Last week I mentioned that I don't really read or look for anything new at the moment - this was not entirely true. I did in fact found a few new series recently, I just forgot to write about them. I'll stick to two titles this time as I already purged all the other ones from my library during the recent cleanup and, truth be told, they weren't really worth talking about anyway.
Do you like Initial D? Take that but replace Takumi with a female student with no driving experience and WAY more irresponsible attitude (seriously, this woman should not be allowed behind the wheel, let alone get a license) - this is Over Rev! Even art style is pretty similar to Initial D.
I didn't write about it before as I put it on hold for now but the few chapters I've read so far were pretty enjoyable. I'll definitely post more informed impressions once I read a bit more. It seems promising at the very least.
Princess in the Rough
It's a manhwa series with an interesting premise (imperial princess grows up almost completely on her own after memories of her birth were wiped from everyone involved), confused execution and very fast pacing. The initial arc is exactly what you can expect and it's done quite well - princess needs time warming up to people, doesn't like large groups and has to be taught basic rules of living in civilised society. It's good.
This arc is quickly followed by a time skip and a switch to a story about princess' power and her solving problems which could endanger the whole country (if not the world), which in turn is relevant about two times as the story feels the need to go with another, this time longer, time skip leading to paedophilia ending. No, I'm not putting this in spoilers, it doesn't deserve enough respect for that.
So, at the beginning I mentioned how our MC grew up "almost completely on her own". She was a newborn baby so she obviously couldn't make it completely alone - the truth is she was rescued and helped from time to time by a an ice spirit. In this world spirits are people with magical powers and extremely lengthened lifespan - while I'm simplifying a bit, this should be enough for you to figure out where this is going.
MC spent her early years with almost no human contact. She has limited understanding of social norms, doesn't know the difference between familial and romantic love and see on problem with being in love with a dude few hundred years older than her who also took care of her as a baby. The final arc is about MC being in love with "Mr. Spirit" and him realising he's also in love with her. It's gross, it's badly done and I hate it.
I could do a better write-up or at least clean it up to make it sound less like messy rambling but I wont. This story had multiple interesting ideas it could do something worthwhile with but it decided to sprint through them to jump straight into one of the worst possible story beats it could've taken. Such a waste of time and effort.
According to the store page, it has the mature content (violent one) + some new things to link it to the anime. It is however based on the 2013 PC version (or at least "has the same content" as that one) which was rated for ages 15+ rather than 18+ of original - i.e. there's no sexy stuff shown on screen if that's what you're interested in.
::: spoiler Castlevania: Circle of the Moon
Things are moving pretty smoothly so far, as I reached a bit over 50% last night according to the in-game progress tracker. I know it includes secrets and that I don't need 100% to finish the game but that's the most specific metric I've got so...
I'm quite happy with the game overall. I did start to notice some things I'm not a huge fan of but they're not enough to make we want to quit or even degrade my experience in a significant way. The main annoying element are probably the constantly respawning flying enemies - I know they are a staple of the series at this point and they aren't difficult to deal with but that doesn't make them any more enjoyable (especially when they try to block your climbing routes in certain rooms).
Still, game is more fun than I expected it to be before starting so that's good.
:::
::: spoiler Jack Orlando A Cinematic Adventure
Ahh, another instance of a rare point-and-click adventure game. I played this one years ago and I'm pretty sure I even managed to complete it back then but I wasn't certain and that's not good enough. Because of this I decided to go through the game once again to make sure that yes, I did in fact play through the whole thing - it wasn't easy.
For those unfamiliar, Jack Orlando is a game about a private detective in 1933 America (something they really commit to with the writing, character prejudices etc). On his way home from a night of drinking Jack stumbles upon a murder, gets knocked out at the scene and ends up being the main suspect. Due to his status as a hero cop and years of friendship with the police chief, he get 48 hours to clear his name and find the real culprit - that's where the player steps in.
So yeah, I said I didn't remember much about the game, right? Boy was it true. I thought I remembered some bits and pieces from my old playthrough but besides the very beginning of the game everything else turned out to be a complete fabrication on my part. I'm actually shocked how wrong I was about the whole thing.
That said, while my faulty memory is one thing, there are some completely out there sections I would've never guessed they were from this title. Did you know prohibition era America had medieval-fantasy-like catacombs with an indoor fountain and automated, Indiana Jones style mechanisms in the middle of the city? Yeah.
