Media Videogame thread

https://kotaku.com/infiltration-evo-combo-breaker-fgc-fighting-game-commun-1848956624

multiple times EVO Champion Infiltration from South Korea used the N and F words on stream and consequently got banned from EVO, Combo Breaker and a bunch of other tournaments. This isn`t the first time he`s publicly shown to be a shitty human being. The guy got convicted back in 2018 in Korea for beating his ex-wife and coordinated with friends to defraud a beginner Street Fighter V tournament he organized with Afreeca TV.

As for how he takes those bans, well he said in his first twitch stream after the latest ban from tournaments that it`s alright to use the N-word against black fighting game players, adressed his accusers after the leaks about his manipulation of that SFV tournament as "motherfuckers" and "garbage" and tries to paint the whole thing as some insidious conspiracy against an "innocent" man. Just a few weeks before Infiltrations racism on stream, a up and coming Tekken 7 player from USA, who won a few US-tournaments earlier this year got lifetime banned after harassing a black Tekken 7 competitior with egregiously racist shit.

And what does the loud part of the casual FGC on eventhubs and social media as well as some other controversial FGC figures such as FChamp, Sanford Kelly etc.? Talking about Cancel Culture and so called "SJWs" trying to ruin their oh so beloved FGC, one of the most unregulated and toxic gaming communities that was long overdue for a purge of these toxic (and often right wing) scumbags. Oh and of course Infiltration`s just getting canceled and apparently did nothing wrong. What a clownshow of a community, no wonder big sponsors are staying away from Fighting Game E-Sports. And it really saddens me to see this, cause i really like many fighting games, but this sorry excuse of a community pushed me away of ever trying to play any of these games in a even semi-competitive way let alone to get into local communities.
 
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Martin

A monoid in the category of endofunctors
is a Smogon Discord Contributoris a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnus
Time to bump this dead thread with some news that really infuriates me:

https://kotaku.com/infiltration-evo-combo-breaker-fgc-fighting-game-commun-1848956624

multiple times EVO Champion Infiltration from South Korea used the N and F words on stream and consequently got banned from EVO, Combo Breaker and a bunch of other tournaments. This isn`t the first time he`s publicly shown to be a shitty human being. The guy got convicted back in 2018 in Korea for beating his ex-wife and coordinated with friends to defraud a beginner Street Fighter V tournament he organized with Afreeca TV.

As for how he takes those bans, well he said in his first twitch stream after the latest ban from tournaments that it`s alright to use the N-word against black fighting game players, adressed his accusers after the leaks about his manipulation of that SFV tournament as "motherfuckers" and "garbage" and tries to paint the whole thing as some insidious conspiracy against an "innocent" man. Just a few weeks before Infiltrations racism on stream, a up and coming Tekken 7 player from USA, who won a few US-tournaments earlier this year got lifetime banned after harassing a black Tekken 7 competitior with egregiously racist shit.

And what does the loud part of the casual FGC on eventhubs and social media as well as some other controversial FGC figures such as FChamp, Sanford Kelly etc.? Talking about Cancel Culture and so called "SJWs" trying to ruin their oh so beloved FGC, one of the most unregulated and toxic gaming communities that was long overdue for a purge of these toxic (and often right wing) scumbags. Oh and of course Infiltration`s just getting canceled and apparently did nothing wrong. What a clownshow of a community, no wonder big sponsors are staying away from Fighting Game E-Sports. And it really saddens me to see this, cause i really like many fighting games, but this sorry excuse of a community pushed me away of ever trying to play any of these games in a even semi-competitive way let alone to get into local communities.
I think the fact that it took this long for him to finally be actually-banned is unacceptable, but setting that aside for a minute, I promise you that your experience in the FGC will be drastically improved by not using Twitter/social media in general (but mostly Twitter). The idiots on Twitter who sincerely think that being good at a game gives you a free pass to be racist, mysoginistic, abusive etc. are not representative of the vast majority of players you will meet at offline events, and from what I can see, Infiltration has been very loudly condemned by the vast majority of FGC influencers too (at least in the circles I’m exposed to). Sadly, the loud little people on Twitter being terrible is the case with most online gaming communities: Twitter is just that toxic and bad of a platform.
 
