EVO The Search For Eden
Classic. Gorgeous soundtrack, too. I remember as a kid (pre-Internet) actually calling up the store because I couldn’t figure out how to save the game 😂
Is it worth the time?
I think it’s a great game. I always enjoy playing. I only recently found out people think this game is janky and plays poorly! so ymmv I guess.
I reckon each era you can finish in 30 - 45 minutes, repeat 5 times.
Use emulator save states and you can break it up pretty easily.
Assassin‘s Creed Unity
I‘ve complained it the past about Shadow of War that I felt like I had to fight Talon to get him to go where I want him to. Now that I’m close to 100%ing ACU, I want to apologize to Talon cause ACU has the most sluggish, slow, and imprecise movement I‘ve ever wrestled with in these kinda games. Really made me realize how good I had it in Shadow of War lol. Every enemy just screaming at me on sight for no reason and tryna pick a fight with me when there‘s 50 people around me is also getting annoying. I think I love these games mainly for their sight-seeing and podcast side-activity capabilities now (collecathon). And revolutionary Paris is definitely a good sight-seeing location.
DiRT Rally 2.0
I‘m more of an arcade racer fan, but I‘m trying to challenge myself a bit with this one. I sometimes don‘t understand why I‘m spinning out, but I‘m hanging in there. The goal is another 100%, we‘ll see how far I can go! It‘s a pretty good rally simulation game, for anyone who doesn‘t know. It‘s also dirt cheap (hah).
Octopath Traveler
Hardly playing it atm but man, the theme song speaks to me, what a good piece. I‘m done with all chapter 1s, currently following a guide to pick up the missables before I go into the next chapters. There‘s something cozy about voiced pixel graphics JRPG storytelling to me. To anyone who‘s never heard of this game: Imagine old Final Fantasy titles, still pixel graphics, still turn-based, but with a few modern twists and the graphics pop out like a children picture book with modern effects. Full 60 at native res at max graphics on the Deck.
I’m working through Act 3 (Lawful route) of Tactics Ogre Reborn. It was getting a bit challenging, until I tried crafting to get +1 weapons and armor.
Farcry Primal. Saw it was on sale recently, so I decided to snag it. It’s not bad so far and a fun setting to mess around in. Works with my linux setup and steam deck.
How high can you go in the settings while still getting 55-60 fps at native res on the Deck?
I run it at normal (medium) quality and generally get a consistent 60 fps. Anything above that and it starts to dip into the 40s.
Pikmin 2
I’ve mostly played on the Switch this past 2 weeks as my kids have taken over everything else…
Also a bit of Outrun, Circuit Superstars and Absolute Drift.
Pikmin 2
How do you feel about removing the time limit?
Dome Keeper
Straftat
I remember I watched ChristopherOdd play Dome Keeper for months, that game is so satisfying and chill.
For sure, but can be also quite challenging. :)
Just started Dread Delusion and Monster Sanctuary. Both are real good so far!
Old ratchet & clank on RPCS3 are a freaking blast.
Love emulating games! I need to remake my library on my new PC.
I’m playing Disco Elysium on android and I gotta say I’m loving it. I couldn’t really get into it on PC but I’m enjoying everything about it here.
I need to take another look at that game. I loved the narrative design, and I thought the world was interesting, but I got stuck and lost and didn’t know how to get past the bouncer dude.
This week Blasphemous (the past week I played (and finished) Resident Evil 4 Remake)
Is it your first time playing Blasphemous? How are you liking it? I just finished it and have… mixed feelings about it.
Yes. It’s my first time playing it. At the moment I like it. It recalls me the feelings of Salt and Sanctuary that I love it.
But it has some things that could be improved and the level of difficulty of some areas are too high. I would appreciate more checkpoints to solve this.
Also I have at the moment some confussion on how the things work. For example, I recently got my third “potion” and I have no idea how I did. I also guess that I can improve my character like if I level up it, but apparently you dont have levels or I dont know how to do it.Also I had to search in google how to close the game in the PC version.
I never played S&S but it’s on my wishlist. Would you say you prefer it over Blasphemous?
(…) the level of difficulty of some areas are too high. I would appreciate more checkpoints to solve this.
The terrible platforming and abundance of instant-death hazards was one of my major gripes with the game. Especially when the controls are very clunky, hitboxes are janky and grabbing a ladder is inexplicably difficult. I’m not a platformer guy though, but it felt very unfun to me. Also some of the enemy design and placement is just deliberate made to waste your time, which is another complaint I had about the game.
Also I have at the moment some confussion on how the things work. For example, I recently got my third “potion” and I have no idea how I did. I also guess that I can improve my character like if I level up it, but apparently you dont have levels or I dont know how to do it.