My lack of experience with adventure games really shined here but even if I wasn't THIS bad at the genre, the strict and often extremely weird progress requirements, mixed with a ton of junk items strewn everywhere meant I would never finish this without a guide. A straightforward game this ain't.
Presentation is pretty good. We have nice looking backgrounds and smoothly animated characters (even if I'm not a huge fan of the art style used for them). Voice acting is pretty solid for the most part, except for some really bad accents here and there.
Music is also great though it can get a bit grating after one too many loops. That's probably just me though, as I have a hard time listening to saxophone and similar instruments for long stretches of time. Not great position to be in when playing a noir detective story.
I can't say it was my favourite point-and-click played so far but it was enjoyable enough. I'd just like to know where my completely fake memories came from...
:::
Things are still busy and hectic on my side so I did nothing both in regards to the community and VN reading. I can't wait to get some free time for both again...
Ah! That's another thing I wanted but forgot to mention - chapter length. Waiting a week or two for a few pages that barely move things forward did a lot to make me lose interest as well. I expect things to read well in one sitting (kind of like some parts of Attack on Titan) but this pacing harm the story a lot for me.
I'm pretty much taking a (semi) break from active reading at this point and focusing on clearing my gaming backlog instead. I still stick to things in my library but I need a bit of a palette cleanser before I can fully jump back to my usual manga/manhwa perusal. I'll keep an eye on what you'll drop here at least, might find something good for the future.
I think I'm truly done with The Guy She Was Interested in Wasn't a Guy at All. I know things started to finally move again but I'm at a point where seeing a new chapter incites zero emotions in me - no anticipation, no excitement, nothing. It was fun but it seems like I had my fill.
This isn't even the only series I feel about this way. I actually pruned my library quite a bit over the last week or two, shortening it by about a dozen titles or so. Some of them were on a (scanlation) hiatus, others no longer engaged me in any way. Being able to let go and step away is a welcome change, even if it sucks to lose on things that used to make my day.
It kind of feels like I have way less patience towards things I don't enjoy these days.
The usual excuse is "we have it working in Squadron but porting it to PU requires additional work because networking", which isn't necessarily wrong. You'd think they'd design things in a way that's easy to port to the multiplayer environment (something many games with single- and multiplayer have been doing for decades) but it's CIG and they HAVE to reinvent the wheel with everything they work on (except things that could actually use a different approach).
That said, I don't really care about Squadron. It's a bonus to my SC pledge, which I may or may not play eventually. My issue comes down specifically to the disconnect between the number of devs working on PU and what they're able to deliver after being brought back to this side of the project. I don't know if them including these numbers in the letter was suppose to be a flex/an attempt to calm the part of the player base focused on SC or not but to me it was yet another warning sign added to the "something went really wrong with both this project and the company" pile.
I want to say I played legends but it's the only game in the series I'm not sure about playing - these 2D titles kinda mesh together in my mind. What I am sure about is that Rayman Origins is similar and also pretty solid so it could be worth checking out if you're ever interested in more 2D Rayman.
Zero footage for more than a year, almost no info beyond "we're still working on features for this feature complete game" in monthly reports and a 6 month+ delay but "it's totally because of GTA you guys!" Sounds legit.
Not that I expected anything else. I'd be more surprised if they actually hit their deadline for once.
That said, I'm way more worried about another thing:
(...) Towards the end of 2024 we decided that couldn’t continue so we shifted the balance back. In these final months on Squadron 42 that split is now 55% to 45% in Squadron’s favour, to ensure we get Squadron 42 bug free, polished and optimized.
For the last few months (possibly up to 2 years) 45% of the development teams has been actively working on SC - 45%! Seeing the state both PU and their internal builds are in, I find it rather troubling. It's baffling how despite this number of devs the game still feels like it's run by a skeleton crew.
::: spoiler Castlevania: Circle of the Moon
I have no attachment or personal feelings towards the Castlevania series. I appreciate these games from a historical perspective but I never really spent much time with them outside of playing Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow for a few hours as a kid (it was a pretty random purchase at the time).
I've been eyeing a bunch of various older (mostly 2D) games recently and decided to buy Castlevania Advance Collection to finally give the series a proper try - it was on sale and fit the criteria so why not?
I was a bit worried about getting into Castlevania as many of the games (especially the early ones) look like they wouldn't really be up my alley in terms of gameplay and controls. That may as well be true, as I said, I never really played the series, but going with the Advance Collection turned out to be a good choice - even if I needed a moment to get used to how to play "properly".
