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0015/12/06 21:39:47
Subject: Game Design Club: Mark of the Ninja (Gameplay and Mechanics)
Sometimes I wonder have games gotten too easy? Has gameplay become too narrow pathed and too focused on making it user friendly. Often I debate these types of ideas from dawn till dusk. That was until I played the Last Dream, and I realized maybe its a good thing everything has become user friendly. As I began to play The Last Dream I was reminded how much better gaming has gotten, but for something that echos to the past. It might be worth your time to play. Final Fantasy 1 stats and abilities were sure bloody hard to keep up with now. The last dream is a homage to the old Final Fantasy Games.
If that doesn’t sell you will not enjoy this game. So the best thing to do is to ensure you don’t play it. This game is hard. And long. I took me 70 hours to beat the whole campagin. As the mobs get harder and harder throughout the game. The gameplay can be summed up like this. Remember final fantasy 1. Exactly like that. There are different zones or areas or even continents to explore. There are many things to delve into and there is even an ENDLESS monster arena.
What about the story? What story? The story keeps itself together but then The third boss you face, you really think to yourself. Why the hell am I killing this well developed character? To that point you already know this character, the main character has no face, along with the other three adventurers. Who You name and they never talk. Okay the Story needs work. The main cast is silent and you are basically sent off to do peoples dirty work. Its actually quite sad and one that makes the game suffer as a whole. As it is the missing piece throughout the whole game.
Now unlike many other games this game actually gives you meaningful choices. Every choice you make no matter how menial will be showed to be meaningful. No matter how stupid the task the game will remember that stupid choice to give that kid a bread. This game rewards for exploration. There are different paths you can take and the classes YOU CHOOSE. Will affect the game, and sometimes who lives or dies. Take for example the Engineer the most useful class. I choose to go a knight, hunter, black mage and white mage. I didn’t found out till later in the game the engineer helps mediate time spent on the overworld. So the best way to travel is by moa. So you either choose to have a hunter or an engineer.
The Classes though many do not offer the variety that we see in other fantasy games. If you choose one class it is a character locked. Meaning you can’t change it to a new job class. Which eliminates actually choices for the class. There is one only one type of build for each class.
Now lets talk about this games strengths. This game has a great soundtrack. One of the best I’ve heard in quite sometime. It really captures the epic journey you are on. Then there is the gameplay itself, it is fun and a change from the boring Final Fantasy Games, and adds to it with different play styles. Do I wish there was more to play with the main classes. Like a Job system from final fantasy 5? Hell Yes. But the variety of monsters and areas you explore more than make up for that misstep. There are ‘master’ classes but they only unlock three new abilities for certain characters. There is no cap to how many attributes you can have or what level you can attain. There is a highly competitive scene to try and beat the game in less than an hour. (Somehow its possible)
The game also supports some of the hardest puzzles and the integration of these puzzles in fantastic ways. These are the best puzzles I have ever encountered in gaming, and a lot of them are actually user generated puzzles. Which makes them quite difficult and insane to figure out.
Don’t worry the devs have a walkthrough if you want to complete all the puzzles. There are tons of secrets and tons of different things to do.
In total there are 8 classes/characters to choose from. You can go whatever you want you could go all knights (Fighter) or a black mage (Wizard) a white mage or a hunter, or a martial artist. The game has quite a few incredibly fun bits and pieces to it. But don’t expect anything spectacular in terms of graphics or story.
This game was fun and had one of the most addicting mini-games I have ever played. Wanna know what its called? Button mashing Gambling. Yep. If you have an addiction like I do to pressing a button over and over again to get money, Then this game you should well and truly avoid or else you are going to look upon your shame of time played in your steam library for the rest of your life.
For ever you will repeat to yourself “I Seriously spent 70 HOURS ON THIS?!?!” But realize it was well spent playing a great game. The designers knew what they set out to create. And I look forward to their expansions and them developing a much better story.