Yes, the game is extremely opaque and very hard to play without consulting a wiki. You get more flasks by finding or buying more Empty Bile Flasks, then taking them to one of the blood fountains you can find and paying some currency (Tears of Atonement) to fill it. The healing amount can be upgraded by sacrificing one flask and paying a Quicksilver item and some currency to a guy below Albero.
Upgrades are done at Mea Culpa Shrines, which you find throughout the world. Instead of levels, what upgrades are unlocked is tied to how many shrines you have found. You can’t grind for levels, they only unlock by exploring.
Would you say you prefer it over Blasphemous?
Yes, S&S is like a Souls in a metroidvania way.
Yes, the game is extremely opaque and very hard to play without consulting a wiki.
Absolutely, that’s what I feel about it.
OK, seeing the fighting game community is experiencing some kind of tag fighters resurregence right now, I decided to give them a fair shake.
I had not before because they seemed too much work. Like, picking and learning 1 character is so difficult that I felt exhausted just at the thought of picking and learning 3. I also always thought the team composition aspect of it adds a premeditated layer of strategy that I could do without.
All that said, I still felt I was missing out, so I picked up Dragon Ball FighterZ and Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 this week.
Now, I faintly remember watching parts of some DBZ episodes when I was younger, and just loathed it. I did have a weird and not necessarily good taste as a child though, so I’m not sure if I’d hate it as much now. That said, I still do not feel desire to check out the show, TBH. I feel it doesn’t have a lot I’d be interested in after playing the game.
Before getting to the gameplay, and even though I bought it on a deep sale, I’d like to bring up that buying it was not a pleasant experience. Bandai successfully bamboozled me into buying the base game and the first season pass separately, which costs $2 more than the FighterZ Edition, which includes both. TBF, I could not have foreseen my desire to buy the season pass because I don’t know much about the roster and couldn’t have foretold I will like and want to designate Android 17 as the point in my team.
I’m willing to admit the fault is mine as much as it is Bandai’s, but I still feel bitter about the $2 😅
Gameplay is surprisingly super fun, although I’m yet to figure out how to effectively do tag combos, chain supers, or any of the super fun shit I picked up the game to ultimately experience. Learning BnBs and getting familiar with the game mechanics has been fun so far. It helps a lot it’s an Arc System Works game and I’m familiar with their combo systems and whatnot.
I still haven’t fucked around enough with Marvel to talk about how I feel, but I can say I bought it on a deep discount too, did not run into any issue buying it because it’s the Ultimate edition, so no DLC bullshit, and I’m excited to learn Viewtiful Joe and Amaterasu.
Even though it’s revered, a reason to hesitate before buying UMVC3 was it still has delay netcode to this day, which more or less means it’s unplayable online. I hope this changes at some point, but just the act of buying it now represents the first instance of my breaking the “no rollback = no buy” rule… I don’t feel good about that, but the way I try and cope is justify it with: (1) it’s a super deep discount—less than $5—and (2) it’s Mahvel… way I understand it it’s the quintessential tag fighter… avoiding it would feel like avoiding Kurosawa while exploring Japanese cinema.
Extra long post today, so I’m experimenting with spoiler tags to not take up too much space. Let me know if it’s a good idea.
Blasphemous
I finished Blasphemous. I didn’t go through the DLC as I apparently missed the chance for the True Ending by not doing it early anyway, so I couldn’t be bothered as I wasn’t really enjoying the game that much. Also I’ve heard it’s even more annoying. I’ll save it for a hypothetical second playthrough. I did beat the one optional DLC boss I had access to - Isidora - and the difference between the main game and the DLC is staggering. I first tried the last two bosses in the main game, but Isidora took me probably 50ish attempts. And I’m not sure it was “fun difficult” either, that second phase sure was something.
My notes remain the same: terrible platforming (and an overabundance of it) and design elements that are deliberately meant to waste your time and/or piss you off hold back what could otherwise have been a great game. I respect the artistic vision, I just didn’t have a lot of fun playing it.
LIMBO
As a palate cleanser I played through LIMBO, which I bought solely because it is supposedly an indie darling and was being delisted on GOG. I didn’t really like it. I don’t enjoy platformers, and this is a mediocre puzzle platformer. Despite being assured otherwise on here I did not think the “vibes” were enough to carry it. In the end it’s like a 6/10, and I’m glad I only paid a dollar for it. Maybe I’d think otherwise if this was 2010 and it was my first artsy indie game, but for contrast literally just the other week I played through GRIS. In my opinion that’s an artsy puzzle platformer that’s worth it on vibes alone. I hope INSIDE is better as I foolishly bought both.
