Sulphur on 29/8/2018 at 05:00
Yeah. It's not a great entry in the series or anything, and I really do keep forgetting that Forgotten Sands exists, but if you want some pure platforming goodness, it throws in enough new mechanics and challenges to make the actual getting from point A to point B fun and involved again. The combat is a musou-inspired non-starter, which is sad, but then combat was never the best in these games.
Thirith on 29/8/2018 at 06:48
I probably enjoyed the moment-to-moment gameplay of The Forgotten Sands better than that of Prince of Persia (2008) - but I remember more of the latter. It had ideas and ambitions and an aesthetic that is rarely done that well. By comparison, I try to remember The Forgotten Sands and come up with flashes of The Sands of Time instead. The one thing I think I remember is that The Forgotten Sands had water you could somehow freeze and jump off of, but to be honest, I'm not even sure that's true.
On a different note, I'm frequently impressed by the writing and roleplaying options I encounter during my replay of Fallout New Vegas. Sure, there are still lots of situations where you basically choose between Good and Evil, but there are also quite a few moments where you're asked to decide which of two flawed options is the lesser evil, and these are done as convincingly as in, say, The Witcher 3. Also, I'm appreciating the game world, its design and its coherence much more than I did when I first played the game.
Twist on 29/8/2018 at 17:31
Quote Posted by Shoshin
God yes, the nostalgia factor is high with this game. Bard's Tale was the first game I ever sunk long hours into, and was the start of my love of first-person games with exploration. It is very repetitive, though they've made some changes with the remaster that make it less grindy. In particular, the XP required to level up has been cut in half for each level. I'm in Harkyn's Castle now and I'm still enjoying it. It is pretty basic compared to more modern games, for sure, but I'll finish it and then probably go back to Horde Mode in Arizona Sunshine (which I find incredibly viscerally satisfying), at least until they release Bard's Tale 2 remastered. I never played that one when it was first out.
Count me among those relishing the nostalgia of the Bard's Tale remaster. I originally played this on an Apple IIgs in the summer of 88. I expected to dip my toes in and then move on, but instead I played it all the way through. It's not Dark Souls, but I had a great time with it.
This is a great remaster; it nicely balances along that fine line of trying to retain the authentic look and feel of the original but modernizing it in subtle ways to make it more palatable in 2018.
My memory of it was of a vast, complex RPG that took months to conquer. I can't believe that in two weeks I not only finished it, but got all 20 Steam achievements and, in the game's journal, mapped every tile of every dungeon (aside from a couple of unmappable tiles in Harkyn's Castle).
Besides the halving the XP necessary to level, I think the automap -- and in particular the way you can cast the teleport spell from right within the map -- really sped things up.
I loved the improvements to the rogue class. It's still of questionable overall utility compared to the other classes, but the changes made enough of a difference to make the rogue more fun to use. And in the final fight, my rogue -- after hiding in the shadows for a couple of rounds -- got to slip the dagger into Mangar's ribs from behind for the kill. :sly:
I never played the second and third game so it'll be interesting to try those when they become available.
Arcatera on 29/8/2018 at 22:08
Quote Posted by Nameless Voice
I never played that one due to the 3rd-party DRM. Glad to know I didn't miss much.
The first cutscene was perfect, I still watch it every now and then. Sadly the game itself isn't as good. The combat system is even worse than Assassin's Creed's (god how I miss Warrior Within), and the story is meh at its best, because there are some plot holes and nonsensical stuff. The lack of blocking and the rebound wall attack are unacceptable, but the water-freezing ability is very cool. Although I liked the soundtrack, I'd rather Stuart Chatwood had composed it. The graphics are lovely, too.
Nameless Voice on 29/8/2018 at 22:31
I wonder if I'm the only one who actually preferred the combat in Sands of Time to its sequels?
I found the way you had to finish all enemies with the dagger to be more interesting than the more standard combat in the other games.
Maybe that's just my nostalgia talking, though.
Severian_Silk on 30/8/2018 at 06:23
I also prefer the combat in Sands of Time. The sequels were major disappointments for me back in the day.
Sulphur on 30/8/2018 at 06:39
I could have done without the combat or the sequels. SoT still remains my benchmark platformer for getting the more important things right: the story, the platforming mechanics, the level design, and its two ridiculous yet lovable characters.
PoP 2008? Well. For all its Moebius stylings and Zoroastrian-inspired overtures, I've never been more bored playing a game outside of the first AssCreed; it's an experience that almost plays itself coupled with the worst level-gating mechanic known to modern man: farming collectibles. I'm also less than fond of the decision to make the prince Nathan Drake if you'd surgically removed all his charm. It's almost like the people responsible for the Ubisoft Mysts* got together and decided to make a game by colliding the disparate worlds aesthetic with a complete lack of understanding of what makes a platformer good.
*It wasn't though, a bunch of the SoT trilogy team were involved, amazingly enough.
SubJeff on 30/8/2018 at 06:56
I fired up Civ: Beyond Earth again because I never really had time for it when it came out/I got it.
I'm now wondering if a. I'm too old b. I'm too impatient or c. the interface is just rubbish as I've built a trading unit but cannot understand how to use it.
I was really hoping for an Alpha Centuri experience but I'm tempted to go back to AC.
Judith on 31/8/2018 at 08:23
Just finished Wolf II. I think the main goal was to top everything in the previous game. Cutscenes feel nervous and desperate to fit all the comedy and the drama in those precious 20-second time windows, where every serious bit has to be disrupted by a quick gag. It gets really ridiculous towards the end, more on the facepalm side than "wow, this is stupidly awesome". But the gameplay is okay, I think controls were more tight in the first game, and stealth here is mostly broken, guns blazing is more fun. I like the first one better, and I hope this was not meant to be a trilogy or seasonal thing, it is getting tired already.
Thirith on 31/8/2018 at 09:13
I got started on Little Nightmares after putting Gravity Rush 2 on hiatus. It's a very nicely done game, but for me it suffers from me having played Inside first and liked that one a lot. Obviously the aesthetic of Little Nightmares isn't the same as Inside's, but it still feels like I'm playing more or less the same game.