faea gaming: March 2024
Nothing here!
10 Games
Completed
i desperately need more games with this formula - the very roguelike dungeon crawling but a proper rpg with a story and progression rather than what we now consider to be a roguelike. something like pmd but slightly more mechanically-rich would be absolutely wonderful. but this game is already wonderful
would like to get back to postgame at some point. wasn't going to log this until i finished that because that's where a lot of the meat is but i kinda dropped off immediately and i *did* beat the game. maybe just too much of a timesink for me right now
i desperately need more games with this formula - the very roguelike dungeon crawling but a proper rpg with a story and progression rather than what we now consider to be a roguelike. something like pmd but slightly more mechanically-rich would be absolutely wonderful. but this game is already wonderful
would like to get back to postgame at some point. wasn't going to log this until i finished that because that's where a lot of the meat is but i kinda dropped off immediately and i *did* beat the game. maybe just too much of a timesink for me right now
Dropped
there's some interesting stuff here but man! man!! the maps are so fucking aggravating and boring!!!! this game should NOT have infinitely less interesting maps than fire emblem 1. also this game is absolutely PLAGUED with low percent crits
there's some interesting stuff here but man! man!! the maps are so fucking aggravating and boring!!!! this game should NOT have infinitely less interesting maps than fire emblem 1. also this game is absolutely PLAGUED with low percent crits
Completed
me with friend in co op:
"wanna see a magic trick?" *hits barrels with fire infused weapon, exploding and dying immediately*
(i have an almost-finished review that i've been putting off finishing for weeks but it's good!)
me with friend in co op:
"wanna see a magic trick?" *hits barrels with fire infused weapon, exploding and dying immediately*
(i have an almost-finished review that i've been putting off finishing for weeks but it's good!)
Completed
played kind of as a joke since i have a big ys-head friend who started playing thracia lately and i said i'd play ys if he did (he's been trying to sell me on it for ages as the "bumper car rpg"). i turned down his offer to give me the remakes and decided to play the original instead (well i'm on the dos version which doesn't have a soundtrack so much as a torture device). anyway i kinda get it! bump combat is cool and its a pretty neat light dungeon crawler/rpg thing. its kinda clunky at least the way im playing it - i lose inputs sometimes when im trying to make quick turns so sometimes i eat shit and it wasnt really in my control. the final dungeon/half of the game is kinda shitty and suddenly gives you guidebook-core obtuse puzzles which i definitely dont regret using looking up (i still had to backtrack twice through half the tower once i reached the end). but like. it's not THAT bad
played kind of as a joke since i have a big ys-head friend who started playing thracia lately and i said i'd play ys if he did (he's been trying to sell me on it for ages as the "bumper car rpg"). i turned down his offer to give me the remakes and decided to play the original instead (well i'm on the dos version which doesn't have a soundtrack so much as a torture device). anyway i kinda get it! bump combat is cool and its a pretty neat light dungeon crawler/rpg thing. its kinda clunky at least the way im playing it - i lose inputs sometimes when im trying to make quick turns so sometimes i eat shit and it wasnt really in my control. the final dungeon/half of the game is kinda shitty and suddenly gives you guidebook-core obtuse puzzles which i definitely dont regret using looking up (i still had to backtrack twice through half the tower once i reached the end). but like. it's not THAT bad
Completed
i can't get the "wow! i can't tell if this was intended!" feel from a game that feels so obviously built to be explored in that way, so instead i see a game with very cool freeform movement that has *some* fun places to use it in. but the metroidvania format feels like it does abolutely no favours for the game. more often than not i'll be using that cool movement to run in circles for hours to find the one specific room i need to find to get a powerup so i can get through the like five specific rooms you explicitly can't wallkick through (it *is* a metroidvania). or i'll be walking through Nondescript Room where the solution is wallkick up the side of a wall 3 times to reach Nondescript Room where the solution is wallkick up the side of a wall 3 times in a route that ends up looping back on itself and giving me absolutely nothing. or i'll do something cool to get somewhere, go to the next point in the room and have it drop a platform down where i just was in a way to chide me for playing with the game's own movement. or i'll get to a secret that feels like it was way easier to reach than it was meant to be, only to find an upgrade that either puts the massive honkers goat lady main character in a latex suit or solely improves my combat ability (not sure which is worse)
