MetalCaveman Posted January 17, 2023 Report Share Posted January 17, 2023 Aeon's End Apparently based on a table-top game, though I don't know if that version is as rage-inducing and frustrating as this one. Even with a cheat sheet of what cards do what, what's best to play, how to get good spells on your deck, etc. It just feels impossible to win. Boss decks seem filled with "Fuck you, your base AND your HP!" cards. Hey you're one spell away from defeating the boss, and your base has 12 HP left! Neat! Fuck you, here's a card that automatically deals 8 damage to your base, removes one of the spells you have prepared and deals 4 HP damage to you, also that minion the boss played last turn? It deals 20 damage to your base! FUCK YOU! Hey! You have some pretty neat spells lined up, the boss has half HP and your base hasn't taken that much damage! Neat! FUCK YOU, the boss just played a minion that forces you to use your spells on it, deals damage to the base each time it gets hit and when defeated allows the boss to unleash it's special, destroying your base instantly!! FUCK YOU!! Well, in the words of R.J. MacReady: Quote YEAH, FUCK YOU TOO! I don't think I've been this annoyed at a game in a while lol. It's a shame, I like the concept, and I do enjoy these types of games, but this one just seems ridiculously stacked against you, like one post on the steam forums said, the only way to ensure your base isn't destroyed is to not start a game in the first place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mister Jack Posted February 11, 2023 Report Share Posted February 11, 2023 (edited) Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin Man, this one hurts to put in this thread because for a good while I was digging this game and I was even willing to put in the patience it demands of the player. This is a game that mixes surprisingly complex rice farming with deceptively intricate 2D combat, and I was really willing to give it a chance. As a harvest goddess, your combat strength depends directly on the quality of your rice crops. In fact, it's the only way to level up. In the beginning you have to monotonously perform all your rice cultivating tasks by hand, which is grueling and takes a long time, but if you power through it then as time goes on you unlock farm tools and level up your farm skills, allowing you to do in seconds what used to take up to ten minutes. I know not everyone would be willing to give the game that kind of time, but it feels satisfying to watch Sakuna grow into a master farmer. I was on board. Unfortunately, once you reach about 75% of the way through the game, your combat stats get nerfed to absolute oblivion due to a story event and you are forced to power Sakuna up all over again by doing fetch quests and beating very difficult bosses with your stats reduced by up to half. It is some of the most atrocious padding in recent memory and it takes literal years of in-game time to get Sakuna back up to speed because chances are your stats will be so low that you're forced to stop fighting entirely and just spend several years farming rice to get what precious few stat increases you can each harvest so you can stand a chance at fighting a boss with stats 20 levels above your own nerfed ass. It fucking ruined the game for me and that sucks because up until that part I was having a really good time with it. Maybe I'll go back and finish it someday but I just can't take any more right now. Edited February 11, 2023 by Mister Jack 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted June 7, 2023 Report Share Posted June 7, 2023 Redfall I really really really wanted to like this game. Arkane is quite possibly my favorite developer, and this was made by Arkane Austin, who did Prey, one of my all-time favorite games. And I thought I stood a good chance of liking it, since I liked Deathloop more than others seemed to. I just couldn't do it though. It's the world that kills it. It's set in a suburban town, which means lots of detached homes, wide streets, big open parks, etc, which is just not conducive to this kind of immersive sim gameplay. And the most frustrating part is I actually did like the mechanics of play, at least what I experienced of them, but the lack of interesting navigation in the world just ruins any fun. It's just boring. Like, sure, if I'm crossing a park there's a bunch of different paths I could take, but they're not meaningfully different. If you're going to do an open world immersive sim it either needs to be more constrained. like Talos was in Prey, or it needs to be like Deus Ex where the open parts aren't hostile. This big open town with enemies spread throughout just doesn't work for this kind of game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mister Jack Posted June 7, 2023 Report Share Posted June 7, 2023 I sure hope you got that one on Game Pass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted June 7, 2023 Report Share Posted June 7, 2023 Oh definitely, if it wasn't on Game Pass I would have waited till it was sub $10 before trying it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted June 21, 2023 Report Share Posted June 21, 2023 Live A Live This game is all over the place. It's basically 7 mini JRPGs, each of which is just a couple hours long, some of which I loved and some I hated. They're all so different that it's really hard to give an overall impression of the game. It's really pretty at least, in that nice Square HD2D style. The reason it's shelved instead of finished is because the final sub-game for me, Twilight of Edo Japan, just had a stupid layout that meant I wasn't going to get through it without running around blind for more time than I was willing to, or looking up a step-by-step guide which felt pointless to me, so I just quit. I finished all the others. This is a game where I really really want to like it, and I do like the concept, but the execution wasn't really there for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted August 13, 2023 Report Share Posted August 13, 2023 Chicory: A Colorful Tale and Hue Both of these just weren't really grabbing me for whatever reason. Hue has a neat concept but the execution just wasn't there, I wasn't having fun and it does the mind-bending indie puzzler thing of having a disembodied voice talk at you about all the deep metaphorical ramifications of its central conceit. I'm so over that trope, and the gameplay wasn't there to make me persevere through it like with something like Superliminal. Chicory actually did have me at first, it's cute and doesn't rub your face in the message it's trying to communicate. The problem with this game is it's just too long for how repetitive it is. After chapter 4 of 10, which marked the fourth time doing more or less the same thing, and with no indication the remaining 6 chapters would be any different, I just lost all motivation to continue. I've heard lots of good things about this one, so presumably it's for somebody, just not me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted November 10, 2023 Report Share Posted November 10, 2023 Star Wars Jedi Survivor The game crashed 2 hours in and broke my save. I'm not starting over. Grade: F- 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted November 17, 2023 Report Share Posted November 17, 2023 Immortals of Aveum Goddamn I hated the characters in this game so much. They were trying to be fun and sassy, but I just wanted to punch them in the face. The gameplay was kinda fun, but not enough to put up with these characters. Grade: C Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mister Jack Posted March 2, 2024 Report Share Posted March 2, 2024 Into the Radius I really wanted to give this VR game a fair shake because a lot of people seem to like it but I've tried it twice now and it's always so cumbersome to play. Not only is the item belt situated practically inside your anus with no way to adjust its position but this game has the same problem I have with Red Dead Redemption 2 where absolutely everything is so slow and meticulous. If you want to restock your ammo, for example, you need to take your empty magazines up to the ammo box and wait for it to refill before you can actually use it to reload. To clean your gun you have to put it in a vise and then spray it with oil, scrub it with a toothbrush, tear off some paper, attach the paper to a ramrod, stick the ramrod inside the barrel to brush it out, and replace the paper whenever it gets used up to keep doing it until the gun is fully cleaned. If you want to eat canned food you have to peel the lid back and then stick your knife into the can over and over to eat each individual bite until the can is empty. If you accidentally drop a gun you'd better remember to pick it up because it will not teleport back into your gun holster (I lost a shotgun this way during a frantic battle). Maybe this kind of slavish devotion to realism appeals to some people. Clearly it does since this game has a lot of positive reviews, but I just don't think this kind of tedium is fun, especially when the item belt issue makes it hard to grab things in the first place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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