Though I recommend this. There are issues to the game, buggy systems, but they are usually fixed if you contact the staff that made this game. They will immediately fix it. But beware they are coming out with a last dream 2, and it will just like the first one, but hopefully it is to fix all my complaints about the game. Mostly the story and limiting class features.
From whom are unforgiven we bring the mercy of war.
2015/03/31 04:12:27
Subject: Game Design Club: Life is Strange (Episodic Narrative Game)
so I will be back for a bit and one of the things I have been debating for a while is posting about this game. as I don't know if this would attract anyone to the game.This game is called life is strange.
All I can say is wow. This is probably one of my interesting games I have played this year. Behind a Story About my Uncle. Which is another game entirely. Life is strange centers around a girl having the ability to turn back time....
This is probably the best hook to a game I've had in years. And will probably be one of my top games of all time, because it is smart. It is intelligent, it has great gameplay. And your choices really do matter. I mean they really do, they are immedate and do change certain things and how people talk to you. Its very interesting and different. It also has a fantastic soundtrack, interesting backdrops, very indepth gameplay and mechanics, but it is point and click. So you might not like that. This game is meant to be played at higher resolutions. The lip syncing is a bit of an issue, and some of the characters sound really lame.
And there is alot of jokes about sex from teenage girls. If you are wierded out by that there is probably a good reason why. You are playing a teenage girl. Who can turn back time. Of course teenagers would use their powers in interesting *HINT* ways *HINT*.
I will recommend anyone to this game. Mostly because of the characters and the story. And the back drop of the game. It is interesting and though provoking, but I suggesting buying it entirely including all the episodes. It is episodic and is very comparable to Telltales game of thrones, minus the blood and the gore and backstabbing.. Wait... No they are very similar, just less.. .Nevermind this game is rated M For a pretty good reason. And if you don't have the stomach for realistic reveal of suicide, rape, murder, and bullying. This game is probably not for you.
If you want a run down of one of the major things I like about this game welll.....
It might have something to do with a blue haired female character, being a favorite character of mine. I suggest playing the first episode and if your not interested after the first thats fine!
Next up I will be talking about two games I played Hotline Miami 2 and a Story About my Uncle, both of which I have finally beaten....
See ya then.
TLDR:
Game Pleasures Fulfilled in Life is Strange:
Fantasy Competition Sensation Expression Narrative
Recommendations by:
Asherian Command
Reasoning:
Interesting Story, Mechanics, Characters, and Narrative
Not reasons to buy: Episodic, Not all episodes have been released, terrible lip syncing, specular mapping, BUMP maps usage, NORMAL maps kind of too similar to each other. (Rocks are randomly shiny)
Character models are a bit blurry, though this might be the camera doing that.
This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2015/03/31 04:15:20
From whom are unforgiven we bring the mercy of war.
2015/03/31 05:30:09
Subject: Game Design Club: Mark of the Ninja (Gameplay and Mechanics)
There's a fan made Life Is Strange soundtrack playlist on YouTube. I looked up the songs from that playlist on the Amazon Kindle store and downloaded the tracks that I like I individually to my Kindle and made a playlist.
AFAIK no official soundtrack has been released yet.
The dialogue is rather cliched and corny, but that's part of the charm.
And those feels when
Spoiler:
you talk Kate down from suicide. Or not.
Not embarrassed to admit I teared up a little.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2015/03/31 17:03:59
2015/03/31 17:00:57
Subject: Game Design Club: Life is Strange! (bottom of page 6)
Shadow Captain Edithae wrote: There's a fan made Life Is Strange soundtrack playlist on YouTube. I looked up the songs from that playlist on the Amazon Kindle store and downloaded the tracks that I like I individually to my Kindle and made a playlist.
AFAIK no official soundtrack has been released yet.
They should its brilliant. I still can't believe I like the game so much. It does a great job of building characters and exploring high school life with a realistic lens.
But to be honest I am just waiting for darkest dungeon to go on sale. *Smiles evilly*
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2015/03/31 17:08:15
From whom are unforgiven we bring the mercy of war.
