If I have to order a sales monkey at Best Buy to check the back room for this today I'm going to be pissed. My local store has this horrible habit of not having new games on the sales floor in a timely manner.
The website says they have it, though. I've for this waited too long to be denied now!
I just saw this at Bestbuy today actually while I was buying something else. I tried the demo and it seemed interesting. I'd like to know if it's worth spending the rest of my gift card on it though.
Yeah I ended up just using the gift card to buy the game and I got up to the entrance to the first floor or whatever. I'm liking it, but even before I looked at any reviews I had a feeling the game would be pretty short. My friend said reviews are saying the game is about 6 hours, and that's what it feels like it'll end up being. The stat screen says I'm already at 10% and I only played for half an hour. Not really complaining, but then I essentially bought it for $15. People may want to hold off a bit if it seems too short for the price.
Anyway I was pretty amazed when I got to the screen right before you reach the tower. The way you jump between foreground and background there just had me going "Wow, that is so cool."
Really? Huh. The Kotaku review said it takes 6 hours just to get to the game's main gimmick (interacting with things in the real world to change their shadows) and that this happens with two thirds left of the game to go - meaning it's an 18 hour game. This is corroborated by several GAF posters as well.
Reviews are kind of mediocre, as they were when it came out in Europe, but it still looks worthwhile.
Hmmm I still haven't read any reviews myself because I don't like things being spoiled, so maybe he read it wrong. I find it very doubtful that it will last 18 hours though, that seems way too high an estimate for this kind of game. I'd be glad for my feelings to be wrong though because I'd have no problem with this lasting 10 hours longer than I thought.
I don't know what Kotaku is talking about with taking 6 hours to manipulate stuff however. You do that in the very first area of the tutorial garden.
Keep us posted Gilder. I'm on the fence on this one, and all of the blurbs I've read make it seem like the game is almost too long, and has serious pacing problems centered around doling out the new powers too slowly. The concept seems cool to me, but I don't think I would want to play this for much more than 6 hours if all the levels are really samey and the gameplay is not advancing.
One thing that's already getting old is being forced to start from the beginning of an area every time you die, retaining only experience you've earned. I died half a dozen times (mostly to those huge super-spiders) in 6F-9F last night and each time became more and more frustrated with being thrown back to square one. I can only imagine what will happen when the really complicated stuff (or tougher enemies) kicks in...
I really hate when I take a chance on an interesting looking platformer and it immediately reminds me why I tend to avoid the genre.
Agreed, I just did that floor and it's fucking bullshit that you go all the way back to the start. It takes like 6 minutes to get through that because of all the combat and elevators.
Oh and for those that care, there's a death counter in this to let you know how much you suck. I have a thing about death counters and always wanting them to be 0 if possible so I had to restart my file because of it. So for anyone else who is OCD about that stuff once you die you have to reset through the home button. If you choose quit or retry it saves automatically. The thing is it's not like you're losing anything because you have to do the whole goddamn floor again anyway, so why not just reset if you hate death counters? You lose nothing except it takes an extra 5 seconds to get past the title screen. You may have to pick up memories or eyes again, but you're running through the whole stage so just get them again. Most of the time the memories are in your path or slightly off it, they just need a keen eye to spot.
I just finished the Factory area and things are getting interesting. Leveled up a bit along the way (no grinding, just natural progression) and dying less, which is nice. I think I'm up to Boy #9 overall and about 10 grams when maxed.
EDIT: Now through the Reservoir. The reasons for the end-game backtracking are pretty blatant. I think I see the/a twist coming that will make use of those things, and I have mixed feelings about that.
Still really early on, as I've been focusing on other games, but I just got past the factory.
Oh Legion, you're in the wrong game! This is Hudson Soft, they don't own you! Konami has been wondering where you wandered off to.
The % counter has definitely started slowing down for me though, so it is possible it could go for a lot longer than I thought. Hooray! Although I'm pretty sure I missed some memories anyway. I found barely any in the factory aside from the spot where they bunched four of them together.
