Magus`The fun has been DOUBLED!Registered Userregular
edited November 2021
I tried what I think is the latest Shantae game and gave up because it felt generic and was super easy. You could purchase anything worthwhile very quickly (with no farming) and damn near every enemy dropped some sort of healing item. I had something like 60-70 at any given time.
Edit: Also I want to play the new DLC for Death's Gambit but it's not out on PS yet.
I also started Shantae and the Pirate's Curse very recently. Like 3 days ago recently.
It's very fun. I didn't know what to expect, really. Just that it is loosely defined as a Metroidvania, and I've been on a bit of a Metroidvania kick lately, thanks to the Advance Collection and also thanks to Dread.
I actually never finished Aria of Sorrow. I need to get back to that. But right now, more Shantae!
I tried what I think is the latest Shantae game and gave up because it felt generic and was super easy. You could purchase anything worthwhile very quickly (with no farming) and damn near every enemy dropped some sort of healing item. I had something like 60-70 at any given time.
With the game launching first on Apple arcade, it's unfortunately likely tuned for touchscreen controls. Some additional difficulty modes in the console releases would've been welcome.
So is the logic then that you can make any horrific looking monster sexy by simply photoshopping a nude woman on top of it?
Apparently?
Like, I don't agree, but I also know why my opinion doesn't match up with the consensus. For me the nice-to-look-at nude woman from the hips or torso up doesn't eclipse the massive danger coming from the rest of the monster half of said woman. Because also for me, just being nude and female doesn't automatically make something sexy. This isn't meant as some superior stance either; nudity's just not default sexy for me personally.
I make art things! deviantART:Kalnaur ::: Origin: Kalnaur ::: UPlay: Kalnaur
See I want to think this is cool but my OCD always kicks in when people do these sprite demakes :P
Also I really, really hate the enemy sprite design :P (the wolves look so weird, like mutant pigs, and also too big for the NES to handle without massive slowdown) And there's no way in hell Death would not be like a 3x4 sprite or something. Other stuff like the blocky drawbridge design is weird to me... I mean, even Castlevania 1's drawbridge looked better.... :P The NES can do slopes :P Also some of the backgrounds are good and some are like Commodore 64 levels of basic. It's weird. The Castlevania series is known for having gorgeous background art...
Then I get even more picky and start complaining about color palette choice being unrealistic and the very badly "digitized low-rez scan of artwork" for title screen (the thumbnail :P). I'd have to double check for sure but at least this one I think gets points for using proper NES colors and not using too many colors per sprite (maybe, I didn't check thoroughly :P But no sprite should be using more than 3 colors per 8x8 tile)
See I want to think this is cool but my OCD always kicks in when people do these sprite demakes :P
Also I really, really hate the enemy sprite design :P (the wolves look so weird, like mutant pigs, and also too big for the NES to handle without massive slowdown) And there's no way in hell Death would not be like a 3x4 sprite or something. Other stuff like the blocky drawbridge design is weird to me... I mean, even Castlevania 1's drawbridge looked better.... :P The NES can do slopes :P Also some of the backgrounds are good and some are like Commodore 64 levels of basic. It's weird. The Castlevania series is known for having gorgeous background art...
Then I get even more picky and start complaining about color palette choice being unrealistic and the very badly "digitized low-rez scan of artwork" for title screen (the thumbnail :P). I'd have to double check for sure but at least this one I think gets points for using proper NES colors and not using too many colors per sprite (maybe, I didn't check thoroughly :P But no sprite should be using more than 3 colors per 8x8 tile)
But don't mind me <old man yells at cloud>
The worst thing about it to me is the massive amount of blank space. Something good NES tilesets figured out how to do well very early on. I mean shit, some of them forced out freaking 4 way parallax scrolling by updating the goddamn tiles per pixel based upon the screen position, meaning they had tons of goddamned tiles for one repeating 8x8 background just to look neat.