2015/03/31 17:07:03
Subject: Game Design Club: Life is Strange! (bottom of page 6)
Shadow Captain Edithae wrote: Well the games not complete, and most of the tracks in the official soundtrack might not have featured in the game yet.
Thats quite a bit of music already. I really like the direction thus far.
Glass Walls, and Piano Fire are my favourite tracks.
I think part of the reason why I like the game so much is that this is the most I've ever been able to personally relate to a video game character. I'm 23, I graduated from University 2 years ago (British equivalent to American College? ~18yr - 21yr) so my "high school" years are still fairly recent fresh memories.
I fall somewhere between Max and Warren.
2015/03/31 17:48:48
Subject: Game Design Club: Life is Strange! (bottom of page 6)
Shadow Captain Edithae wrote: Well the games not complete, and most of the tracks in the official soundtrack might not have featured in the game yet.
Thats quite a bit of music already. I really like the direction thus far.
Glass Walls, and Piano Fire are my favourite tracks.
I think part of the reason why I like the game so much is that this is the most I've ever been able to personally relate to a video game character. I'm 23, I graduated from University 2 years ago (British equivalent to American College? ~18yr - 21yr) so my "high school" years are still fairly recent fresh memories.
I fall somewhere between Max and Warren.
I am on the line XD of I don't know, but the girl I like so far is chloe because she reminds me of one of my good friends. I am nowhere near max as I am quite a bit more adept at talking and speaking my mind.
I am inbetween Chloe and Kate. I act both ways and sometimes.
I feel like the game is shot like a movie but its a game within a very interesting setting and one that is very different from what we are used to in games.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2015/03/31 18:01:39
From whom are unforgiven we bring the mercy of war.
2015/03/31 18:03:47
Subject: Game Design Club: Life is Strange! (bottom of page 6)
Actually I had a friend like Chloe too when I was a kid, then I moved school at the age of 10 and we drifted apart. My grades skyrocketed . And, last I heard, he was a cannabis user.
Basically a reflection of Max and Chloe, but at age 5-10. And boys.
This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2015/03/31 18:04:55
2015/03/18 04:08:19
Subject: Game Design Club: Life is Strange! (bottom of page 6)
Shadow Captain Edithae wrote: Actually I had a friend like Chloe too when I was a kid, then I moved school at the age of 10 and we drifted apart. My grades skyrocketed . And, last I heard, he was a cannabis user.
Basically a reflection of Max and Chloe, but at age 5-10. And boys.
Mine is a girl Same hair color too ^.^ and an artist.
But eh its a game where I have to pay attention to details and such. And thankfully I saved one of the characters from doing something really horrible. But I think it has some of the most relatable characters in games.
From whom are unforgiven we bring the mercy of war.
2015/03/31 18:38:46
Subject: Game Design Club: Life is Strange! (bottom of page 6)
Shadow Captain Edithae wrote: There's a fan made Life Is Strange soundtrack playlist on YouTube. I looked up the songs from that playlist on the Amazon Kindle store and downloaded the tracks that I like I individually to my Kindle and made a playlist.
AFAIK no official soundtrack has been released yet.
They should its brilliant.
Speak of the devil. Just saw this link posted in an update by the official LIS facebook group.
Shadow Captain Edithae wrote: There's a fan made Life Is Strange soundtrack playlist on YouTube. I looked up the songs from that playlist on the Amazon Kindle store and downloaded the tracks that I like I individually to my Kindle and made a playlist.
AFAIK no official soundtrack has been released yet.
They should its brilliant.
Speak of the devil. Just saw this link posted in an update by the official LIS facebook group.
Don't ask, but I've been recommended to play it by my friends and alot of people.
I'll write up a review in the next few days.
Huniepop. I have heard a lot about that game. Mostly that it's awfully absurd or just awful. One detail I have heard is that it's a game based around "pickup artists". You know the negative complements and things. I thought about playing it myself, but I fear what people would think if they saw it on my steam library.