i can't get the "wow! i can't tell if this was intended!" feel from a game that feels so obviously built to be explored in that way, so instead i see a game with very cool freeform movement that has *some* fun places to use it in. but the metroidvania format feels like it does abolutely no favours for the game. more often than not i'll be using that cool movement to run in circles for hours to find the one specific room i need to find to get a powerup so i can get through the like five specific rooms you explicitly can't wallkick through (it *is* a metroidvania). or i'll be walking through Nondescript Room where the solution is wallkick up the side of a wall 3 times to reach Nondescript Room where the solution is wallkick up the side of a wall 3 times in a route that ends up looping back on itself and giving me absolutely nothing. or i'll do something cool to get somewhere, go to the next point in the room and have it drop a platform down where i just was in a way to chide me for playing with the game's own movement. or i'll get to a secret that feels like it was way easier to reach than it was meant to be, only to find an upgrade that either puts the massive honkers goat lady main character in a latex suit or solely improves my combat ability (not sure which is worse)
Shelved
character creator is quite limited in some very awkward areas but im glad that they still let you have reasonable control over your characters' body shape. dd1 and dd2 are the only games i can actually think of that actually let you
the game itself kinda lost my interest around the 30 hour mark. the larger, denser map is a lot of fun to explore but more space means more enemies between landmarks and sometimes it feels like enemy density is just far too high regardless. it's the same group of enemies from 1 that somehow feel less interesting and it's not like every single encounter in 1 is this incredibly cerebral experience to begin with. i still haven't tried thief yet (which i've heard is The Good One and The Fun One) but every other vocation i've tried has felt a little lacking - particular mage/sorc which feel absolutely gutted in terms of how interesting they are. fps wasnt a problem till i realised it was. also the plot is goofy so far, i dont really know why i should care about the false sovran stuff. i really want to finish this game but i need to put it on the backburner for a while, maybe wait for some performance patches or even see what the modding scene is capable of
character creator is quite limited in some very awkward areas but im glad that they still let you have reasonable control over your characters' body shape. dd1 and dd2 are the only games i can actually think of that actually let you
the game itself kinda lost my interest around the 30 hour mark. the larger, denser map is a lot of fun to explore but more space means more enemies between landmarks and sometimes it feels like enemy density is just far too high regardless. it's the same group of enemies from 1 that somehow feel less interesting and it's not like every single encounter in 1 is this incredibly cerebral experience to begin with. i still haven't tried thief yet (which i've heard is The Good One and The Fun One) but every other vocation i've tried has felt a little lacking - particular mage/sorc which feel absolutely gutted in terms of how interesting they are. fps wasnt a problem till i realised it was. also the plot is goofy so far, i dont really know why i should care about the false sovran stuff. i really want to finish this game but i need to put it on the backburner for a while, maybe wait for some performance patches or even see what the modding scene is capable of
Completed
like, i have a laundry list of issues with this game. the fact that pretty much every "funny" side character ranges from annoying to just being mean-spirited punchlines. the fact that i can't retain information for more than three seconds (there's a hole in my head where my brain should be) so anything that needs me to call on prior dialogue or some specific detail tends to result in five minutes of frustration and a trip to the nearest guide. the fact that it's really insistent on presenting things in a particular order to make sure the narrative works (fair enough, but still annoying sometimes). the fact that the last case introduces multiple new mechanics that amount to "click on the thing" and explain them multiple times at an agonisingly glacial speed.
but like. it just WORKS. the courtroom anime battles are so FUN and the way everyone is animated just makes me unreasonably happy. the core of phoenix maya and edgeworth are all fantastic and i love them all (gumshoe is cool too). there's definitely something to be said about these sort of stories that use over the top silliness and charm to get you invested in their characters, and then use that to make their genuine emotional cores land really well. i really did love my time with this game despite my gripes - the times when it all flowed perfectly are some of the most i've been glued to a game for a really long time
like, i have a laundry list of issues with this game. the fact that pretty much every "funny" side character ranges from annoying to just being mean-spirited punchlines. the fact that i can't retain information for more than three seconds (there's a hole in my head where my brain should be) so anything that needs me to call on prior dialogue or some specific detail tends to result in five minutes of frustration and a trip to the nearest guide. the fact that it's really insistent on presenting things in a particular order to make sure the narrative works (fair enough, but still annoying sometimes). the fact that the last case introduces multiple new mechanics that amount to "click on the thing" and explain them multiple times at an agonisingly glacial speed.