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I've been playing Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodhunt lately and it's been a ton of fun. Running up walls and all that is just honestly a blast. It's free on Steam if anyone wants to give it a whirl!
 
https://www.theloadout.com/street-fighter-6/release-date-gameplay-trailers

Recently Street Fighter 6 was announced to release next year on PS5, PS4, Steam and XBOX.

One big change to it's predecessors is how the characters are designed, using 3-D models to make them look more realistically instead of the traditional cartoony 2-D models. Especially Chun-Li looks really different compared to any of her other iterations. There's also going to be a open world story mode, new controlling options.
Capcom really seems to try to revolutionize the fighting game genre, but we'll have to wait until 2023 to see how succesful they are.
 

Adeleine

after committing a dangerous crime
is a Top Social Media Contributoris a Community Contributoris a Smogon Discord Contributoris a Top Contributoris a Smogon Media Contributoris a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnus
hi! i was watching a ttyd TAS, which inspired me to watch the full intro shadow queen cutscene, and i wanna talk about it. i don't like it. obvious reminder that art is subjective, and while i try to support my opinions with sound reasoning, other interpretations are totally valid and all even though i use some objective-tone language for convenience's sake. for reference, I have not played the game (SPM is my only paper mario), though I've watched like a full casual run's worth of footage. read: I have context but not as much context as some others.

you can see the cutscene for yourself here, from 0:10 to to 6:00. i'll be providing screenshots for context.
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I think this first impression is solid. I like the minimalist intent, with only the candles and red carpet giving decoration to the unadorned gray coffin in the flat gray room. Red being an accent here rather than the primary color is a great complement to the preceding Palace of Shadow. The austere minimalism and foreboding stoniness is a nice payoff to the "legendary treasure" not being much of a "treasure" at all.

There's a petty gripe, though. I wish the minimalism was committed too a little harder. The many floor tiles and wall reliefs distract a bit from the art direction's austerity. I think having a few big tiles and one or two reliefs would make less interrupting lines. This might seem really trivial and micro-management, but I watched the entire cutscene in real time and in full before writing analysis down, and "this room looks cool but a bit generic and not as cool as it could be" was something I thought about real-time. If art design wanted to commit to a "erratic crossing lines to echo how shadow will spread across and corrupt the whole world", and a perfectly featureless coffin would stand out among the metaphorical rot, I think that definitely could have worked. However, the lines are too regular and subtle here for me to buy that interpretation right now.

All that is still fairly minor, though. For more fundamental stuff, I think Grodus has a problem here that escalates as the cutscene continues. Specifically, his competence/threat level/"situational power level" are murky. There are plenty of stories that use unclear "power level" to great effect. A character can appear strong but turn out to be weak when facing true danger, and this can be played to dramatic effect: that's totally normal. But Grodus ends up all over the place in a way that feels unintentional and not additive. Let's talk about his mini-arc thus far.
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Right before this cutscene, you fight Grodus. The Big Bad (as far as you know at that point) from a distance, Grodus makes a menacing entrance. From his throne by the chamber door, he comes down (height is important!) and brags to Mario about how easily he manipulated the party, and about how he will stop their "meddling" right now. Cool. Great. He's big and scary. You beat him in a fight, but he still demonstrates his competence and threat level, revealing he had Peach hostage as a contingency. He then summons the Shadow Queen without a hitch, but he is revealed to be out of his league when the Shadow Queen evaporates him for bossing her around. All of the above, as I've described it, is great. Grodus is good at being a villain and gets very far in his plan, but he doesn't get his information and competition quite right, shits his pants a bit, dramatically pays for it in a way that highlights just how strong and cruel the Shadow Queen is. All good. As I presented it, this mini-arc is great.
The problem is that I haven't shown the full story. To show the full story, we'll have to go more in detail on to the cutscene before the cutscene of focus. Link here.
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Right after putting Peach "on the table" as a hostage, he immediately fries Mario with a lightning bolt. Two lightning bolts, actually. But, more importantly, WHY? WHY was this scene included? First, we already established Grodus as a powerful, legitimate, dangerous threat. Second, you–the player–just beat him in a battle, so this scene feels like a cheap way to negate your victory that's outside of your control. Third, why didn't Grodus use this murder lightning in the battle? Fourth, why BOTHER carefully setting up and unveiling a hostage situation if you INCINERATE your enemy right after doing that work?

