in for something special. One question, though. Have you played the original Nier? If not, I would suggest watching this recap. Don't bother with the Drakengard stuff if you don't want to (I didn't), just watch the 3 videos on Nier. It's pretty thorough and thanks to it I didn't feel like I missed out on anything story-wise.

Holy shit... holy shit, you guys! This game. This fucking game! I just played the opening of route C and now there's just one question in my mind: Kojima, is that you under there?

Well, that's ending A and ending B completed. Route B did a few really neat things but ultimately I'm not sure if I got enough out of it to justify an entire new "playthrough". I think it's comparable to what Nier did with new game plus but there's an extra twist to it, which ended up being the best part of route B for me. It sounds like route C is where shit will get real, though. I've seen some vague, non-spoilery reactions to it that were encouraging and what little I do know about it has me pretty excited to check it out tonight. So far, the game is a pretty solid 8/10 based on the two routes I've played alone. If the remaining routes actually live up to what I've been hearing, it could easily become a 9 or even a 10. This is such a far cry from that little cult favorite action RPG that had interesting ideas but utterly mediocre gameplay lol. If Yoko Taro ends up continuing either Nier or Drakengard in the future and he doesn't do it with Platinum, it's going to feel like such a massive step back.

So, I put a bit over 10 hours into the game since Friday and overall thoughts are pretty positive so far. It plays a lot more like the original than I expected. If you're apprehensive because of Platinum's involvement, don't be. This is still an action RPG. It controls like a character action game but doesn't really play like one. There's no deep combo system (or any kind of move list that I can find) and you're not ranked after each combat encounter. The PC port has a few issues but is still pretty solid, they just need to patch it up a bit. Performance isn't great, though. Even on low I couldn't hold 60fps, it was almost constantly hovering around 45. I only managed to get a near constant 60 by lowering the resolution to 900p, which is disappointing but I can live with it. The poor performance isn't a PC-specific problem, though, that's just the game. It runs about as well as it does on PS4.

Okay, now I'm kinda sad that the PC port crowdfunding failed...

Well, Mass Effect doesn't look like it'll be in a great state for launch so... yeah, probably the right call. As for me, I am weak and dumb so this happened at the last minute last night. Please Platinum don't make me regret this! Let this be your greatest achievement since Metal Gear Rising.

Hollow Knight. Finally beat it last night. Goddamn, what a game. Took me a little under 24 hours total and that was with 69% completion. I can see that shooting upwards of 30 hours easily if I end up going for 100%. That was also with what is presumably the bad ending, gonna have to look into getting the true one at the very least. Like I said in the games you've bought thread, this is one hell of a great metroidvania. It should be on every fan of the genre's radar. Also, I kinda hate making that comparison because it's generally overused and not particularly meaningful, but in this case I think it's warranted. There's a surprising amount of Dark souls in Hollow Knight. Not in terms of difficulty (it's not particularly difficult outside of boss fights) but in terms of pretty much everything else. There's no real story to speak of but if you talk to NPCs and explore you can figure out some things about the backstory. There is an absolute fuckton of optional boss fights, some of which are pretty damn good and challenging. There is something of a thematic similarity in "something happened, we don't really know what but the world is a little bit shit now" and there is the obvious mechanical similarity where you lose your geos upon death and get one chance to recover them (currency only, there is no leveling up outside of your typical mobility and gear upgrades). But really the strongest similarity to Dark Souls is the complete lack of hand holding. It's actually a little overwhelming at first. You drop down into this world and you can go left and right, with both eventually branching off into other paths, and there is no clear indication of which way might be better to go first. Hollow Knight forces you to explore. And that doesn't stop at backtracking when you get mobility upgrades. For most of the game, there is simply no objective marker whatsoever on your map indicating where you should go or what your current goal should be. Hell, when you enter a new area you need to find the map maker and buy the map off of him first before you can start relying on it. You fill it out in more details as you explore but you're flying blind until you buy it. Even having your current position displayed on the map actually requires an item to be equipped in one of your limited slots. This isn't baby's first metroidvania by any stretch of the imagination. There were a few instances where I was at a loss for how to progress and had to just start exploring almost at random. It was sometimes annoying in the moment but in hindsight those were some of the most enjoyable moments because of how much more satisfying it was to finally find a way forward and enter a new area. You didn't follow a damn objective marker to get here, you found this fucking place on your own! And chances are it looks like some place you really don't want to enter. So yeah, fantastic game and wholeheartedly recommended to any fans of the genre. I'll probably try to get 100% completion for my current game but I don't think I'll bother doing it for the achievements. There's some crazy ones in there, including multiple speedrun achievements as well as a permadeath mode that was unlocked upon beating the game (and there's a speedrun for that mode, too). Yeah, I don't know about those... It's a shame because I find metroidvanias to be some of the most satisfying games to complete.