2015/04/25 15:53:35
Subject: Game Design Club: The Talos Principle (bottom of page 6)
Don't ask, but I've been recommended to play it by my friends and alot of people.
I'll write up a review in the next few days.
Huniepop. I have heard a lot about that game. Mostly that it's awfully absurd or just awful. One detail I have heard is that it's a game based around "pickup artists". You know the negative complements and things. I thought about playing it myself, but I fear what people would think if they saw it on my steam library.
ITs charming but one of the hardest puzzle games I've played in a long time.
Not really awful at all its probably one of the better games out there. Its a complete parody of dating games and the whole 'hentai' genre in general. There is no sex, There is implied sex and some of the best writing I've seen in a while. Though my standards for games are extremely low.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2015/04/25 16:00:18
From whom are unforgiven we bring the mercy of war.
2015/04/25 18:59:01
Subject: Game Design Club: The Talos Principle (bottom of page 6)
Don't ask, but I've been recommended to play it by my friends and alot of people.
I'll write up a review in the next few days.
Huniepop. I have heard a lot about that game. Mostly that it's awfully absurd or just awful. One detail I have heard is that it's a game based around "pickup artists". You know the negative complements and things. I thought about playing it myself, but I fear what people would think if they saw it on my steam library.
ITs charming but one of the hardest puzzle games I've played in a long time.
Not really awful at all its probably one of the better games out there. Its a complete parody of dating games and the whole 'hentai' genre in general. There is no sex, There is implied sex and some of the best writing I've seen in a while. Though my standards for games are extremely low.
Some of the best writing? It's going to be interesting to read about your experience then. I wonder how it's meant to be a parody and what it's trying to say through it's mockery.
2015/04/27 00:43:48
Subject: Game Design Club: The Talos Principle (bottom of page 6)
Don't ask, but I've been recommended to play it by my friends and alot of people.
I'll write up a review in the next few days.
Huniepop. I have heard a lot about that game. Mostly that it's awfully absurd or just awful. One detail I have heard is that it's a game based around "pickup artists". You know the negative complements and things. I thought about playing it myself, but I fear what people would think if they saw it on my steam library.
ITs charming but one of the hardest puzzle games I've played in a long time.
Not really awful at all its probably one of the better games out there. Its a complete parody of dating games and the whole 'hentai' genre in general. There is no sex, There is implied sex and some of the best writing I've seen in a while. Though my standards for games are extremely low.
Some of the best writing? It's going to be interesting to read about your experience then. I wonder how it's meant to be a parody and what it's trying to say through it's mockery.
Well so far it plays like a bejeweled thing game except with anime, and.... Boobs. Apart from that not as bad as I thought it was going to be.....
From whom are unforgiven we bring the mercy of war.
2015/05/07 19:05:10
Subject: Re:Game Design Club: The Talos Principle (bottom of page 6)
What originally started out as a joke among me and my peers, I first began playing the game to see if it was built up to be nothing more than a dating simulator.
I was surprised to find that I was right, the game was a basic dating simulator, with really difficult puzzle mechanics. This game was.... How would I put it... More than I expected. It had funny dialogue and probably quite a compelling premise. Its about a guy who wants to get laid and find a girl.... And *GASP* Has morals? Originally I would wondered if there was going to be some type of backlash from this game mainly from a certain minority group. To my surprise this was the most highly rated game on steam. (That is not a joke, it is one of the most highly rated games on steam right now)
The characters you encounter are fun and interesting and their personalities are all different from each other. The basic gameplay is that in order to date a girl you have to answer a series of questions first and then face a puzzle, for four dates in a row. Once you have gone on four dates in a row you are 'rewarded'. Though you cannot date the same person four times in one day there is a cooldown that you have to wait for two days. And sometimes the girls are out of town or they are sick or they are sleeping.
This is very weird and probably the reasons I actually enjoyed the game. The characters felt real. Though there was times when I felt like "Wait what... I slept with this girls mother and her, and the two of them never found out they slept with me... Okay..." Other than that, this game is not meant for kids or anyone who hates anime girls and well... Lots of raunchiness.