After thinking for a couple of seconds, my best guess to the latter three questions was "He revealed Peach to make Mario lose his guard and nail him with this clean shot." That direction could have worked, but I saw is no clear implication to clue the player into this explanation. Grodus never mentions it being a distraction effort or a way to nail Mario when he's stationary and not ready. Maybe the clarifying dialogue got axed and the scene wasn't adjusted appropriately?

Even if the distraction explanation is true, it doesn't answer the first question. The later questions accuse the scene of being inconsistent, not sensible, or contradictory, but that first question, "We already established Grodus as a legitimate scary threat??" asks a different kind of question. It asks, even if the scene is logically consistent, what is the affirmative benefit to bother including it anyway? It looks cool? Sure, I guess, but given how poorly it was implemented, it feels like there would have been a more substantive motivation to include it.

If you haven't seen these cutscenes, you might think "Maybe Mario needed to be incapacitated for the following action and blocking to make sense?" Or maybe "This incapacitation sets up a novel situation of Mario's peril that creates compelling future scenes?" I will shoot down both guesses with one image.
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I just don't get it, man. If we consider the cutscenes in a vacuum, I see no reason Bowser has to be involved at all. That aside, though, I see no reason he has to come into the cutscene in this manner. Look, I get it. Him falling on Grodus is very funny. You're right! But it deflates the tension and has no big-picture purpose. Bowser says he has no idea what's going on, you fight Bowser and KK, and then they're not relevant again for the rest of the action I describe.
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Maybe you see the second image and think "Oh, the extremely convenient timing of Bowser's appearance gave Grodus a distraction to exit to the Shadow Queen's chamber, Princess Peach in tow." I've got a question for you, though. You know what pre-existing condition gave Grodus a prefect chance to exit securely? THE HOSTAGE SITUATION HE ALREADY SET UP. If he dragged Peach through the chamber with Mario watching in horror the whole way, holding the metaphorical knife to her neck to stop Mario from pursuing, that would have created much more taut and compelling drama than this... whole cluster.

Fuck, that was a long tangent. Now, though, we finally have the context to return to what I wanted to say.
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Notice how Grodus's gear is cracked from him losing to Mario? If he's the dangerous and competent villain to make hostage contingencies and murder lightning, why did he let Mario beat up on him severely and long enough to crack his very important and life critical-looking gear? Alternatively, he could have magically repaired the cracks in front of Mario, taunting his futility and further demonstrating his power in a more unique way than scary yellow boom lines. If he's the bumbling joke who gets fallen on by Bowser and who gets his gear scuffed, why has he maintained this aura of power and demand for respect up until the Shadow Queen 1-Ups him? This bumblingness also would make the 1-Up less impactful.

I'm not trying to say Grodus can't simultaneously be competent in some ways and bumbling in other ways, or that competent people can't bungle things up now and again. But the tonal direction feels really messy and I'm not sure how I'm supposed to think of Grodus, which makes some beats in the Shadow Queen cutscene less impactful than they could have been.

Wow, almost 1500 words in and I've analyzed about 5 seconds of my 6 minute chosen clip. This is going just great. And we're still not done with Grodus.
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Why would you include these lines of dialogue?? This seems like a real case of Show, Don't Tell. Everything you'd want to know from these lines is either shown by the image right now and by the actual Shadow Queen entrance/possession cutscenes themselves. Peach is slumped before the coffin, vulnerable, and Grodus stands before her and Mario. You don't need this line to tell you that Grodus will somehow sacrifice the vulnerable and innocent Peach to further his own power-seeking ends. The tomb is already centered, flanked by tons of candles, looms over Peach, and is the only object that could reasonably possibly center the following cutscenes. Further, these lines dampens the impact of the actual SQ cutscenes themselves, and it's not like Grodus takes advantage of the lines to really chew the scenery and/or taunt Mario for his helplessness as his princess is possessed by a demon. I don't remember how much of this information was unknown to the player until now, but if any of it was unknown, surprises and impacts have been ruined and blunted so Grodus can meaninglessly exposit and monologue.
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I'll give you a break from him and turn to Peach, who demonstrates basically no agency in this scene. I'm not expecting her to fight Grodus or scream that he's a big meaniehead, but there's no apparent reason for her to stay slumped over and prone here. She could start prone and stand up. She could try and stand up and/or hide/make a break for it, and Grodus could shut her down. She could try and shut down her fear. I understand the cutscene context puts limits on her reasonable behavior, but there's still things to work with here, and this cutscene falls into the damsel-in-distress-as-an-object hackneyed stuff.