While I'm still in the middle of my playthrough, I can safely say that Circle of the Moon is pretty great. It plays amazingly well, looks and sounds fantastic - it's a genuinely fun title and that's not always a given when going back to old classics.
It might be one of my favourite "new" titles I've tried this year. I can't wait to get back to it.
:::
::: spoiler LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4
This is my... second attempt at playing this, I think? This time with a more "no pressure" attitude though it didn't help much to be honest.
Game runs and looks beautifully on the Deck - stable performance, no technical issues (except for a single crash), great image quality. Can't say I'm a fan of the art style (stylised LEGO blocks mixed with more "realistic" environments) but I don't hate it enough to make it a problem.
Gameplay and story presentation on the other hand... I'm not gonna lie, this title puts me to sleep (literally). Both elements are well made but they also feel extremely flavourless and plain. "Inoffensive", maybe? I somehow managed to finish year 1 and have zero desire to go back for now - I might have to try playing it in chunks instead of normally.
It's not a bad game but it's sooooo boring - enough so to make me wish I was playing the old Harry Potter and The Sorcerers Stone instead.
:::
::: spoiler Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc
Ah Rayman... it's a series I like even though, if I think about it, I didn't really play much of it. I played Rayman 2 as a kid but only finished it a few years ago, tried (but never finished) 3 a bunch of times, spent some time with Jungle Run and dabbed a tiny bit with Origins - suffice to say, my attachment is more emotional or memory based rather than having to do with my actual experience with this franchise. It's weird.
For years, Rayman 3 has become something of a "cool game I want to go back to and finally complete". Well, I did just that.
I initially tried to play with the "Better Rayman 3" mod but something about its widescreen fix broke both the pre-rendered cutscenes and UI so I opted into using Ray3Fix and playing in 4:3 instead. It worked well enough though I can't say it was worth it.
R3 is a pure downgrade from the second game. Camera control is more finicky, constantly shifting between full control, static placement and a weird in-between with partial control. It's also physically constrained by the level geometry which makes it feel even more stiff and constricting, especially in smaller environments (which there are quite a few of). I'm genuinely not sure there's another game where I fought the camera this much, even though I'm pretty sure R2 had a very similar system (it's been a while since I played that one but I know it wasn't this painful).
Gameplay feels worse than R2, with enemy lock-on often aiming at a completely different enemy (or even direction) than you intend to, unimaginative level design and pretty boring enemies (including bosses). It's not all bad (there are some decent sections here and there) but it's not enough to elevate the experience into something enjoyable.
Finally, there's writing. Oh boy, the writing. It leans way bit too much into the snarky and edgy "attitude" era as if it was afraid to commit to itself and play things straight. This makes it feel very dated and, in my case, difficult to sit through. After finishing the whole thing I can't say it was worth it.
It's a mediocre title and a bad sequel, I'm glad I can scratch it off my backlog but I won't be coming back.
:::
The first two games (sold as Ys I & II Chronicles+ these days) are simple but still hold up pretty well, especially graphically. I haven't played later ones so I can't say anything about the rest of the series unfortunately.
::: spoiler Final Fantasy XIV
Whenever I play online games I tend to lean towards support gameplay - usually medic. That was also my plan for this attempt at getting into FFXIV but I wasn't really feeling it and, since I don't expect to play in a group, decided to play a combat role instead. Specifically: Pugilist (punch girl).
I'd be lying if I said it wasn't fun under current circumstances but at the same time, it's still FFXIV so I feel rather neutral about the whole experience. I'll keep trying to stick with it, at least for now, but I'm pretty sure I'll be moving on the moment I find something else that catches my interest. This game doesn't really gel with me and that sucks, because I do think it's a solid title.
Well, at least I don't hate it.
:::
::: spoiler FTL: Advanced Edition
This is more of a one-off as I installed it to check out whether achievement synchronisation between the Heroic Launcher and GOG works for this title (it doesn't for the Croc remaster for example but that might be a problem with the game rather than Heroic). Still ended up doing a near full run, dying only to the final boss.
I'll have to get back to this game for real some time but for now my experiment ended up being successful so I happy with that.
:::
::: spoiler Shantae: Half-Genie Hero
I love Shantae. It's the only series I can say this about without a doubt - no ifs, no buts, just pure enjoyment. It's something I didn't expect to say about a game, let alone a series and yet here we are.
I played through the base game of HGH a year or two ago, now I decided to come back to complete the pirate mode. It's the same set of levels with remixed challenges and played from the perspective of Risky Boots (Shantae's main antagonist). She has her own set of mechanics - some of which might feel familiar for anyone who played Shantae and the Pirate's Curse, others completely new. All in all, it's a rather different experience compared to the base game.