A lot of the knock off games do no backgrounds because they don't know how to be efficient with the loaded tilesets and such. As for the colors, I don't even feel like those are the normal standard color sets for tiles, they almost went out of their way to be ugly.
+3
38thDoelets never be stupid againwait lets always be stupid foreverRegistered Userregular
I personally don’t like it when modern games try to adhere to 8bit limitations. I love pixel art and pixel graphics, but let modern technology work for you. Like Octopath or Dead Cells. Even if a game maker wants to stick to a limited palate, why pretend there are hardware restrictions when there are not? Let the pixels flow!
In related news, I put about 3 hours on Shantae and the Pirates Curse last night. Such a fun game. I still cannot believe I have never heard of this series until a couple weeks ago. Side note, I met my first sexy scorpion lady last night.
I ended up using Cheat Engine to turn on infinite health and ammo for Mummy Demastered when I got stuck on a boss that was more annoying than hard.
The enemies really are just there to get in your way and impede traversal, which is actually the fun part of the game and not the constant fighting/enemy spam. So now I can just spam grenades to get them out of the way and get to the fun part.
I ended up using Cheat Engine to turn on infinite health and ammo for Mummy Demastered when I got stuck on a boss that was more annoying than hard.
The enemies really are just there to get in your way and impede traversal, which is actually the fun part of the game and not the constant fighting/enemy spam. So now I can just spam grenades to get them out of the way and get to the fun part.
Let me guess: the giant scarab in the clock tower? I actually gave up on the game when I got to that one.
Switch: 3947-4890-9293
0
Kai_SanCommonly known as Klineshrike!Registered Userregular
I personally don’t like it when modern games try to adhere to 8bit limitations. I love pixel art and pixel graphics, but let modern technology work for you. Like Octopath or Dead Cells. Even if a game maker wants to stick to a limited palate, why pretend there are hardware restrictions when there are not? Let the pixels flow!
In related news, I put about 3 hours on Shantae and the Pirates Curse last night. Such a fun game. I still cannot believe I have never heard of this series until a couple weeks ago. Side note, I met my first sexy scorpion lady last night.
Im pretty sure in some of these cases, they are trying to make games that actually run on the old hardware. Otherwise, it is legit fun to figure out how to design something WELL within the constraints that hardware had.
Look into what a lot of developers had to do to make some of the games they did on like say, the NES. Its actually absurd the level of mastery they needed to pull some of it off. The idea of working with scanlines in real time vs cpu processing alone blows my mind.
The Castlevania collection is only $5 on the Switch's digital store. That's a stupid good deal for such a large collection of quality games. And if you're interested, the Contra and Arcade collections are only $5 as well, and the Castlevania Advance Collection is $15.
Need a voice actor? Hire me at bengrayVO.com
Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
Switch ID: MNC Dover SW-1154-3107-1051 Steam ID Twitch Page
The Castlevania collection is only $5 on the Switch's digital store. That's a stupid good deal for such a large collection of quality games. And if you're interested, the Contra and Arcade collections are only $5 as well, and the Castlevania Advance Collection is $15.
Away tempter! Which games are in those collections though?
Castlevania Anniversary Collection:
Castlevania
Castlevania II Simon's Quest
Castlevania III Dracula's Curse
Super Castlevania IV
Castlevania The Adventure
Castlevania II Belmont's Revenge
Castlevania Bloodlines
Kid Dracula (never released in English before)
History of Castlevania - Book of the Crescent Moon
Castlevania Collection:
Castlevania: Circle of the Moon
Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance
Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
Castlevania: Dracula X
Contra Collection:
Contra (Arcade)
Super Contra
Contra (NA)
Contra (JP)
Super C
Contra III: The Alien Wars
Operation C
Contra Hard Corps
Super Probotector Alien Rebels
Probotector
Arcade Collection:
Scramble
TwinBee
Nemesis (also known as Gradius)
Salamander (also known as Life Force)
Typhoon (also known as A-Jax)
Haunted Castle
Vulcan Venture (also known as Gradius II)
Thunder Cross
Any of these bundles are a steal at their price.