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Thank God, he stopped talking. And this part is great. I love the subtle touch if having the candles stay unlit for a moment before turning to black flame: the action pauses enough for you to think "Oh he unlit the candles, rad" before "Black fire bois, get got." The darkening is also great, and the pale green light is a compelling accent to the dark black-and-purple color emphasis of the Shadows that highlights the unique and fell activity of her release. Representing her as just a raging tornado of currently-unformed shadowy malice is also super great, highlighting her strangeness, foreshadowing the difficulty of controlling her, preserving her true appearance as a surprise for a post-possession reveal. This tornado form also hints she is not at full "operating capacity" and self-control after being stuck in a tomb for a gazillion years. Maybe a tornado is a bit generic, and the Shadows could have also simultaneously flew and oozed through the chamber in ways that supplementing the broad darkening, but all in all I greatly support thi–

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NOOOOOOOO

WHY would you reveal her form right now? All the praise I had towards the tornado approach is ruined: it's just a visual effect now! Why would you not wait just a handful of minutes to reveal this form until after you beat Possessed Peach?? Then, not just her design, but also the fact that she HAS a self-sufficient humanoid form at all, would make for much more impactful reveals. It's not even a great tease since her entire body is revealed, and you fight this form very soon anyway!!

Hey, speaking of timing, how about we shut off any catharsis from her reveal by IMMEDIATELY having a 90 second cutscene of game locations having darkened skies! The idea would have been great with either a more reasonable time length or more creativity, highlighting the Shadow Queen's power by having her mere appearance darken the world, but you spend a minute and a half seeing nearly the same "skies turn fairly dark and reduce light level by a solid amount" cutscene 4x in a row.
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Besides the actual and admittedly cool visual of shadow sweeping over the land(s), we fill these 90 seconds with very basic dialogue like "What's going on?", "The sky, it's...", and "The sky... it's turning dark...". Way to narrate the obvious, Jolene.

Then, we get 45 seconds of good Grodus and Shadow Queen action, where the Shadow Queen possesses Peach... before ANOTHER 60 second cutscene that turns away from the present action. In the past ~3 minutes of cutscene, about ¼ of the action has been on you/Peach/Grodus/SQ. The opposite of taut and tense action. I don't really understand how possessing a weaker life form than herself would cause or directly relate to sweeping darkness. But this time, there's... rumbling!! Yeah!
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Please kill me.

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The tension is kind of gone since you revealed your bigger scarier witch form, + we've been waiting around for a while, so this feels like an odd admission of weakness for no real end goal. Also, I again have to think of Show Not Tell; she could stumble a bit walking, or miss hitting Grodus the first time with lightning, or something to demonstrate her incomplete awakening. The "miss with lightning bolt" idea would also create more suspense and fear that her being unable to control her powers could lead to bad outcomes even beyond the bad outcomes she desires.

OK, there's other stuff I could talk about, but I almost lost this entire post once, this took the better part of two hours, and my eyes are starting to bleed, so I'm calling this quits for now.
 
I think the fact that it took this long for him to finally be actually-banned is unacceptable, but setting that aside for a minute, I promise you that your experience in the FGC will be drastically improved by not using Twitter/social media in general (but mostly Twitter). The idiots on Twitter who sincerely think that being good at a game gives you a free pass to be racist, mysoginistic, abusive etc. are not representative of the vast majority of players you will meet at offline events, and from what I can see, Infiltration has been very loudly condemned by the vast majority of FGC influencers too (at least in the circles I’m exposed to). Sadly, the loud little people on Twitter being terrible is the case with most online gaming communities: Twitter is just that toxic and bad of a platform.
I completly agree, I keep on hearing about how the Smash scene is 'super toxic', but that's literally only a small amount of former top players and some shitters on Twitter. If you actually go out to tournaments - be they locals, regionals, or majors - you will find that almost any person you talk to is extremely friendly, kind, fun to talk to, and willing to share their knowledge. I'm not super into the traditional fighting game FGC since I mainly play those more casually, but I'm sure its largely the same for those too.
 