The early game was pretty rough, as base Risky (without her gadgets) can feel a bit limiting. The lack of options mixed with her levels relaying more on off screen and constantly respawning dangers can lead to moments that feel less like a challenge and more like a chore. Thankfully, finishing each level grants you new abilities, expanding your movement and attack in ways that quickly make you forget about the initial frustration. What started as a worrying session of annoyance ended up being a very enjoyable playthrough.
I still have a few more modes to play through but considering they all make use of the same set of levels, I'll leave them for the future to avoid burnout.
Shantae: HGH isn't a perfect game nor is it the best title in the series. Despite its flaws however it's still a part of my favourite series ever and a game I have a very hard time disliking. I hope the remaining games I'm yet to play through (original, Risky Revolution and the Seven Sirens) will keep this trend going.
:::
Same here, the only thing this news does is making me aware which devs to avoid in the future. I see no reason to support someone who treats their paying users this way.
As for GOG itself, they actually started taking this issue seriously and are actively working on getting the missing updates and content on the store. Here is a forum thread run by GOG team member with updates about what they managed to hunt down. Progress is slow but hopefully they'll be able to reach parity for most (if not all) games eventually.
I have another manhwa I want to talk about today, even if doing so is pretty freaking difficult. Cassmire: The Loyal Sword is a story about two sister: Cassmire (our MC, completely devoted to her little sis) and Aria (your typical fantasy series protagonist). They are orphans and, as a result, Cass has been providing for both of them and taking care of (sick) Aria since they were children, eventually becoming a mercenary (at the age of 7 or so).
On one hand this title is great. Cass looks and behaves like a child mercenary who had to fend for herself:
She often looks like a plain side/background character intended as an unremarkable extra,
Her body is buff (but not unrealistic) and full of scars, showing all the hardship and danger she's been through.
She doesn't know how to ask for help and tends to just do things on her own.
She has strong convictions and pretty straightforward personality which often put her in danger or involved in events she'd rather avoid.
Writing is filled with events and characters that are more complicated than meets the eye (in a good way) and provides interesting clashes of personal philosophies. There are a lot of well thought and logically sound elements with causes and effects rippling to everything that happens here. It's extremely engaging when things really get going.
Oh, there are also a lot of great reaction faces.
On the other hand, it's filled with generic romance manhwa tropes which make me want to tear my hair out. I can't describe how infuriating it is to go from a deep and introspective sequence about a toxic relationship between siblings who grew up with no one to depend on, to a bunch of men-children who act like jealous and possessive boyfriends despite Cass seeing them as nothing more than friends and comrades. Well, that and Cass being super powerful because of course she is.
There's so much great stuff here I ended up binging it over a few evenings. There's so much trash I ended up skimming and at times straight up skipping multiple chapters in a row just to avoid the feeling of wanting to drop the whole thing then and there.
I'm fully caught up at the moment so I have some time to stew about how I feel about this series and if the things are going to go the way I expect them to, I will most likely drop it for real. As much as I like most of it, the bad parts are unfortunately filled with some of the things I hate the most about manhwa, to the point that engaging with the story in a neutral (let alone positive) way becomes more and more difficult.
I'm glad someone appreciates true art. While I don't actively search for stuff like this I'll be sure to share more if I stumble upon anything equally crazy.
It's not as dramatic of a departure as Fallout but the change in style and scope is obvious.
Witcher 1 was built on a modified Neverwinter Nights engine, so it feels and looks somewhat "classic". It has rhythm based combat with clear focus on preparations and knowing how to approach each enemy (though not to a hardcore degree). UI is clearly PC focused and should look very intuitive if you're familiar with old RPGs. It's also map based, with loading screens between locations and access to certain maps dependant on which chapter of the game you're at.
Witcher 2 is more action orientated but still keeps some of the importance of prep. It's presentation is slicker and graphically looks much better but some of the design decisions (especially UI ones) shifted somewhat in a more gamepad friendly direction. It has similar structure to W1 except instead of bunch of smaller maps you have big open areas you move between with each chapter.
Witcher 3 is a modern action RPG with open world, gamepad friendly design etc. Combat is much closer to what you'd expect based on other similar titles (though with more weighty movement), prep is mostly optional (unless you spec into it and/or play on higher difficulty) and it's generally the most accessible title for those who don't vibe with more classic RPG gameplay.
