mustangaf
2018
Pretty with good art direction, but also almost a mobile game. Go to a dungeon with uninspired room design and no puzzles, hit some enemies and go back to sell everything on your store. Sure, the store is nice, but one can only take so many (not many at all) hours of managing prices and items on there until you lose your mind.
And what do you do with the money? Buy upgrades so you can make more money of course. Who could expect anything else, right? Seems like everything is like this these days. Your other moneysink is weapons and armor. Very expensive and pretty much required, as you're gonna get hard statchecked by the whole game. So in sum, the game is like this:
Go to dungeon -> Come back before getting statchecked and dying, in order to keep your items -> Sell items -> Make money -> Buy upgrades to make more money -> Buy equipment so you take longer to get statchecked so you can dive deeper and get more expensive items -> Go to dungeon -> repeat...
You will do this 50 times. Almost sounds like a pyramid scheme. That's exactly what I want in a game, thanks. And obviously, items are just different sprites that do fuck all besides $money$ and there are no social aspects in the shit village.
And what do you do with the money? Buy upgrades so you can make more money of course. Who could expect anything else, right? Seems like everything is like this these days. Your other moneysink is weapons and armor. Very expensive and pretty much required, as you're gonna get hard statchecked by the whole game. So in sum, the game is like this:
Go to dungeon -> Come back before getting statchecked and dying, in order to keep your items -> Sell items -> Make money -> Buy upgrades to make more money -> Buy equipment so you take longer to get statchecked so you can dive deeper and get more expensive items -> Go to dungeon -> repeat...
You will do this 50 times. Almost sounds like a pyramid scheme. That's exactly what I want in a game, thanks. And obviously, items are just different sprites that do fuck all besides $money$ and there are no social aspects in the shit village.
2022
Very very cool but by the midgame 90% of the gameplay becomes a loop of generating food and gold in the same exact way you've been doing all the time so you can barely progress. That has to be a design flaw, who has time for that. Equipment system is also too much stupid busywork. A shame. The good parts are very engrossing.
2020
2023
It's cool because languages are cool but after some time they forget they are a language game and just do some uninspired puzzles for you to figure out the words in a gami-fied way (well this is obviously a game but i'm allowed to complain right) and throw you into a showy last stretch story that begs for you to find it epic.
A game held back by its medium. And it seems like it wanted to be that way. Why the fuck.
A game held back by its medium. And it seems like it wanted to be that way. Why the fuck.
Cool game and all but has a real problem of scale - as soon as you leave the first area you start getting bombarded with its unwelcome progression systems that include:
- more than a hundred spells that somehow manage to barely change your playstyle
- huge ass crafting system with 10 weapon types with 15 variants each that don't feel like they're changing much
- and of all this depending on a luck% drop-focused gameplay that is pretty much the pillar of the game. I'm not a tryhard but if you try to engage even a little with what the game's offering beyond the "walk into rooms and kill dudes" you are going to find yourself resetting rooms and killing those dudes over and over. Why the fuck are we still doing this in games?
- all this with a pretty shit UI. not good sorting options and it's just text, you can't do anything quickly.
I don't know how the original SOTN was, but all this grinding/drop rate/number go up stuff just makes the game feel like a thin veil of graphics (that get from beautiful art direction to very ugly the more you progress) holding up together a bunch of numbers and skills that don't change how you play. You are eventually going to just hope it ends - It starts to mean nothing after some hours.
Still a cool game because metroidvanias are pretty awesome, and at the midgame I was having fun (the super obscure way of progressing the game past 12 hours in was kinda stupid but I get it) . And grinders would love this, obviously. They're the only people capable of getting more than a ~20h pasttime with little meaning but fun buttons from this.
- more than a hundred spells that somehow manage to barely change your playstyle
- huge ass crafting system with 10 weapon types with 15 variants each that don't feel like they're changing much
- and of all this depending on a luck% drop-focused gameplay that is pretty much the pillar of the game. I'm not a tryhard but if you try to engage even a little with what the game's offering beyond the "walk into rooms and kill dudes" you are going to find yourself resetting rooms and killing those dudes over and over. Why the fuck are we still doing this in games?
- all this with a pretty shit UI. not good sorting options and it's just text, you can't do anything quickly.
I don't know how the original SOTN was, but all this grinding/drop rate/number go up stuff just makes the game feel like a thin veil of graphics (that get from beautiful art direction to very ugly the more you progress) holding up together a bunch of numbers and skills that don't change how you play. You are eventually going to just hope it ends - It starts to mean nothing after some hours.
Still a cool game because metroidvanias are pretty awesome, and at the midgame I was having fun (the super obscure way of progressing the game past 12 hours in was kinda stupid but I get it) . And grinders would love this, obviously. They're the only people capable of getting more than a ~20h pasttime with little meaning but fun buttons from this.
1998
It's creative, it's different, makes me feel games are worth it. Deserves its reputation. Most importantly, it's fun. I'm a stealth disliker but loved the gameplay. I'm also an action movie disliker but found the story to be very good. It's a great piece of art, not much to say that hasn't already been said. Even its clunkiness and ending stretch (that kinda sucks) didn't kill my enjoyment. This is something else!
2021
2022
I know it's not the usual sentiment but I do think the touchscreen DS zelda games are pretty good. They at least feel more creative than the other Zeldas I played. It's fun, the trains are fun, the exploring is fun, the items are fun. The puzzles are great!
Know when this game falters? When it wants to be a Big Epic Adventure. The ending sequence, the tunnel bosses, the demon story. You might say "but Butter, that's the point, it's an adventure game, it has to be BIG!" Well maybe you're right. But the earnest going around with trains, visiting cities and solving puzzles is so much better. Maybe I'm not an adventure person.
Know when this game falters? When it wants to be a Big Epic Adventure. The ending sequence, the tunnel bosses, the demon story. You might say "but Butter, that's the point, it's an adventure game, it has to be BIG!" Well maybe you're right. But the earnest going around with trains, visiting cities and solving puzzles is so much better. Maybe I'm not an adventure person.
2018
2022
It's just a Zelda game, really. If you're a fan, go ahead.
This is a cute way of saying "nothing special". I do remember having a bunch of true fun for about an hour in the beggining part of the game, but after finishing it, I'm inclined to believe that could have only been some sort of spiritual attack.
This is a cute way of saying "nothing special". I do remember having a bunch of true fun for about an hour in the beggining part of the game, but after finishing it, I'm inclined to believe that could have only been some sort of spiritual attack.
1994
Super Metroid is an experience, truly a worthwhile one. The level design, the environmental storytelling, the atmosphere, it really is something else. Transcends its medium, in my opinion. Go play it yourself - if you spend your free time gaming and have any interest in competent artmaking, you owe yourself - feel this shit.