After that I was in a mood for something different, and after realising how easy setting up Xemu was I went headfirst into Ninja Gaiden Black. I played Ninja Gaiden (2004) on the original Xbox as a kid back in the day, but I never finished it and always wanted to go back. With Ninja Gaiden 2 Black being released recently-ish and Ninja Gaiden 4 on the horizon this felt like the perfect time to play the definitive version of the best game in the series.
Now, I don’t know whether I’ll be able to finish it. I’m playing on “Normal” and not “Ninja Dog” (the easy mode). I’m 8 chapters in now and so far so good, but I’m well aware of the game’s reputation as being prohibitively difficult. And I never did beat it back when I still had teenage reflexes.
That being said, I’m loving the ever-loving shit out of every moment so far. There is nothing like Ninja Gaiden combat out there, the relentless nature of every single encounter with extremely aggressive enemies constantly forcing you to push yourself to the limit and use every tool and trick at your disposal is satisfying like nothing else. It’s extremely fast, but at the same time measured, deliberate and precise. You can’t get away with button mashing, you have to consciously use actual combos and you have to use the right techniques and right weapons at the right times. The essence mechanic is also unique and offers constant mid-battle decisions.
The story is… it’s there I guess. It’s pretty terrible, truth be told. And the voice acting is hilariously bad early 2000s style. But let’s face it, nobody plays NG for the story. At least the environments are cool and well designed, as are most of the monsters and characters (let’s not talk about Rachel). The futuristic mashup with traditional Japanese ninjas and samurai is a very cool setting.
The graphics also need to be shouted out. Sure, I turned up the rendering resolution by 6x in Xemu, but still. Barring some low-res ground textures and the like the game looks phenomenal for a 2005 console release. What Team Ninja were able to extract out of the scuffed ass original Xbox hardware is just black magic. Character models still look great and the animations are fantastic.
Definitely recommend checking it out if you like character action games. NGB is considered by many to be the peak of that genre and it’s easy to see why.
Why did you stick with Blasphemous 😂 I remember you hated it a couple of weeks ago.
INSIDE is better than LIMBO, IMO—in terms of production and sound design, at the very least. Without revealing too much, some sections are more fun. Although the core gameplay is not much different, unfortunately.
My opinion on LIMBO and INSIDE hasn’t changed since playing them: they’re worth $2-3 each, not more.
Xemu is super easy to set up, yeah. I hope you enjoy the rest of your NGB playthrough, and you can definitely beat it, yes!
Word of warning about Ninja Gaiden 2 Black: it’s more or less Sigma 2 reskinned, unfortunately. They called it “Black” for marketing, but it’s not really the definitive version. You can pick it up and install the White mod, which brings it closer to OG NGII, but if you already have Xemu set up, might as well just play OG NGII—it’s an incredible experience, but also get ready to experience a ton of NES bullshit moments in 3D 😂 It’s downright hilarious how OG NGII just doesn’t give a flying fuck about balance, but it’s definitely part of the charm.
On Ninja Gaiden 4, it’s a collab between Team Ninja and Platinum Games, which’s exciting, but I’d say maybe adjust your expectations for a slightly different experience than the typical Ninja Gaiden.
Why did you stick with Blasphemous 😂 I remember you hated it a couple of weeks ago.
I bought it and so I wanted to finish it, especially since it’s not all that long. And I don’t like leaving things unfinished 😂 And I did really like the art, story and world building.
INSIDE is better than LIMBO, IMO—in terms of production and sound design, at the very least. Without revealing too much, some sections are more fun. Although the core gameplay is not much different, unfortunately.
That makes me feel so-so about it, especially having spent I think around $9 on it (last chance before it getting delisted). I heard there is somewhat more of a story in it? That was one thing holding LIMBO back for me.
Word of warning about Ninja Gaiden 2 Black: it’s more or less Sigma 2 reskinned, unfortunately. They called it “Black” for marketing, but it’s not really the definitive version. You can pick it up and install the White mod, which brings it closer to OG NGII, but if you already have Xemu set up, might as well just play OG NGII—it’s an incredible experience, but also get ready to experience a ton of NES bullshit moments in 3D 😂 It’s downright hilarious how OG NGII just doesn’t give a flying fuck about balance, but it’s definitely part of the charm.
Yeah I’ve heard. Ninja Gaiden series really is a clusterfuck of multiple versions of each release that both add and subtract things. Original NG2 was on 360 unfortunately, and is trapped on that ecosystem. It apparently runs okay on Xenia Canary but I haven’t looked into it yet. I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it. I’m currently thinking playing both NG2 and NG2 Black (those visuals look so good). But… that’s all contingent on me beating NGB first! I’ll definitely look into that mod, there is also the Ninja Gaiden Sigma Black mod, but I don’t know how much they’ve been able to restore considering the huge differences between Black and Sigma.