While things like combat evolved towards more mainstream appeal, others (like conversations, writing in general) improved without changing the core feel/design of the experience - only modernised them and put some additional polish made possible by increased budget.
There are also some things (the main being choices with long term consequences) which didn't relay as much on technology and stayed pretty much the same throughout the whole series.
Last but not least, Unlike the Fallout titles, Witcher games are a continuous story. While you can start with 3, there will be some moments that won't work as well as they would if you played the previous titles. Still, plenty of people started with 3 and enjoyed it quite a bit so missing this additional context won't destroy your experience - it's more of a bonus.
Last week I mentioned that I don't really read or look for anything new at the moment - this was not entirely true. I did in fact found a few new series recently, I just forgot to write about them. I'll stick to two titles this time as I already purged all the other ones from my library during the recent cleanup and, truth be told, they weren't really worth talking about anyway.
Over Rev!
Do you like Initial D? Take that but replace Takumi with a female student with no driving experience and WAY more irresponsible attitude (seriously, this woman should not be allowed behind the wheel, let alone get a license) - this is Over Rev! Even art style is pretty similar to Initial D.
I didn't write about it before as I put it on hold for now but the few chapters I've read so far were pretty enjoyable. I'll definitely post more informed impressions once I read a bit more. It seems promising at the very least.
Princess in the Rough
It's a manhwa series with an interesting premise (imperial princess grows up almost completely on her own after memories of her birth were wiped from everyone involved), confused execution and very fast pacing. The initial arc is exactly what you can expect and it's done quite well - princess needs time warming up to people, doesn't like large groups and has to be taught basic rules of living in civilised society. It's good.
This arc is quickly followed by a time skip and a switch to a story about princess' power and her solving problems which could endanger the whole country (if not the world), which in turn is relevant about two times as the story feels the need to go with another, this time longer, time skip leading to paedophilia ending. No, I'm not putting this in spoilers, it doesn't deserve enough respect for that.
So, at the beginning I mentioned how our MC grew up "almost completely on her own". She was a newborn baby so she obviously couldn't make it completely alone - the truth is she was rescued and helped from time to time by a an ice spirit. In this world spirits are people with magical powers and extremely lengthened lifespan - while I'm simplifying a bit, this should be enough for you to figure out where this is going.
MC spent her early years with almost no human contact. She has limited understanding of social norms, doesn't know the difference between familial and romantic love and see on problem with being in love with a dude few hundred years older than her who also took care of her as a baby. The final arc is about MC being in love with "Mr. Spirit" and him realising he's also in love with her. It's gross, it's badly done and I hate it.
I could do a better write-up or at least clean it up to make it sound less like messy rambling but I wont. This story had multiple interesting ideas it could do something worthwhile with but it decided to sprint through them to jump straight into one of the worst possible story beats it could've taken. Such a waste of time and effort.
According to the store page, it has the mature content (violent one) + some new things to link it to the anime. It is however based on the 2013 PC version (or at least "has the same content" as that one) which was rated for ages 15+ rather than 18+ of original - i.e. there's no sexy stuff shown on screen if that's what you're interested in.
No idea about the translation quality.
::: spoiler Castlevania: Circle of the Moon Things are moving pretty smoothly so far, as I reached a bit over 50% last night according to the in-game progress tracker. I know it includes secrets and that I don't need 100% to finish the game but that's the most specific metric I've got so...
I'm quite happy with the game overall. I did start to notice some things I'm not a huge fan of but they're not enough to make we want to quit or even degrade my experience in a significant way. The main annoying element are probably the constantly respawning flying enemies - I know they are a staple of the series at this point and they aren't difficult to deal with but that doesn't make them any more enjoyable (especially when they try to block your climbing routes in certain rooms).
Still, game is more fun than I expected it to be before starting so that's good. ::: ::: spoiler Jack Orlando A Cinematic Adventure Ahh, another instance of a rare point-and-click adventure game. I played this one years ago and I'm pretty sure I even managed to complete it back then but I wasn't certain and that's not good enough. Because of this I decided to go through the game once again to make sure that yes, I did in fact play through the whole thing - it wasn't easy.
For those unfamiliar, Jack Orlando is a game about a private detective in 1933 America (something they really commit to with the writing, character prejudices etc). On his way home from a night of drinking Jack stumbles upon a murder, gets knocked out at the scene and ends up being the main suspect. Due to his status as a hero cop and years of friendship with the police chief, he get 48 hours to clear his name and find the real culprit - that's where the player steps in.