but like. it just WORKS. the courtroom anime battles are so FUN and the way everyone is animated just makes me unreasonably happy. the core of phoenix maya and edgeworth are all fantastic and i love them all (gumshoe is cool too). there's definitely something to be said about these sort of stories that use over the top silliness and charm to get you invested in their characters, and then use that to make their genuine emotional cores land really well. i really did love my time with this game despite my gripes - the times when it all flowed perfectly are some of the most i've been glued to a game for a really long time
In Progress (ch21)
bumped enemy growths by 35% and got met with an armour knight with capped def and 8 res on chapter seven. oops! i get a new recruit and i need to spoonfeed them eighteen levels of bexp and a +5 mt forged weapon for them to deal more than 0x2 damage, good times. later on the game started playing itself anyway so i bumped them up to +55% and immediately was met by a mage with three capped stats.
not sure how much of a hot take this is but i think it's not suuper interesting mechanically and a lot of the maps past ch11 are a bit weak. that said i do get why people like this so much. it just feels extremely warm. lots of very resonant and charming dialogue and the vast majority of characters are very down-to-earth and likeable. i cant speak too much on how well-done the beorc-laguz stuff is (im white) but it feels a lot more careful and intentional than your average Fantasy Racism (which is probably one of my least favourite tropes in, like, anything). i love ike a lot
bumped enemy growths by 35% and got met with an armour knight with capped def and 8 res on chapter seven. oops! i get a new recruit and i need to spoonfeed them eighteen levels of bexp and a +5 mt forged weapon for them to deal more than 0x2 damage, good times. later on the game started playing itself anyway so i bumped them up to +55% and immediately was met by a mage with three capped stats.
not sure how much of a hot take this is but i think it's not suuper interesting mechanically and a lot of the maps past ch11 are a bit weak. that said i do get why people like this so much. it just feels extremely warm. lots of very resonant and charming dialogue and the vast majority of characters are very down-to-earth and likeable. i cant speak too much on how well-done the beorc-laguz stuff is (im white) but it feels a lot more careful and intentional than your average Fantasy Racism (which is probably one of my least favourite tropes in, like, anything). i love ike a lot
In Progress
wanted to replay for a while and enough choppy 10fps fights against infinite wolf generators in dd2 kinda pushed me over the edge. playing on hard again (i've never played on normal) because im a dumbass. break the economy girlie, you deserve it. planning on going mystic knight because it seems cool as hell. i'm looking back on my steam achievements and realising i binged the game in like 5 days before, this time i wanna take my time and do as much as i can. i also wanna do bitterblack this time round
just gonna bullet point some notes in comparison to dd2:
- music feels way more prevalent in this game. feel like i've heard more tracks in 2 hours of dd1 than in thirty hours of dd2
- being able to have six skills equipped and a deeper list of skills really makes me feel like stuff kinda got gutted in 2
- climbing monsters feels kinda bad in this game because of the fixed camera. hydra was especially frustrating because my character would get most of the way up and then decide that forwards actually makes her climb back down and also backwards still makes her climb down
- enemy fights feel similarly frequent to in dd2 but the uniqueness of each enemy feels a lot more emphasised (not sure i've seen a harpy grab anyone in 2?). this involves hitting elemental weaknesses as well which is CONVENIENT when mages actually have SPACE to fit MULTIPLE BUFFS. maybe hard has something to do with this (definitely does, i've been one-shot by like a third of the enemy types already) but fights feel a lot less faceroll-y in this game. it can still be pretty exhausting (THE armoured bandit who kills me in 3 hits and never staggers and is always surrounded by 12 other guys) but it's more engaging as well
- there's no substitute for mystic knight in dd2! the closest you can get to that 'great knight' fantasy is, uh, fighter. now idk about you but i would be embarassed to show my face with that dinky little shield
- sprint stamina drain feels worse in this game. i think there's a bigger discrepancy between walk and sprint speed in this than in dd2. will probably just install a mod to make stamina not drain out of combat (i did this but it feels weird in its own right because now the world feels so much smaller, almost as small as it actually is)
- throwing enemies is way more fun in dd2, though it was *so* fun that it felt a bit weird how my mage character had an olympian throwing arm. however, grappling and kicking more than makes up for it. that kick feels SO good
- this skeleton is skilled indeed