Need a voice actor? Hire me at bengrayVO.com
Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
Switch ID: MNC Dover SW-1154-3107-1051 Steam ID Twitch Page
+7
38thDoelets never be stupid againwait lets always be stupid foreverRegistered Userregular
Oh there's a Castlevania thread...guess it won't hurt to ask here either:
Any reason to avoid Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Ultimate Edition?
If you are at all enthused about the Castlevania timeline it kinda starts its own.
Uh, if you like any of the previous castlevania playstyles, it kinda starts its own, that may be a bit too much shadows of the colossus for some people.
Its interesting, but it's like a totally different game had the name castlevania pasted on.
I loved Lords of Shadow. Plus it has Patrick Stewart. Can't go wrong there.
Stay away from Lords of Shadow 2 and Mirror of Fate, however.
Mirror of Fate is not bad. It's not great, it's good every so often, but just generally it's mediocre.
But I couldn't make it to the end of Lords of Shadow 2. I was almost there. I even made it past the bullshit maze crap. I don't even think I have the save because my drive I have had all my games on shit the bed. But I don't think I could handle it anyways. I even got and never played the DLC for LoS2. Just ugh.
I make art things! deviantART:Kalnaur ::: Origin: Kalnaur ::: UPlay: Kalnaur
+1
38thDoelets never be stupid againwait lets always be stupid foreverRegistered Userregular
Its weird because the setup for Lords of Shadow 2 at the end of Lords of Shadow makes it look very interesting at least.
I loved the first LoS. It was one of my favorite games of the PS3 era. Fun combat and a story that was decent enough to keep me invested. I played it enough to plat it.
But then they completely killed the reboot franchise with how badly they scuffed LoS 2.
+3
AbsoluteZeroThe new film by Quentin KoopantinoRegistered Userregular
Huh. The collection has Castlevania the Adventure, and not The Adventure Rebirth? Missed opportunity to get that game out of the Wii Eshop purgatory it's in.
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Edit: Also I want to play the new DLC for Death's Gambit but it's not out on PS yet.
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It's very fun. I didn't know what to expect, really. Just that it is loosely defined as a Metroidvania, and I've been on a bit of a Metroidvania kick lately, thanks to the Advance Collection and also thanks to Dread.
I actually never finished Aria of Sorrow. I need to get back to that. But right now, more Shantae!
With the game launching first on Apple arcade, it's unfortunately likely tuned for touchscreen controls. Some additional difficulty modes in the console releases would've been welcome.
Heaven help your soul if you ever play Half-Genie Hero.
I had to look this up, and I'm at a total loss on how she's sexy. Like, she's still at least 50-75% scorpion, pinchers and stabby tail and all.
75%? You can still make that work.
Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
Switch ID: MNC Dover SW-1154-3107-1051
Steam ID
Twitch Page
Yes.
I mean, that's just science.
Apparently?
Like, I don't agree, but I also know why my opinion doesn't match up with the consensus. For me the nice-to-look-at nude woman from the hips or torso up doesn't eclipse the massive danger coming from the rest of the monster half of said woman. Because also for me, just being nude and female doesn't automatically make something sexy. This isn't meant as some superior stance either; nudity's just not default sexy for me personally.
Also a source of one of my favorite PA comics.
https://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2006/09/29
See I want to think this is cool but my OCD always kicks in when people do these sprite demakes :P
Also I really, really hate the enemy sprite design :P (the wolves look so weird, like mutant pigs, and also too big for the NES to handle without massive slowdown) And there's no way in hell Death would not be like a 3x4 sprite or something. Other stuff like the blocky drawbridge design is weird to me... I mean, even Castlevania 1's drawbridge looked better.... :P The NES can do slopes :P Also some of the backgrounds are good and some are like Commodore 64 levels of basic. It's weird. The Castlevania series is known for having gorgeous background art...
