have you played the DLC too? I've been meaning to but have been distracted by other things, I loved the base game so I'm interested in seeing what else the devs came up with
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Media Videogame Thread
- Thread starter Bummer
- Start date
Been playing FTL: Faster Than Light on and off recently. I originally bought and tried it like a decade ago and just the randomly decided to boot it back up since it was downloaded already.
The game can definitely be super frustrating – Roguelite gonna Roguelite – but it's also fairly addicting and runs are short enough that your inevitable death isn't as demoralizing as it could be. Still haven't beaten the final boss after all this time though so I've been trying to unlock ships.
The game can definitely be super frustrating – Roguelite gonna Roguelite – but it's also fairly addicting and runs are short enough that your inevitable death isn't as demoralizing as it could be. Still haven't beaten the final boss after all this time though so I've been trying to unlock ships.
I'm really enjoying Death Stranding 2 and Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy.
I’ve posted a rare handful of times online about the very few games I’ve played that I would consider to be worthy of a true 10/10 (ten out of ten) ranking score. And when I say very few, know that my criteria for this is ridiculously strict. How strict am I talking? Let me put it this way. Have you ever played a game that’s so unbelievably good that it actively makes you not want to play anything else because you actively know and recognize the games that come after it or are made by the same group of developers are worse by comparison? A 9/10 game might still be a generational success that’s full of effort, content, and emotion that controls extremely well and is a technical marvel for its hardware, but a true 10/10 is even better than that, at least to me.
In fact, I have to ask myself. Does such a game even actually exist at all? Is there any video game ever released that objectively has no flaws and is as physically close to perfection as you can possibly get? Such a question is heavily opinionated, of course. I’ve previously said I can only think of one, and even that was only off of a technicality that The Subspace Emissary be combined with Super Smash Bros. Brawl and not treated as two separate things like some story modes for multiplayer games have been in the past. And even then, I don’t actually agree with that take anymore; I think Brawl has enough problems to not reach that elusive ranking, specifically in regards to Brawl being one of the worst and least popular games for competitive players. By comparison, Ultimate arguably had a worse story mode but its own competitive scene is WAY bigger and more successful, and at least it HAD a story mode at all unlike Smash 4.
So, without a true answer I can think of to the question, I turn to this thread. I also encourage you to bring this up to your friends. Not only do I want to know if you think there are any true 10/10 caliber games (or whatever rating system you prefer, I just like this one), but I want to know what I think of this. My reason being, if there are any true 10/10s out there that I don’t know about and have not played, I want to be able to experience them.
I want to know what it’s like to feel genuine emotional heartbreak over video games again. I want to know what it’s like for a game to explore the fundamentals and foundations of its gameplay, writing, and mechanics and make the most of what makes similar games click. What makes a perfect game, or anything close to it, is opinionated, like I said, but I want to have a reason to be optimistic about the future of this industry and a reason to keep playing newer and older games alike, especially nowadays in an era where I’m a working young adult and have actively gone on record saying I don’t care for and openly dislike the PS5/Xbox Series generation (a sentiment I’m slowly gaining for the Switch 2, in fact).
Maybe I’m being too harsh. Maybe I need to lighten up my rankings a little bit. But I really do believe, if I can find a game or games plural that can leave that strong of an impact on me as a human being, a gamer, and someone with an interest in writing, that right there might actually just be the spark I need to not only continue this hobby, but possibly enjoy it more than ever before. My birthday’s coming up in a few days and this is the first year in AGES where I genuinely have no interest (at least right now) in getting any new games or systems. That’s not a good sign- the last time that happened was just before the death of the entire toys-to-life thing in the mid-2010s, and we all know how that turned out. This is like that but noticeably larger in scale. If I of all people think the industry is going downhill- maybe not fear mongering a market crash but still scared- then that’s a real problem.
In fact, I have to ask myself. Does such a game even actually exist at all? Is there any video game ever released that objectively has no flaws and is as physically close to perfection as you can possibly get? Such a question is heavily opinionated, of course. I’ve previously said I can only think of one, and even that was only off of a technicality that The Subspace Emissary be combined with Super Smash Bros. Brawl and not treated as two separate things like some story modes for multiplayer games have been in the past. And even then, I don’t actually agree with that take anymore; I think Brawl has enough problems to not reach that elusive ranking, specifically in regards to Brawl being one of the worst and least popular games for competitive players. By comparison, Ultimate arguably had a worse story mode but its own competitive scene is WAY bigger and more successful, and at least it HAD a story mode at all unlike Smash 4.