wanted to replay for a while and enough choppy 10fps fights against infinite wolf generators in dd2 kinda pushed me over the edge. playing on hard again (i've never played on normal) because im a dumbass. break the economy girlie, you deserve it. planning on going mystic knight because it seems cool as hell. i'm looking back on my steam achievements and realising i binged the game in like 5 days before, this time i wanna take my time and do as much as i can. i also wanna do bitterblack this time round
just gonna bullet point some notes in comparison to dd2:
- music feels way more prevalent in this game. feel like i've heard more tracks in 2 hours of dd1 than in thirty hours of dd2
- being able to have six skills equipped and a deeper list of skills really makes me feel like stuff kinda got gutted in 2
- climbing monsters feels kinda bad in this game because of the fixed camera. hydra was especially frustrating because my character would get most of the way up and then decide that forwards actually makes her climb back down and also backwards still makes her climb down
- enemy fights feel similarly frequent to in dd2 but the uniqueness of each enemy feels a lot more emphasised (not sure i've seen a harpy grab anyone in 2?). this involves hitting elemental weaknesses as well which is CONVENIENT when mages actually have SPACE to fit MULTIPLE BUFFS. maybe hard has something to do with this (definitely does, i've been one-shot by like a third of the enemy types already) but fights feel a lot less faceroll-y in this game. it can still be pretty exhausting (THE armoured bandit who kills me in 3 hits and never staggers and is always surrounded by 12 other guys) but it's more engaging as well
- there's no substitute for mystic knight in dd2! the closest you can get to that 'great knight' fantasy is, uh, fighter. now idk about you but i would be embarassed to show my face with that dinky little shield
- sprint stamina drain feels worse in this game. i think there's a bigger discrepancy between walk and sprint speed in this than in dd2. will probably just install a mod to make stamina not drain out of combat (i did this but it feels weird in its own right because now the world feels so much smaller, almost as small as it actually is)
- throwing enemies is way more fun in dd2, though it was *so* fun that it felt a bit weird how my mage character had an olympian throwing arm. however, grappling and kicking more than makes up for it. that kick feels SO good
- this skeleton is skilled indeed
In Progress
i only played the first case lol, i think i need a little breather before pushing through another aa game. ive heard some not so great things about this one though
i only played the first case lol, i think i need a little breather before pushing through another aa game. ive heard some not so great things about this one though
5 Comments
Seconding the Bitterblack recommendation, it's the closest a 'big' game has ever gotten to nailing the kind of dungeon crawling one would expect from older RPGs/TTRPGs.
I love Tearring, but if you don't like its maps than there's really nothing that can be done to like the game, but I will say that Berwick has very different map design and possibly the best map design for any srpg? That may be taking it too far, but if you're worried about Berwick's maps, don't.
And if you want another Mystery Dungeon game with a more full plot I'd reccomend Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo's Dungeon. I'm not THAT familiar with mystery dungeon games besides Etrian Mystery Dungeon and Pokemon Mystery Dungeon but Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo's Dungeon is a really good game and has a more substantial plot and progression. Most other Mystery Dungeon games have similar progression as PMD but they also don't have much of a story, if what I gather is correct.
And if you want another Mystery Dungeon game with a more full plot I'd reccomend Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo's Dungeon. I'm not THAT familiar with mystery dungeon games besides Etrian Mystery Dungeon and Pokemon Mystery Dungeon but Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo's Dungeon is a really good game and has a more substantial plot and progression. Most other Mystery Dungeon games have similar progression as PMD but they also don't have much of a story, if what I gather is correct.
@ninjabunny i'd probably be more forgiving towards the maps if there was something else for me to get attached to (i like fire emblem gaiden of all things) but sadly none of it really left a mark on me more than "this personal weapon is really funny". i am still very interested in berwick though, hopefully i'll get to it this year
i'll have to take a look at the other licensed mystery dungeon games then, i tried the ds shiren the wanderer last year and from what i could tell it was just a roguelike with a persistent item store and i just assumed all the others were like that as well lol
i'll have to take a look at the other licensed mystery dungeon games then, i tried the ds shiren the wanderer last year and from what i could tell it was just a roguelike with a persistent item store and i just assumed all the others were like that as well lol
The PMD sequel games (Explorers of Time/Darkness/Sky) are excellent if you haven't already played them!
curse
29 days ago
looking up the adventure game bullshit in early ys is a good call. love those two games, but that stuff's not great