So yeah, I said I didn't remember much about the game, right? Boy was it true. I thought I remembered some bits and pieces from my old playthrough but besides the very beginning of the game everything else turned out to be a complete fabrication on my part. I'm actually shocked how wrong I was about the whole thing.
That said, while my faulty memory is one thing, there are some completely out there sections I would've never guessed they were from this title. Did you know prohibition era America had medieval-fantasy-like catacombs with an indoor fountain and automated, Indiana Jones style mechanisms in the middle of the city? Yeah.
My lack of experience with adventure games really shined here but even if I wasn't THIS bad at the genre, the strict and often extremely weird progress requirements, mixed with a ton of junk items strewn everywhere meant I would never finish this without a guide. A straightforward game this ain't.
Presentation is pretty good. We have nice looking backgrounds and smoothly animated characters (even if I'm not a huge fan of the art style used for them). Voice acting is pretty solid for the most part, except for some really bad accents here and there.
Music is also great though it can get a bit grating after one too many loops. That's probably just me though, as I have a hard time listening to saxophone and similar instruments for long stretches of time. Not great position to be in when playing a noir detective story.
I can't say it was my favourite point-and-click played so far but it was enjoyable enough. I'd just like to know where my completely fake memories came from... :::
Sorry for the delay! (；⌣̀_⌣́)
Things are still busy and hectic on my side so I did nothing both in regards to the community and VN reading. I can't wait to get some free time for both again...
That's unfortunate. I was hoping it would be the case of "bad with break, good when binged", it would save it somewhat at least.
It would probably work a bit better with longer chapters or when read back to back but as is, yeah...
Ah! That's another thing I wanted but forgot to mention - chapter length. Waiting a week or two for a few pages that barely move things forward did a lot to make me lose interest as well. I expect things to read well in one sitting (kind of like some parts of Attack on Titan) but this pacing harm the story a lot for me.
I'm pretty much taking a (semi) break from active reading at this point and focusing on clearing my gaming backlog instead. I still stick to things in my library but I need a bit of a palette cleanser before I can fully jump back to my usual manga/manhwa perusal. I'll keep an eye on what you'll drop here at least, might find something good for the future.
I think I'm truly done with The Guy She Was Interested in Wasn't a Guy at All. I know things started to finally move again but I'm at a point where seeing a new chapter incites zero emotions in me - no anticipation, no excitement, nothing. It was fun but it seems like I had my fill.
This isn't even the only series I feel about this way. I actually pruned my library quite a bit over the last week or two, shortening it by about a dozen titles or so. Some of them were on a (scanlation) hiatus, others no longer engaged me in any way. Being able to let go and step away is a welcome change, even if it sucks to lose on things that used to make my day.
It kind of feels like I have way less patience towards things I don't enjoy these days.
I don't think so but I also can't say for sure. It's been a few years since I played it and even then I only did so for a few hours at most.
The usual excuse is "we have it working in Squadron but porting it to PU requires additional work because networking", which isn't necessarily wrong. You'd think they'd design things in a way that's easy to port to the multiplayer environment (something many games with single- and multiplayer have been doing for decades) but it's CIG and they HAVE to reinvent the wheel with everything they work on (except things that could actually use a different approach).
That said, I don't really care about Squadron. It's a bonus to my SC pledge, which I may or may not play eventually. My issue comes down specifically to the disconnect between the number of devs working on PU and what they're able to deliver after being brought back to this side of the project. I don't know if them including these numbers in the letter was suppose to be a flex/an attempt to calm the part of the player base focused on SC or not but to me it was yet another warning sign added to the "something went really wrong with both this project and the company" pile.
I want to say I played legends but it's the only game in the series I'm not sure about playing - these 2D titles kinda mesh together in my mind. What I am sure about is that Rayman Origins is similar and also pretty solid so it could be worth checking out if you're ever interested in more 2D Rayman.
Zero footage for more than a year, almost no info beyond "we're still working on features for this feature complete game" in monthly reports and a 6 month+ delay but "it's totally because of GTA you guys!" Sounds legit.
Not that I expected anything else. I'd be more surprised if they actually hit their deadline for once.
That said, I'm way more worried about another thing:
For the last few months (possibly up to 2 years) 45% of the development teams has been actively working on SC - 45%! Seeing the state both PU and their internal builds are in, I find it rather troubling. It's baffling how despite this number of devs the game still feels like it's run by a skeleton crew.
This does not inspire confidence.