So, without a true answer I can think of to the question, I turn to this thread. I also encourage you to bring this up to your friends. Not only do I want to know if you think there are any true 10/10 caliber games (or whatever rating system you prefer, I just like this one), but I want to know what I think of this. My reason being, if there are any true 10/10s out there that I don’t know about and have not played, I want to be able to experience them.
I want to know what it’s like to feel genuine emotional heartbreak over video games again. I want to know what it’s like for a game to explore the fundamentals and foundations of its gameplay, writing, and mechanics and make the most of what makes similar games click. What makes a perfect game, or anything close to it, is opinionated, like I said, but I want to have a reason to be optimistic about the future of this industry and a reason to keep playing newer and older games alike, especially nowadays in an era where I’m a working young adult and have actively gone on record saying I don’t care for and openly dislike the PS5/Xbox Series generation (a sentiment I’m slowly gaining for the Switch 2, in fact).
Maybe I’m being too harsh. Maybe I need to lighten up my rankings a little bit. But I really do believe, if I can find a game or games plural that can leave that strong of an impact on me as a human being, a gamer, and someone with an interest in writing, that right there might actually just be the spark I need to not only continue this hobby, but possibly enjoy it more than ever before. My birthday’s coming up in a few days and this is the first year in AGES where I genuinely have no interest (at least right now) in getting any new games or systems. That’s not a good sign- the last time that happened was just before the death of the entire toys-to-life thing in the mid-2010s, and we all know how that turned out. This is like that but noticeably larger in scale. If I of all people think the industry is going downhill- maybe not fear mongering a market crash but still scared- then that’s a real problem.
I don't think that you're looking at this in a particularly useful way. I don't believe that there is such a thing as objectivity in art criticism (or in general, but that's an entirely different and less practical conversation), and I'm skeptical of the value of assigning numerical scores to art, but even assuming that you find value in the practice, I don't think it's especially useful to define a 10/10 video game as being without flaw. Art is inevitably flawed because the people who make art are inevitably flawed, and if you go looking for kinks in the armor of your absolute favorites, you will find them. Some critics embrace this inevitability of imperfection — Piero Scaruffi, a music critic that you may have heard of before if you've made some horrible life decisions, has never awarded an album a higher score than 9.5/10 — but my preference is reframing what a 10/10 means to me. If I say that a piece of art is a 10/10 for me, I don't mean that I think it's completely without fault — rather, I mean that it ranks among the most personally meaningful pieces of art in my life (which almost always has more to do with circumstance than the qualities of the art itself), or I'm so blown away by it that any faults I do find have a nonexistent impact on my experience of it. This, for me, has proven more useful for articulating my thoughts about the pieces of art that mean the most to me, which is what I think a numerical score ought to facilitate.
Oh, and you should play Slay the Spire.
I agree with this, and I suppose I should clarify something I didn’t earlier. I’ll admit, I’m not thinking with the mindset of “I want/expect a 10/10 or else this game is bad”. I did a pretty lousy job mentioning that part. You bring up excellent points about objectivity, too, and I would be foolish to ignore that the value in ranking something doesn’t always correlate to enjoyment of the product. I mean, heck, I can think of several games with lower reviews that I loved more than their higher rated counterparts. My most nostalgic and arguably favorite game ever made, and, for what it’s worth, the basis of my entire online image, probably doesn’t rank very highly in a lot of key areas, but if the Ukulele Pichu profile picture and the dozens upon dozens of posts and mentions I’ve made about this particular game (I even wanted to make a Let’s Play thread for ‘Orange Islands’ last year, but the plans got a significant delay) are anything to go off of, clearly I don’t care about what the scores say and I love this game like it’s my freaking child. Overall, excellent post. I appreciate you helping keep my eyes open, for what that’s worth.
I feel like I heard that name semi-recently in, like, a Nintendo Direct or something. If I remember to I may look into this more in the morning, it’s getting late where I’m at.