Though I will say this. The game-play got increasingly difficult but it was curved. I was learning how to match so well because I had a goal in mind, I want to finish this date with this girl. And if I lost they (the Characters) started chastising me for ruining the date. I have never felt so bad in a game before. Until I played huniepop. Where I was told by a bunch of AI I suck at dating. So that after a bit annoyed me and made me want to complete the game. I have played around 7 hours of Huniepop.... And I don't regret it. It is a weird feeling knowing that you are playing a game and you absolutely are playing it for no other reason than to talk to anime girls and date them. I despise dating simulators but this game is so well designed I couldn't help but like it. Infact it might be one of my top puzzle games of this year.
This is Rated M for a good reason. They do show many things that are not age appropriate and sometimes I had to walk out of the room and wonder why the helk was I playing this game? Then I realize why. I am single and I lack a girlfriend, so what the hell.
This game has no real issues, no exploits, no exact issues that would cause the game to be classified as sexist. Its just a very well made puzzle game. There is so much that is good about it that I would recommend it to anyone that likes anime, and puzzles. The most surprising thing about this game, is that there is a large demographic of women that play it. I have countless discussions with girls that I know who have played this game.
Though your self respect for yourself is probably going to hit an all time low when you play this game. Be wary of that.
Next week.......
This message was edited 4 times. Last update was at 2015/05/07 19:23:55
From whom are unforgiven we bring the mercy of war.
2015/05/08 17:37:33
Subject: Game Design Club: The Talos Principle (bottom of page 6)
Don't ask, but I've been recommended to play it by my friends and alot of people.
I'll write up a review in the next few days.
Huniepop. I have heard a lot about that game. Mostly that it's awfully absurd or just awful. One detail I have heard is that it's a game based around "pickup artists". You know the negative complements and things. I thought about playing it myself, but I fear what people would think if they saw it on my steam library.
I got curious when I heard about it, which was at release, and went poking around the official site. You can purchase and download a non-Steam version from there.
/innocent whistle
I have to say that I find the mechanic of "succeeding" at a date by playing what is effectively Candy Crush to be somewhat amusing.
2015/05/08 18:42:42
Subject: Game Design Club: Huniepop (Puzzle Game and Dating Simulator)
I.. expected more from that review. Not really sure what I expected, but I mean as the highest rated steam game thought you would find something inserting to latch onto and talk about.
Alien Isolation is neat though.
2015/05/08 19:16:12
Subject: Game Design Club: Huniepop (Puzzle Game and Dating Simulator)
nomotog wrote: I.. expected more from that review. Not really sure what I expected, but I mean as the highest rated steam game thought you would find something inserting to latch onto and talk about.
Alien Isolation is neat though.
Something to latch on to? what do you mean?
I would love to hear a criticism of my work
It had some problems no doubt. But they were quite small. I mean I only found out it was the highest rated game on steam until after I started playing it.
Don't ask, but I've been recommended to play it by my friends and alot of people.
I'll write up a review in the next few days.
Huniepop. I have heard a lot about that game. Mostly that it's awfully absurd or just awful. One detail I have heard is that it's a game based around "pickup artists". You know the negative complements and things. I thought about playing it myself, but I fear what people would think if they saw it on my steam library.
I got curious when I heard about it, which was at release, and went poking around the official site. You can purchase and download a non-Steam version from there.
/innocent whistle
I have to say that I find the mechanic of "succeeding" at a date by playing what is effectively Candy Crush to be somewhat amusing.
Effectively yeah. It is almost identical to candy crush. It encourages you but then if you fail it makes fun of you. And the puzzles get progressively worse. Except this game isn't evil unlike candy crush.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2015/05/08 19:17:40
From whom are unforgiven we bring the mercy of war.
2015/05/08 19:39:38
Subject: Game Design Club: Huniepop (Puzzle Game and Dating Simulator)
I don't know. I haven't played the game myself. There might not actually be anything to talk about. (There is actually very little talk about it. It only has one official review.)