churine

lunatic+
is a Smogon Discord Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnus
evo is going on in full for the first time since 2019 with the same hype atmosphere as always and during this time, fighting game news is going wild as is expected. dbfz, p4a, and samsho have rollback confirmed for one and then snk went off with news after the top 8 of kof15.


kof15 dlc news was expected with team 4 being a samurai shodown team, first full samsho team in kof which is honestly a long time coming (metal slug gotta be next). then covered the second season of dlc confirming both shingo and kim, LETS GO KIMS PANTS ARE ALIVE. not to mention that crossplay is planned for 2023, better late than never.
then they revealed that GAROU 2 IS IN DEVELOPMENT. THE FIRST FATAL FURY GAME IN 22 YEARS HOLY SHIT I DONT BELIEVE IT, GAROU IN 2022

evo isnt over and so there will likely be more news to drop with tekken, sf5, and strive all lined up.
 
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Normally I switch back and forth between over a dozen games and barely finish any of them, but this time I'm a bit more focused. I'm currently on five games.

1. Stray - With how short this game is I'm trying to take my time. The puzzles aren't really my thing, but the atmosphere is incredible. It's also fun doing things as a cat that no human could ever do.

2. Pokémon Colosseum - This is my first time playing the Orre games properly. I love the Arizona inspired region and the weird character designs. The difficulty is also a nice change of pace. I actually have to put a decent amount of thought in the tougher fights.

3. Pokémon Sapphire - I'm replaying my childhood cartridge with a mono water team. As expected it's not too hard for the most part, but Flannery actually gave me some issues. Her Torkoal kept paralyzing and using attract on my Pokémon. On the rare chance I could attack she would just continue wailing critical hits. I only won by spamming super potions on my Marshtomp.

4. Tales of Vesperia Definitive Edition - The graphics have aged really well. Everything looks so vibrant and detailed. I'm not fond of the combat though. It feels clunky and stiff, especially with characters like Carol. The first battle theme irritated me as well. I ended up lowering the difficulty just to get through them faster. The character interactions and story are easily the best part of the game. The main plot itself isn't complex or anything, but each character is brimming with life and personality. Whenever a new skit becomes available I'm filled with glee.

5. Tales of Arise - Honestly this game gets way too much hate. Sure they could've written the story with more nuance and had characters with better chemistry, but the gameplay and visuals are fantastic. Even fighting weaker enemies is a blast with how fluid the combat is. Sadly I don't own a PS5, so I'm stuck playing the inferior PS4 version. As a result the pop-in is nasty and the framerate plummets occasionally. It's distracting, but I still enjoy the game overall.
 
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Despite of Pokémon, I also play Civilizations main series games and Duolingo (I think it's also a game)

I used to play Super Smash Bros in my N64 and I think Pikachu is the best.
I also enjoy to play with Samus, because the roll she gives when press up + B. But I think she is kind of weak against the Kirby when it becomes a rock.
Pikachu still a solid character, very fast and spawn thunder moves of a lot of kinds.
 
Dropped pokemon some time ago and replaced my obsession with this franchise with fighting games

so i wanted to ask what fighting games do you guys play? which ones are you looking forward to play in the future and if you have a questions about fighting games ill gladly answer.

right now im playing skullgirls and looking forward to street fighter 6


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Aqua Jet

Stardew
is a Contributor to Smogonis a Community Contributor Alumnus
Links in OP approved by Kalalokki
I was going to make a thread for this but I realized that this thread existed



I recently started playing Animal Crossing, and I've really been enjoying it so I figured I'd make a thread to find other people on Smogon that also played the game!

Questions to start off!
1) Who is your favorite and least favorite villager?
2) What are your favorite K.K. songs?
3) What was your first Animal Crossing game?
4) What does your lineup look like?

I look forward to hearing everybody's answers!
 
There's a particular trope that bothers me when it comes to video game storytelling, and I've finally encountered a game that I feel has a particularly nice subversion of it. It's time for me to talk about the latest in an indie series well-known for being literary masterpieces: Shovel Knight Dig

I don't think a video game should try to make you feel bad for playing it to its full extent. After all, it's not like a movie would encourage you to leave the theater halfway through. Despite this, there's a lot of games that look down on you for either looking for a specific ending or even seeing the main story through.