Forgot to post it because it wasn't a purchase but I won Hollow Knight in a giveaway on GAF a few days ago. Holy shit, it is so fucking good, you guys. If you're a fan of metroidvanias, you need to go buy it right now. It's the best one I've played since, shit, I don't even know. It blows pretty much every single one I can think of out of the water. It's also mind-boggingly massive. I'm like 15 hours in and it's obvious I'm nowhere near done. I was hoping to finish it in time for Styx 2 but that's not gonna happen. I've heard reports of people taking almost 30 hours to fully complete it and get the true ending. That's just insane quality and value for that price. The way gaming press has been ignoring it is straight up fucking criminal yet it still managed to move like 40K units through word of mouth alone. If it had gotten a push from mainstream reviews, I fully expect it would've seen Shovel Knight levels of success. Hell, I personally think it's way better than Shovel Knight. Hopefully that can still happen once it drops on consoles.

Of Orcs and Men. Well, that was way more fun than it had any right to be. I can honestly say I didn't expect to enjoy this one so much. Much like Styx, it's clearly a budget title but it's nowhere near the same level of quality. Styx is basically 9/10 gameplay with 6/10 budget and production values whereas Orcs is a more even 6-7/10 across the board. It doesn't look particularly good (though to be fair, Styx's and the orcs' models are pretty nice), it's overly linear and simplistic as an RPG and the light tactical combat is serviceable at best. The only aspect of it that remotely qualifies as good is the game's world and, to an extent, the story. Problem is, they clearly ran out of time or money (probably both). So, the first two chapters are reasonably meaty, with a handful of optional missions, decent length main missions and even have a small hub-like room that serves as your base. But from chapter 3 and beyond, something ran out and all of that is gone. It makes the story's climax and resolution feel a lot smaller and empty than they should, which is unfortunate because it's a pretty novel premise and it was actually kind of ambitious. It really could've benefited from a Bioware-like budget and production values. Also, I was pleasantly surprised to see some consistency with the story from Styx. When Orcs and Men started touching on Styx's backstory, I braced myself for some kind of massive contradiction or inconsistency but it actually lined up pretty well with what happens in Styx. So, if it's not that great of a game, why was it so much fun then? Styx, obviously! If it had just been a game about a big lumbering orc stomping around and smashing things, it wouldn't have been anywhere near this enjoyable for me. The dynamic of controlling both Styx and Arkail is where the game really shined. Styx can turn invisible and take out enemies instantly as long as he remains undetected, so before entering open combat you're running around the place with Styx and taking out as many guards as you can ahead of time. It barely qualifies as stealth but here's where things get ridiculous. These guards are the most blind and completely braindead assholes I've seen in a while. Their peripheral vision is absolutely shit, so they'll all be standing within clear sight of each other but if you can find the one that's standing just a liiiiittle bit out of the way to the side you can start a picking them off one by one without them ever noticing you. Also, patrolling enemies will walk right past any corpse you leave behind without batting an eye. It's the most ridiculous fucking thing. If you don't mind jank, there's a ton of fun to be had here. There's two studios credited as developers on this, one of which (Cyanide) went on to make the Styx games. I'm not entirely sure what the other studio (Spiders) was responsible for but they have made other RPGs that seem at least somewhat similar to Orcs and Men mechanically. So, I'm definitely gonna check those out at some point.

It's kinda blowing my mind that something like Styx came out of Of Orcs and Men. I'm currently playing through it and I'm having a pretty good time with it but it's not exactly a great game. I'll post more in depth thoughts once I'm done with it but there's some pretty janky stuff in there. More Styx is always a good thing, though.

GamersGate has the best deal for it I've seen yet and I'm assuming I won't see better than 30% off pre-release, so I went for it.

Yeah, it's unapologetically a "pure" stealth game, there's no shooting/fighting your way out of a mistake. You get spotted, you get your shit fucked. I can totally see how that might be a turn off to some but personally it's exactly why I love it so much. In many ways, it feels more like a true spiritual successor to Thief than Dishonored ever was. And yeah, the first one was pretty much a budget title and the price actually reflected that. The sequel still isn't quite full price but it did get a bit of a bump. Hopefully that's indicative of a budget increase rather than just a cash in.

Styx: Master of Shadows. With the sequel coming out in a couple weeks, I felt like replaying this. It started out mostly as an excuse to finish getting all the achievements but I ended up falling in love with the game all over again. I'd almost forgotten how fucking great of a stealth game this is. You know a game has solid level design when the second you're reminded of a map you remember pretty much the entire layout instantly. I really hope the sequel will live up to it in that regard, those maps are just so much fun to traverse. The amount of verticality and alternate paths to be found in them is just insane. Hell, I explored them all pretty thoroughly the first time around but I'm pretty sure I found a few new ones I had missed back then. It's also still the best example of map re-use I've ever seen in a game. You can tell they were designed from the ground up to work as levels in both directions, with each one being challenging in a different way. I'm pretty sure it was done as a cost-cutting measure (almost every single map is used at least twice) but it was done so well that I almost want to sequel to keep doing it. The way you're constantly backtracking through a previous area on your way somewhere else ends up making the Atrium feel like a real, cohesive place. Almost like a mini open-world. Anyway, feels good to finally have completed it. March 14th can't come quickly enough!