You could of spent some time talking about the difference between a visual novel and a dating sims and how hunie pope fits in that scale. You could have talked more about the mechanics they actually seem kind of deep. What are the characters like? Is the sex good? You said it had the best writing, but forgot to explain why. Is their really a stalker app in it?
I don't know something.
2015/05/08 20:36:09
Subject: Game Design Club: Huniepop (Puzzle Game and Dating Simulator)
nomotog wrote: I don't know. I haven't played the game myself. There might not actually be anything to talk about. (There is actually very little talk about it. It only has one official review.)
You could of spent some time talking about the difference between a visual novel and a dating sims and how hunie pope fits in that scale. You could have talked more about the mechanics they actually seem kind of deep. What are the characters like? Is the sex good? You said it had the best writing, but forgot to explain why. Is their really a stalker app in it?
I don't know something.
I think there is quite a bit to talk about the game had a lot of depth to it and became more complicated in time. What once started out as easy mechanics became more difficult overtime. It is probably easier to get laid in real life than in Huniepop.
I could rewrite it. But yes I would of gone more in depth about it but I hadn't really thought of those bits of information.
But yes there were some bits that did happen that were kind of creepy. The fairy does give you a stalker phone that basically tracks every girl and what they are doing and where they are. It also remembers what they tell you so you can reference before talking to a girl because they will quiz you on the information and you can't bring it up on the stalker app. But I really didn't think it was as creepy as people made it out to be. Its not like it is broadcasting their exact state of being and where they live.
It was very gamified and I didn't really think it was as bad as some reviewers or people made it out to be. It was clearly a jab at how in most dating sims the character knows exactly where the girl is, or they don't change location at all.
A visual novel has certain times where you can choose to do certain things and has an entire story set around it. There is some type of goal that the protoganist is trying to complete. The Dating sim is usually just a harem of a particular gender that the player would find attractive and they get to choose which one they get to date.
A Visual Novel is story based, a Dating sim is mechanic or niche based.
This game has no story, it has a story a player can create through their interactions with the characters.
On the other questions In terms of sex, you barely see anything. A nipple here and there and thats about it. Its quite tame. Unless you go the uncensored path, for giggles I turned it on and not much of a difference, except a few noticeable things. Though god willing I would no play this game in public.
Characters? I can't exactly speak for all of them but they were various and they were quite enjoyable, I mean I felt like they were quite real and interesting.
The most favorite character I met and probably interacted most with was probably the Asian teacher, whose name escapes me. She had a very laid back, controlling personality. Able to control people rather easily but she doesn't like to. She is quick to anger and quite intelligent. Though the other characters represent alot of minorities in life. There is a white blonde women, but there is also an indian, a persian , an asian, an northern african, and southern african. So far they were all quite interesting except for one, who is suppose to be the.... well..... The B--ch as I like to refer her as. And many other characters do too.
The characters were all their own different types of flavors and cliched stereotypes that are not insulting but more based in reality than most Triple A games see women.
In terms of writing it had better writing than what I was expecting. It had funny dialogue and poked fun at itself. It was witty and interesting and dragged the readers attention to where it mattered, the characters. There were times when I felt like the characters were talking straight to me. It had an interesting character dialogue that were unique to each character and didn't feel like copy paste like most RPGs and most games are like. They fit a certain criteria and it made sense in that world.
The writing reinforced the characters and the setting, it felt like the world was just living. But sometimes it did feel void of life, such is the limits of most dating sims.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2015/05/08 20:39:16
From whom are unforgiven we bring the mercy of war.
Oh ya borderlands. I would hazard to say that I like the series too much, but it was the biggest revolution for loot based games since.. well since they were really confide by diablo. (BL ruined me for diablo even.) BL2 is maybe a little worse then BL1 in some respects. A little big of the unbalanced elements of BL1 actually served to make it a better game so when they were cleaned up it lost something.
. And, last I heard, he was a cannabis user.
Same hair color too ^.^ and an artist.