::: spoiler Castlevania: Circle of the Moon I have no attachment or personal feelings towards the Castlevania series. I appreciate these games from a historical perspective but I never really spent much time with them outside of playing Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow for a few hours as a kid (it was a pretty random purchase at the time).
I've been eyeing a bunch of various older (mostly 2D) games recently and decided to buy Castlevania Advance Collection to finally give the series a proper try - it was on sale and fit the criteria so why not?
I was a bit worried about getting into Castlevania as many of the games (especially the early ones) look like they wouldn't really be up my alley in terms of gameplay and controls. That may as well be true, as I said, I never really played the series, but going with the Advance Collection turned out to be a good choice - even if I needed a moment to get used to how to play "properly".
While I'm still in the middle of my playthrough, I can safely say that Circle of the Moon is pretty great. It plays amazingly well, looks and sounds fantastic - it's a genuinely fun title and that's not always a given when going back to old classics.
It might be one of my favourite "new" titles I've tried this year. I can't wait to get back to it. ::: ::: spoiler LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 This is my... second attempt at playing this, I think? This time with a more "no pressure" attitude though it didn't help much to be honest.
Game runs and looks beautifully on the Deck - stable performance, no technical issues (except for a single crash), great image quality. Can't say I'm a fan of the art style (stylised LEGO blocks mixed with more "realistic" environments) but I don't hate it enough to make it a problem.
Gameplay and story presentation on the other hand... I'm not gonna lie, this title puts me to sleep (literally). Both elements are well made but they also feel extremely flavourless and plain. "Inoffensive", maybe? I somehow managed to finish year 1 and have zero desire to go back for now - I might have to try playing it in chunks instead of normally.
It's not a bad game but it's sooooo boring - enough so to make me wish I was playing the old Harry Potter and The Sorcerers Stone instead. ::: ::: spoiler Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc Ah Rayman... it's a series I like even though, if I think about it, I didn't really play much of it. I played Rayman 2 as a kid but only finished it a few years ago, tried (but never finished) 3 a bunch of times, spent some time with Jungle Run and dabbed a tiny bit with Origins - suffice to say, my attachment is more emotional or memory based rather than having to do with my actual experience with this franchise. It's weird.
For years, Rayman 3 has become something of a "cool game I want to go back to and finally complete". Well, I did just that.
I initially tried to play with the "Better Rayman 3" mod but something about its widescreen fix broke both the pre-rendered cutscenes and UI so I opted into using Ray3Fix and playing in 4:3 instead. It worked well enough though I can't say it was worth it.
R3 is a pure downgrade from the second game. Camera control is more finicky, constantly shifting between full control, static placement and a weird in-between with partial control. It's also physically constrained by the level geometry which makes it feel even more stiff and constricting, especially in smaller environments (which there are quite a few of). I'm genuinely not sure there's another game where I fought the camera this much, even though I'm pretty sure R2 had a very similar system (it's been a while since I played that one but I know it wasn't this painful).
Gameplay feels worse than R2, with enemy lock-on often aiming at a completely different enemy (or even direction) than you intend to, unimaginative level design and pretty boring enemies (including bosses). It's not all bad (there are some decent sections here and there) but it's not enough to elevate the experience into something enjoyable. Finally, there's writing. Oh boy, the writing. It leans way bit too much into the snarky and edgy "attitude" era as if it was afraid to commit to itself and play things straight. This makes it feel very dated and, in my case, difficult to sit through. After finishing the whole thing I can't say it was worth it.
It's a mediocre title and a bad sequel, I'm glad I can scratch it off my backlog but I won't be coming back. :::
The first two games (sold as Ys I & II Chronicles+ these days) are simple but still hold up pretty well, especially graphically. I haven't played later ones so I can't say anything about the rest of the series unfortunately.
::: spoiler Final Fantasy XIV Whenever I play online games I tend to lean towards support gameplay - usually medic. That was also my plan for this attempt at getting into FFXIV but I wasn't really feeling it and, since I don't expect to play in a group, decided to play a combat role instead. Specifically: Pugilist (punch girl).
I'd be lying if I said it wasn't fun under current circumstances but at the same time, it's still FFXIV so I feel rather neutral about the whole experience. I'll keep trying to stick with it, at least for now, but I'm pretty sure I'll be moving on the moment I find something else that catches my interest. This game doesn't really gel with me and that sucks, because I do think it's a solid title.
Well, at least I don't hate it. ::: ::: spoiler FTL: Advanced Edition This is more of a one-off as I installed it to check out whether achievement synchronisation between the Heroic Launcher and GOG works for this title (it doesn't for the Croc remaster for example but that might be a problem with the game rather than Heroic). Still ended up doing a near full run, dying only to the final boss.