GreenStick around.I'm full of bad ideas.Registered Userregular
edited January 2011
Finished with 92.9% at 13:14
It's definitely not a bad game. A few gameplay mechanics like rotating the stage are more frustrating than not, but it's got plenty of moments where everything clicks and it becomes amazing. It's also one of the prettiest games I've ever seen on the Wii.
The storyline is not quite as good. Plot (such as it is) spoilers ahead.
What is the tower even for, anyway? I get that the shadows of the dead climb it, but why? Why are there hundreds of other towers in the very last scene?
And Spangle is a bitch. She doesn't lift a finger while your shadow gets pulled into what appears to be a fucking portal to hell.
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I also never once assumed it was a WiiWare game
It looks awesome...but yea, it's doomed to failure...especially since they felt the need to put it in Christmas 2.
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Did you see that new trailer? I just made the thread because I figured it should go in an appropriate place.
If they can design the puzzles with the same level of ingenuity as the concept, it is sure to be the good kind of mindfuck.
The trailers are all pretty great stuff
And here's it's listed on game.co.uk as released http://www.game.co.uk/Games/Wii/Action-Adventure/A-Shadows-Tale/~r348813/
So it's fucking out right now?!
There are even a couple of reviews floating around.
This GB quicklook tipped me off http://www.giantbomb.com/quick-look-lost-in-shadow/17-3378/
I might divert my New Vegas money towards this.
FF14: ARR
Post impressions if you get it.
The website says they have it, though. I've for this waited too long to be denied now!
Of course, I had to look behind some MLB game so it wasn't where it should have been (my BBY arranges things alphabetically), but hey.
Now my problem is that I won't have time to actually play until probably Saturday...
Wow, this game is tricky. It takes a while to train yourself to watch the background instead of the foreground.
Anyway I was pretty amazed when I got to the screen right before you reach the tower. The way you jump between foreground and background there just had me going "Wow, that is so cool."
Reviews are kind of mediocre, as they were when it came out in Europe, but it still looks worthwhile.
I don't know what Kotaku is talking about with taking 6 hours to manipulate stuff however. You do that in the very first area of the tutorial garden.
I really hate when I take a chance on an interesting looking platformer and it immediately reminds me why I tend to avoid the genre.
Oh and for those that care, there's a death counter in this to let you know how much you suck. I have a thing about death counters and always wanting them to be 0 if possible so I had to restart my file because of it. So for anyone else who is OCD about that stuff once you die you have to reset through the home button. If you choose quit or retry it saves automatically. The thing is it's not like you're losing anything because you have to do the whole goddamn floor again anyway, so why not just reset if you hate death counters? You lose nothing except it takes an extra 5 seconds to get past the title screen. You may have to pick up memories or eyes again, but you're running through the whole stage so just get them again. Most of the time the memories are in your path or slightly off it, they just need a keen eye to spot.
EDIT: Now through the Reservoir. The reasons for the end-game backtracking are pretty blatant. I think I see the/a twist coming that will make use of those things, and I have mixed feelings about that.
Got all the way up to floor 55
Okay, only 5 things and they tell you the floors to find them on, not so bad. I collect all the shards, put them in place and...
The % counter has definitely started slowing down for me though, so it is possible it could go for a lot longer than I thought. Hooray! Although I'm pretty sure I missed some memories anyway. I found barely any in the factory aside from the spot where they bunched four of them together.
Hmmm. Probably shouldn't have hit that second spoiler. But I'm only one shard away (had a rough time of it in B2F last night).
Hopefully there isn't a pressing need to get all 90 memories, because fuck that.
Yikes.
Gonna put that on hold until Thursday, methinks.
It's definitely not a bad game. A few gameplay mechanics like rotating the stage are more frustrating than not, but it's got plenty of moments where everything clicks and it becomes amazing. It's also one of the prettiest games I've ever seen on the Wii.
The storyline is not quite as good. Plot (such as it is) spoilers ahead.
And Spangle is a bitch. She doesn't lift a finger while your shadow gets pulled into what appears to be a fucking portal to hell.
Same. Fortunately it doesn't actually hurt you to guess wrong unless the wall that crushes you also has spikes/gas.
Any clue why the last memory says
I got really worried when I read that, but finished just fine with 70/90. Best ending, maybe?