Then I get even more picky and start complaining about color palette choice being unrealistic and the very badly "digitized low-rez scan of artwork" for title screen (the thumbnail :P). I'd have to double check for sure but at least this one I think gets points for using proper NES colors and not using too many colors per sprite (maybe, I didn't check thoroughly :P But no sprite should be using more than 3 colors per 8x8 tile)
But don't mind me
The worst thing about it to me is the massive amount of blank space. Something good NES tilesets figured out how to do well very early on. I mean shit, some of them forced out freaking 4 way parallax scrolling by updating the goddamn tiles per pixel based upon the screen position, meaning they had tons of goddamned tiles for one repeating 8x8 background just to look neat.
A lot of the knock off games do no backgrounds because they don't know how to be efficient with the loaded tilesets and such. As for the colors, I don't even feel like those are the normal standard color sets for tiles, they almost went out of their way to be ugly.
Real vampire hunters jump over the door to make that sweet bag of money spawn!
In related news, I put about 3 hours on Shantae and the Pirates Curse last night. Such a fun game. I still cannot believe I have never heard of this series until a couple weeks ago. Side note, I met my first sexy scorpion lady last night.
The enemies really are just there to get in your way and impede traversal, which is actually the fun part of the game and not the constant fighting/enemy spam. So now I can just spam grenades to get them out of the way and get to the fun part.
3DS Friend Code: 2165-6448-8348 www.Twitch.TV/cooljammer00
Battle.Net: JohnDarc#1203 Origin/UPlay: CoolJammer00
Let me guess: the giant scarab in the clock tower? I actually gave up on the game when I got to that one.
Im pretty sure in some of these cases, they are trying to make games that actually run on the old hardware. Otherwise, it is legit fun to figure out how to design something WELL within the constraints that hardware had.
Look into what a lot of developers had to do to make some of the games they did on like say, the NES. Its actually absurd the level of mastery they needed to pull some of it off. The idea of working with scanlines in real time vs cpu processing alone blows my mind.
Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
Switch ID: MNC Dover SW-1154-3107-1051
Steam ID
Twitch Page
Any reason to avoid Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Ultimate Edition?
Away tempter! Which games are in those collections though?
Castlevania
Castlevania II Simon's Quest
Castlevania III Dracula's Curse
Super Castlevania IV
Castlevania The Adventure
Castlevania II Belmont's Revenge
Castlevania Bloodlines
Kid Dracula (never released in English before)
History of Castlevania - Book of the Crescent Moon
Castlevania Collection:
Castlevania: Circle of the Moon
Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance
Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
Castlevania: Dracula X
Contra Collection:
Contra (Arcade)
Super Contra
Contra (NA)
Contra (JP)
Super C
Contra III: The Alien Wars
Operation C
Contra Hard Corps
Super Probotector Alien Rebels
Probotector
Arcade Collection:
Scramble
TwinBee
Nemesis (also known as Gradius)
Salamander (also known as Life Force)
Typhoon (also known as A-Jax)
Haunted Castle
Vulcan Venture (also known as Gradius II)
Thunder Cross
Any of these bundles are a steal at their price.
Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
Switch ID: MNC Dover SW-1154-3107-1051
Steam ID
Twitch Page
If you are at all enthused about the Castlevania timeline it kinda starts its own.
Uh, if you like any of the previous castlevania playstyles, it kinda starts its own, that may be a bit too much shadows of the colossus for some people.
Its interesting, but it's like a totally different game had the name castlevania pasted on.
Stay away from Lords of Shadow 2 and Mirror of Fate, however.
Mirror of Fate is not bad. It's not great, it's good every so often, but just generally it's mediocre.
But I couldn't make it to the end of Lords of Shadow 2. I was almost there. I even made it past the bullshit maze crap. I don't even think I have the save because my drive I have had all my games on shit the bed. But I don't think I could handle it anyways. I even got and never played the DLC for LoS2. Just ugh.
But then they completely killed the reboot franchise with how badly they scuffed LoS 2.
Oh absolutely. Just tons of wasted potential. They really shit the bed hard with LoS2. I was so fucking hyped for LoS2, such a huge letdown.