Shovel Knight Dig's main villain, Drill Knight, continually digs deeper in search of treasure and secrets. The game's first ending is obtained simply by getting to the end of a run, where the heroes congratulate themselves on a job well done and take a rest. The game has a second ending that requires a relatively obscure chain of events to occur during a run. In effect, it's designed to be accessed by players who followed Drill Knight's mentality. This ending flows much more directly into the rest of the timeline, providing a catalyst for most of the suffering caused later.

At this point, it feels like it's leaning into the annoying idea that it's better to have a player quit early. But much like quitting early, the first ending doesn't actually resolve anything either. The tunnel to Evil is still standing, with the keys still in the excavator's ignition. That future suffering is written, and refusing to read the text it's written on doesn't change that. The problems are caused by Fate, not the player. And, it turns out, the game has a third ending reserved for when the player circumvents that fate and gets the final item in the sequence without beating all bosses. And in this ending, the cursed amulet remains buried and the tunnels are destroyed.

In other words, while it looks like the player digs their own grave, the game lets them keep digging at that point until they come out on the other side
 

Adeleine

after committing a dangerous crime
is a Top Social Media Contributoris a Community Contributoris a Smogon Discord Contributoris a Top Contributoris a Smogon Media Contributoris a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnus
Tried the demo for Peglin, a pachinko rougelike i've heard a bunch about. Don't think i'll be buying the game. I really like the concept, but two sore things stuck out.

First, the aimer isn't free-moving, seemingly limited to specific invisible notches. Why??? A huge reason to play these Peggle-like games is the fluid, arcade-like pace and the sense of control from lining up the perfect shot. Why won't the game let me precisely line up my shots? Especially in this visually and mechanically jarring way, where my mouse moves slightly to adjust but my in-game cursor stays still because I didn't move enough to hit the next "notch".

Second also relates to control, specifically with the green R pegs that reinstate all the removed pegs. (I don't know what they're called. Refresh? Reload? Whatever.) I initially assumed hitting these pegs was always good, because more pegs available to hit = more damage I can rack up. However, some of the later boards punish you for hitting R pegs too often. Like, you'll have a structure you want to penetrate, and hitting the R peg makes you do that whole process again.

Why would this be a problem? Part of the reason Peggle works, at least in my limited experience, is that hitting pegs is almost never a bad thing. Everyone knows Peggle-like games have luck to them, they are pachinko, but when you aren't punished for hitting a peg, luck usually ranges from "Meh, that sucked, but I'm not really entitled to lucky bounces, I should just shoot better" to "Holy shit that was awesome lmao." When you are punished for hitting certain pegs, especially ones near ending sequences of bounces / the bottom of the board, it's just not fun! When the ending combination of 15 bounces gets you hurt, it feels like a total loss of control that you couldn't have been expected to avoid.

If anyone's a fan and disagreeing with my impressions, I'd be curious why. I could always be doing something nooby and not realizing.
 
Tried the demo for Peglin, a pachinko rougelike i've heard a bunch about. Don't think i'll be buying the game. I really like the concept, but two sore things stuck out.

First, the aimer isn't free-moving, seemingly limited to specific invisible notches. Why??? A huge reason to play these Peggle-like games is the fluid, arcade-like pace and the sense of control from lining up the perfect shot. Why won't the game let me precisely line up my shots? Especially in this visually and mechanically jarring way, where my mouse moves slightly to adjust but my in-game cursor stays still because I didn't move enough to hit the next "notch".

Second also relates to control, specifically with the green R pegs that reinstate all the removed pegs. (I don't know what they're called. Refresh? Reload? Whatever.) I initially assumed hitting these pegs was always good, because more pegs available to hit = more damage I can rack up. However, some of the later boards punish you for hitting R pegs too often. Like, you'll have a structure you want to penetrate, and hitting the R peg makes you do that whole process again.

Why would this be a problem? Part of the reason Peggle works, at least in my limited experience, is that hitting pegs is almost never a bad thing. Everyone knows Peggle-like games have luck to them, they are pachinko, but when you aren't punished for hitting a peg, luck usually ranges from "Meh, that sucked, but I'm not really entitled to lucky bounces, I should just shoot better" to "Holy shit that was awesome lmao." When you are punished for hitting certain pegs, especially ones near ending sequences of bounces / the bottom of the board, it's just not fun! When the ending combination of 15 bounces gets you hurt, it feels like a total loss of control that you couldn't have been expected to avoid.