Yeah... Maybe I'll change my mind if I can find a decent deal somewhere but right now I'm leaning towards getting the Styx sequel that comes out three days earlier instead. It's much cheaper and S-E's non-Final Fantasy games get discounted crazy fast on Steam. Not a fan of DMC/Bayonetta then? Shame, they're some of the best action games ever. You don't really have to bother with the deep combo stuff all that much, really. I was never all that great at them and I managed to beat DMC3 on the hardest difficulty back in the day.

It being a Platinum game is the only reason I'm actually interested in Nier: Automata so much. The original Nier had some cool ideas and did some neat experimental stuff but it was not a good game. Having a competent studio behind this one should change that. Haven't gotten around to it yet but I'm pretty sure that's one of their worst ones. edit: Also, finally!

And we finally have an official announcement! https://twitter.com/NieRGame/status/837437370903339008 Holy shit, was that so fucking hard?!

Steam release date is most likely March 17th, which was the other option besides March 10th. S-E had a page briefly go up on their own store. It's now gone but you can't hide from Skynet Google https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:Q0OK7zyb_h8J:https://store.na.square-enix.com/product/418950/nier-automata-pc-download+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=en

Started Valdis Story: Abyssal City tonight. It's a metroidvania with DMC-like combat on a 2D plane. It sounds awesome but I think I kinda hate it a little? It's not bad or anything. The metroidvania part is about as fun as you'd expect but during the two hours I played the combat made me rage an unreasonable amount. It also feels a bit unpolished. The graphics look kinda blurry, movement and jumping both feel kinda floaty and imprecise and the combat is just challenging enough to become frustrating when there's a difficulty spike. I want to like it but right now I'm trying to distract myself from buying Hollow Knight and I think I'm gonna need to play something better than this if I'm going to succeed.

Outland. I played a little bit of it on PS3 back in like 2011 but never got very far into it. I'm really glad it ended up appearing on Steam out of nowhere a couple years back because I grabbed it during a sale at some point and finally got around to playing it, which would not have happened if it had remained a console exclusive. Anyway, it's this weird mix of metroidvania and bullet hell. Yes, it's as weird as it sounds. It does this thing like Ikagura where you have blue mode and red mode and by swapping between the two you can avoid damage from the same color of projectiles. It's pretty cool but it does require a certain kind of coordination and timing that my brain kinda sucks at, so I was not very good at it. Not the best metroidvania I've ever played but it's definitely worth a look. Stories Untold. Really enjoyed this one. I was right that it's more than just a text adventure but I don't know if I'd call it meta. Experimental is probably a better way to describe it. I'm hesitant to really talk about what it's actually like because the fun mainly comes from figuring out what you have to do and what is actually going on. All I'll say is that you're doing much more than just reading text and typing actions. It's a bit on the short side (took me around 3 hours to finish all 4 episodes) but I think it was worth the 10 bucks for the novelty of it alone.

Heard really good things about the initial prototype for The House Abandon (as well as the full game in the past few days), so I'm really looking forward to checking it out. I'm going in mostly blind. All I know is it's text-based and I'm assuming there's some kind of meta element to it because I seriously doubt people would be making such a big deal about it otherwise. Plus, if you couldn't tell from the logo, it's one of those 80s nostalgia projects and I'm a huge sucker for that stuff so if anything I'll probably enjoy it for that alone.

Shadow of Mordor was an alright Arkham's Creed type game but when I finally played it I really felt like most people saw something in it that I didn't. Not getting this one until a significant discount but all I'm really hoping for is for the Nemesis system to be fleshed out and become something more interesting. Having combat encounters constantly be interrupted by assholes coming at me with their fucking cutscenes is not "emergent storytelling", it's just fucking annoying.

Atelier Sophie: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Book. Finished it last night. It was my first Atelier game and for the most part I really enjoyed it. For the first 20 hours or so it was basically crack, I couldn't get enough of it. Then I started putting more effort into alchemy and getting better at it and had a sudden realization of "holy shit, this game can turn into fucking work!" And I mean that in a good way, it's just something that I can personally find a little tedious at times. Like, when a request wants me to make a specific item with a specific trait on it and none of its base materials have it, it becomes a game of figuring out which material does have the trait and what I can transform it into to eventually use it to make the requested item. It's fun stuff but when your container gets pretty full the UI can make it a pain in the ass to figure out whether you even have something with the trait on it. Another thing worth mentioning is that the game has a pretty low level cap. So once you start going after late (or post)-game bosses, it's not all about grinding to brute force the numbers. You can still improve your characters' stats but the main thing is you need to craft higher quality materials to have the blacksmith make you better weapons. I thought it was a pretty neat twist on the typical JRPG grind and it really fits with the game's theme, so it gets bonus points for that. So yeah, I'm glad I finally gave the series a shot and I definitely plan on playing more of it in the future. I probably won't get Atelier Firis at launch, though, since it's coming out in like 2 weeks and it's day and date with console, so it'll probably be 60 bucks or so. I really hope they eventually go back and port the older games to PC as well, I'd love to play the Arland and Dusk trilogies but I'd rather not do it on Vita.