I bought it and so I wanted to finish it, especially since it’s not all that long. And I don’t like leaving things unfinished 😂
Understandable, TBH.
That makes me feel so-so about it, especially having spent I think around $9 on it (last chance before it getting delisted). I heard there is somewhat more of a story in it? That was one thing holding LIMBO back for me.
I think I paid about $12 or something, but that was back in 2018 maybe, and it was on Steam, not GOG—I always felt GOG has that DRM-free tax and sales don’t go as hard on there.
There is more of a story but not really because of the nature of the story… it’s, uh, nonconventional to say the least. It’s fantastically bizarre, but in a modern, industrial setting. Definitely more interesting than LIMBO overall. Best way I can put it: it’s that scene in Eraserhead where he was walking home in an industrial hellscape, but stretched to a 5-hour game.
It apparently runs okay on Xenia Canary but I haven’t looked into it yet.
Yeah, you’re right! I forgot you’ll need to setup Xenia to play it, but it’s just as easy to set up as Xemu, and runs great.
Personally I’m a huge fan of both Limbo and Inside, solely because of the atmosphere. I much prefer Inside but I also really enjoyed Limbo too. I hope you enjoy Inside more than Limbo, but your complaints about Limbo will be more or less the same in Inside.
If either the puzzles are better or there is more of a story to it I can see myself liking INSIDE more. Most people seem to prefer it, after all.
Any puzzle platformer will face an uphill battle with me though as it’s just not a genre I enjoy. Sometimes - like GRIS - they come through, but often not. I also really liked The Unfinished Swan, if that counts as a puzzle platformer.
LIMBO had a couple of good puzzles (the antigrav one with the boxes near the end comes to mind) but also a huge amount of either forgettable ones or frustrating and/or outright bad ones. A few too many relied on trial-and-error instead of observation and deduction, which I don’t find fun or interesting.
Fair enough. I enjoy puzzle platformers, so I was going to like the games regardless, but I just absolutely love the atmosphere of Inside. It might be my favourite ever, not really sure why. But I’ve been looking for something to scratch that itch ever since, and have so far come up empty handed.
Inside does have a story, but just like with Limbo, it doesn’t tell it to you, you have to figure it out for yourself. It’s all environmental story telling, and it doesn’t give any concrete answers to your questions. I still don’t fully know what was going on in that world but I’m okay with that. The unknown is an awesome creepy vibe I absolutely get on with, and is the main reason I love it so much.
I’d love to hear your thoughts once you’ve played it.
Tetris Party for the Wii
Blast Off for the PSP
Both emulated on a Retroid Pocket 4 Pro. Just been getting into emulation properly over the past few months and I’ve been loving playing retro games.
Almost done with the mission mode on Mario Kart DS. Gonna start a playthrough of Shadow the Hedgehog next.
I might be a bit obsessed with Project Wingman at the moment.
Full thoughts
I finished the campaign, bought the DLC, finished it and started another playthrough using two-seater planes (WSO is an actual character and you don’t get to enjoy her when flying solo). I absolutely love this game and I’m happily planting it on my list of favourites from now on.
It has action, drama, surprises and challenge - all tied together into a neat little package. The story actually goes a bit harder then expected and served as an interesting mirror to Ace Combat campaigns. It went in a very different direction than I thought it would.
Mission design is pretty simple - fly to the AO and kill everything. There’s no time limits or special objectives for the most part. They do at least make up for it with varied map design and weather conditions. There’s also a healthy mix of air, land and water targets (sometimes at the same time) to keep things interesting.
I wish they’d make more use of take-off and landing sequences as they show up like 2-3 times throughout the campaign and once in the DLC (this one even includes a full taxi sequence from the hangar!). It’s a simple addition that most people would probably skip but I still love for a bit of additional immersion. Does anyone know if there’s a non-sim flight combat game that utilises these sections in a more regular way?Is it a perfect game? Considering the price and size of the development team I’d say it’s pretty close to being as perfect as it can be given the circumstances. There are some issues like the missile spam and number of enemies at times but over all none of these are serious enough to dampen my excitement about this title.
Oh! Both final bosses, as in from the main and DLC campaigns, can be a bit much in terms of “spectacle”. We go from relatively grounded challenges to enemies that belong in Gundam rather than contemporary military game. It’s a bit of a whiplash compared to the rest of the playthrough.It’s a fantastic title that will become a mainstay on my hard drive for a long while. I really hope these guys make a sequel some day. Direct, spiritual - doesn’t matter. I need more flight combat games from this studio.
Project wingman is rather incredible.
It really is. I could really use more surprises like this.