If anyone's a fan and disagreeing with my impressions, I'd be curious why. I could always be doing something nooby and not realizing.
I haven't played it directly myself, but I have some familiarity from following people focused on the roguelike scene. I think the control style is an option, though it defaults to the more fixed implementation. Having "feels bad" moments is definitely one of the more common criticisms, though I've mostly heard that in terms of having no ability to walk away from events instead of accidental refreshes.
 
So, I'm talking about The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth here.
Oh boy. I have a lot to say about Rebirth.
This is the base game, with no DLC and/or mods (because it can't).
1. If you want to instantly win a run, pick Azazel. He's basically the perfect character, equipped with Brimstone and Wings. Kill them all.
2. Lost is bad. There's no argument here, if you've played Repentance Tainted Lost and think he's bad, try thinking about using the character, but there are no holy cards, bad items aren't taken out of the pools, bad quality items aren't rerolled and he has no spectral tears. That's Rebirth Lost, with the tiny benefit of no limit to taking devil deals.
3. Getting the D6 sucks to do. There, I said it.
4. Maggie has no purpose. Give me one good reason I should play her.
5. The game feels kinda... limited. I mean, there's no DLC so it makes sense, but still.
6. Why doesn't Mega Satan unlock you anything in Rebirth?
Oh no, I've run out of things to cry about. Um. Er.
If you want a solid or unfair challenge, play the game.
 

Karxrida

Death to the Undying Savage
is a Community Contributor Alumnus
Anyone here play Final Fantasy XIV? I've been absorbed into the world Eoreza for the past two years and need to share it with people. Mostly so I know where to find people to do BLU stuff with.

Also something something free trial yada yada Heavensward.
 

Scholar

Shinjiro's babe
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Anyone here play Final Fantasy XIV? I've been absorbed into the world Eoreza for the past two years and need to share it with people. Mostly so I know where to find people to do BLU stuff with.

Also something something free trial yada yada Heavensward.
I am someone who raids in ffxiv and does all the high-end content including Savage and Ultimate and close to finishing my 3rd ultimate The Epic of Alexender on MCH. I have always been interested in BLU stuff as well but don't have a lot of time before 6.3 Ultimate so hoping after I complete that I can go back and do BLU stuff, the savage dungeon then finally Dragonsong Reprise. I am not a big fan of MSQ, but love the gameplay and the challenges that high-end content gives me that keeps me roped into ffxiv. I am in the process of swapping mains for high-end content but I am a MCH / DNC main that was formerly an Omni healer (WHM/SCH) main and I mainly play in NA DC but do have an alt over in EU DC. It would depend on which Data Center you are in but I know a few discord servers for North America Data Center that has recruitment channels for BLU Static to get the achievements and Morbol mount and pretty sure there are discord servers out there for other Data Centers as well.
 

Karxrida

Death to the Undying Savage
is a Community Contributor Alumnus
I am someone who raids in ffxiv and does all the high-end content including Savage and Ultimate and close to finishing my 3rd ultimate The Epic of Alexender on MCH. I have always been interested in BLU stuff as well but don't have a lot of time before 6.3 Ultimate so hoping after I complete that I can go back and do BLU stuff, the savage dungeon then finally Dragonsong Reprise. I am not a big fan of MSQ, but love the gameplay and the challenges that high-end content gives me that keeps me roped into ffxiv. I am in the process of swapping mains for high-end content but I am a MCH / DNC main that was formerly an Omni healer (WHM/SCH) main and I mainly play in NA DC but do have an alt over in EU DC. It would depend on which Data Center you are in but I know a few discord servers for North America Data Center that has recruitment channels for BLU Static to get the achievements and Morbol mount and pretty sure there are discord servers out there for other Data Centers as well.
I'm a bit midcore myself and have done synched Savage content (last notable thing I did was main tank P3S before Echo was implemented, if it has been yet) and have been trying to stumble through the current raid tier in PF after my static fell apart. Not going well lol. I do want to do an Ultimate or two eventually. Also, I main DRK if it matters. Actually a big fan of the MSQ content despite basically skipping through every ARR cutscene and parts of Heavensward. I've gotten attached to this world and its characters.

I'm on Ultros in the Primal Data Center.
 

Mr. Uncompetitive

Ugh Cough! Cough! Splutter!
is a Contributor Alumnus
I've played Hades and was actually discussing it with a close friend a few nights ago. I do really like it and think it's a very well-made game...but I don't love it.