I'll have to get back to this game for real some time but for now my experiment ended up being successful so I happy with that. ::: ::: spoiler Shantae: Half-Genie Hero I love Shantae. It's the only series I can say this about without a doubt - no ifs, no buts, just pure enjoyment. It's something I didn't expect to say about a game, let alone a series and yet here we are.
I played through the base game of HGH a year or two ago, now I decided to come back to complete the pirate mode. It's the same set of levels with remixed challenges and played from the perspective of Risky Boots (Shantae's main antagonist). She has her own set of mechanics - some of which might feel familiar for anyone who played Shantae and the Pirate's Curse, others completely new. All in all, it's a rather different experience compared to the base game.
The early game was pretty rough, as base Risky (without her gadgets) can feel a bit limiting. The lack of options mixed with her levels relaying more on off screen and constantly respawning dangers can lead to moments that feel less like a challenge and more like a chore. Thankfully, finishing each level grants you new abilities, expanding your movement and attack in ways that quickly make you forget about the initial frustration. What started as a worrying session of annoyance ended up being a very enjoyable playthrough. I still have a few more modes to play through but considering they all make use of the same set of levels, I'll leave them for the future to avoid burnout.
Shantae: HGH isn't a perfect game nor is it the best title in the series. Despite its flaws however it's still a part of my favourite series ever and a game I have a very hard time disliking. I hope the remaining games I'm yet to play through (original, Risky Revolution and the Seven Sirens) will keep this trend going. :::
Same here, the only thing this news does is making me aware which devs to avoid in the future. I see no reason to support someone who treats their paying users this way.
As for GOG itself, they actually started taking this issue seriously and are actively working on getting the missing updates and content on the store. Here is a forum thread run by GOG team member with updates about what they managed to hunt down. Progress is slow but hopefully they'll be able to reach parity for most (if not all) games eventually.
I have another manhwa I want to talk about today, even if doing so is pretty freaking difficult. Cassmire: The Loyal Sword is a story about two sister: Cassmire (our MC, completely devoted to her little sis) and Aria (your typical fantasy series protagonist). They are orphans and, as a result, Cass has been providing for both of them and taking care of (sick) Aria since they were children, eventually becoming a mercenary (at the age of 7 or so).
On one hand this title is great. Cass looks and behaves like a child mercenary who had to fend for herself:
Writing is filled with events and characters that are more complicated than meets the eye (in a good way) and provides interesting clashes of personal philosophies. There are a lot of well thought and logically sound elements with causes and effects rippling to everything that happens here. It's extremely engaging when things really get going.
Oh, there are also a lot of great reaction faces.
On the other hand, it's filled with generic romance manhwa tropes which make me want to tear my hair out. I can't describe how infuriating it is to go from a deep and introspective sequence about a toxic relationship between siblings who grew up with no one to depend on, to a bunch of men-children who act like jealous and possessive boyfriends despite Cass seeing them as nothing more than friends and comrades. Well, that and Cass being super powerful because of course she is.
There's so much great stuff here I ended up binging it over a few evenings. There's so much trash I ended up skimming and at times straight up skipping multiple chapters in a row just to avoid the feeling of wanting to drop the whole thing then and there.
I'm fully caught up at the moment so I have some time to stew about how I feel about this series and if the things are going to go the way I expect them to, I will most likely drop it for real. As much as I like most of it, the bad parts are unfortunately filled with some of the things I hate the most about manhwa, to the point that engaging with the story in a neutral (let alone positive) way becomes more and more difficult.
I'm glad someone appreciates true art. While I don't actively search for stuff like this I'll be sure to share more if I stumble upon anything equally crazy.
It's not as dramatic of a departure as Fallout but the change in style and scope is obvious.
While things like combat evolved towards more mainstream appeal, others (like conversations, writing in general) improved without changing the core feel/design of the experience - only modernised them and put some additional polish made possible by increased budget.
There are also some things (the main being choices with long term consequences) which didn't relay as much on technology and stayed pretty much the same throughout the whole series.
Last but not least, Unlike the Fallout titles, Witcher games are a continuous story. While you can start with 3, there will be some moments that won't work as well as they would if you played the previous titles. Still, plenty of people started with 3 and enjoyed it quite a bit so missing this additional context won't destroy your experience - it's more of a bonus.
TL;DR: Yes but to a lesser extent.