It really is trying to just be a jack of all-trades, but it doesnt do anything super special to me. I got sick of the story after a while so I still havent bothered to unlock pets, I think the progression is too slow, music and aesthetics are well-done but nothing super appealing to me, and I think the gameplay is just a little too tame for me

A more specific dealbreaker I have with Hades is that your options are limited enough that you cannot expect to get the build you want in any given run. If you're like me and mostly just to run around blowing demon heads off with Casts, you can't really do that if you get screwed by the RNG (since i'd be specifically looking for the Cast of Aphrodite, or _maybe_ Athena or Artemis). This isn't like One Step From Eden (my roguelike of choice) where you have tons of options and starting gear for each build so you can expect to get the build you actually want by the mid or late game, which is not always possible in Hades since some Gods just won't show up on a given run.

Granted I did play it for like 80 hours, but I have very little desire to go back and finish the post-game. Whereas OSFE, a game that overall feels a bit barebones/tech demo-y, I am always open to playing even though I've already unlocked everything and gotten all the achievements because the core gameplay loop is THAT much fun
 

Sulo

pure heroine
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I've played Hades and was actually discussing it with a close friend a few nights ago. I do really like it and think it's a very well-made game...but I don't love it.

It really is trying to just be a jack of all-trades, but it doesnt do anything super special to me. I got sick of the story after a while so I still havent bothered to unlock pets, I think the progression is too slow, music and aesthetics are good but nothing super standout, and I think the gameplay is just a little too tame.

A more specific dealbreaker I have with Hades is that your options are limited enough that you cannot expect to get the build you want in any given run. If you're like me and mostly just to run around blowing demon heads off with Casts, you can't really do that if you get screwed by the RNG (since i'd be specifically looking for the Cast of Aphrodite, or _maybe_ Athena or Artemis). This isn't like One Step From Eden (my roguelike of choice) where you have tons of options and starting gear for each build so you can expect to get the build you actually want by the mid or late game, which is not always possible in Hades since some Gods just won't show up on a given run.

Granted I did play it for like 80 hours, but I have very little desire to go back and finish the post-game. Whereas OSFE, a game that overall feels a bit barebones/tech demo-y, I am always open to playing even though I've already unlocked everything and gotten all the achievements because the core gameplay loop is THAT much fun
these sentiments are totally fair i will not lie, i think that it just fits the way i like most games in that there's a lot of dialogue and extra storylines to be found in the post-game, though not enjoying the core gameplay makes that super difficult to do. if you're not having fun while trying to uncover most of the story, what's the point?

i haven't tried OSFE, or seen it actually LOL, is it good? i'm looking to try out newer roguelikes and if it's a good one then i might give it a look (i also wanna start playing dead cells, seems like a cool game!)
 

Mr. Uncompetitive

Ugh Cough! Cough! Splutter!
is a Contributor Alumnus
these sentiments are totally fair i will not lie, i think that it just fits the way i like most games in that there's a lot of dialogue and extra storylines to be found in the post-game, though not enjoying the core gameplay makes that super difficult to do. if you're not having fun while trying to uncover most of the story, what's the point?

i haven't tried OSFE, or seen it actually LOL, is it good? i'm looking to try out newer roguelikes and if it's a good one then i might give it a look (i also wanna start playing dead cells, seems like a cool game!)
I've only played a lil bit of Dead Cells, but can confirm it's a very fun game (same deal with 20XX, only played a bit but ive played enough to know its great)

I love One Step From Eden, but it's not for everyone and even I hesitate to call it an all-time fav. The gameplay is basically Mega Man Battle Network, but even more hectic and has much more involved deckbuilding (inspired by Slay the Spire). It's got a nice sprite-aesthetic and the OST is fun. My biggest caveat with this game is that it's all gameplay and nothing else. Story is nonexistent and what little writing there is paper-thin and/or filled with references to other IPs (granted, at least the dev has good taste, i.e. the game's title is a TWEWY reference :psyglad:) . There's pretty much no worldbuilding, even the menus are super minimalist and barebones. It makes the game feel like a flash game or a tech demo, for better or worse. If you're okay with all of that and think gameplay looks cool, then OSFE should be up your alley, but it's totally understandable if it's not.
 

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