I actually have heard of this game but that's mostly through channels of people who ask "oh so it's like slay the spire?" whenever i use ruina's gameplay as a selling point because i know they're illiterate and the story isn't a good selling point for them. I do have it on my wishlist since i do genuinely enjoy ruina's gameplay despite its multiple glaring flaws (see below) but it's not a priority since i still have to finish black mesa
- super rng reliant, especially early game before you can get consistent dice power
- really unbalanced, mostly during SOTC onwards. This issue is mostly attributed to archetypes early game being more of "free extra damage on some good cards I guess", notably flaming bat and sayo decks for UP/UN, while lategame archetypes differ heavily but pretty much all suffer from giant shortcomings with the exception of singleton being the most effective deck engine in the game bar none.
- Not beginner friendly whatsoever, but this is solely the fault of the tutorial being convoluted, nonsensical, and overall pretty useless, and by the time you figure out how the game actually works, the game "tests" you with one of the most obscenely unfair fight i've dealt with (not even close to as bullshit as gebura realization though) (or kether realization) (or little red)
I do want to get the switch 2 - and was initially planning to wait, likely til around Christmas. I would likely get MKW though, and the bundle would save me 40 bucks (AUD)… so may have to buy earlier than intended. Still unsure exactly when the bundle is meant to be available until.
Leaks from Donkey Kong Bananza are shoring up.
If you are like me and a member of the psychotic side of the donkey kong fandom, I have the answer to the one important question. If you know, you know. I bring no other spoilers but the singular important one and nothing else. Tread carefully:
EDIT: DO NOT GOOGLE DONKEY KONG BANANZA. YOU WILL GET SPOILED!
If you are like me and a member of the psychotic side of the donkey kong fandom, I have the answer to the one important question. If you know, you know. I bring no other spoilers but the singular important one and nothing else. Tread carefully:
HE'S IN!!!
EDIT: DO NOT GOOGLE DONKEY KONG BANANZA. YOU WILL GET SPOILED!
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Holy shit the ending of Donkey Kong Bananza is unreal. I am so happy the post above is the lone spoiler I let myself see. My god, it's so good. If you have the slightest nostalgia for the DKC SNES games, you owe it to yourself to play this game to completion. I will not tell you anything about it other than you need to play those last minutes of the main story. Go unwrap your christmas present.
In the meantime, I'm living this ancient meme image.
In the meantime, I'm living this ancient meme image.
So I got a Switch 2 (Finally) and Donkey Kong Bananza. Great game so far, but I'm only a few hours into it.
HOWEVER, my life has been consumed entirely by Void Stranger. I watched the Super Eyepatch Wolf video on it a week ago and I've gotten back into it after dropping off of it like last year. It recontextualized a puzzle game with some somewhat eerie elements into what I imagine it felt like getting into conspiracy theories circa 2020. I literally drew a physical map to put together a series of floors based on cryptic clues because I wanted to see what happened, and I've never felt so rewarded when my extremely obtuse theory worked.
If you haven't played, I really recommend getting into it.
HOWEVER, my life has been consumed entirely by Void Stranger. I watched the Super Eyepatch Wolf video on it a week ago and I've gotten back into it after dropping off of it like last year. It recontextualized a puzzle game with some somewhat eerie elements into what I imagine it felt like getting into conspiracy theories circa 2020. I literally drew a physical map to put together a series of floors based on cryptic clues because I wanted to see what happened, and I've never felt so rewarded when my extremely obtuse theory worked.
If you haven't played, I really recommend getting into it.
https://www.ign.com/articles/ninten...nso-membership-may-be-necessary-in-the-future
8 years in and a price increase of $40 for a console with 150M units in the wild is maybe even more absurd.
Another day where I stay up later than I probably should be, another day where I feel justified in my decision to stop buying new Nintendo games. It's not just Nintendo, granted, but I want to stay on track here. Nintendo is certainly being an interesting company this year, that's for sure. They're becoming what I had thought Sony/PlayStation was for so long growing up. Honestly, every platform on the market right now is something I have my gripes with for one reason or another. I have quite literally no reason besides guilt tripping myself to upgrade from my Switch I got in 2018 or my PS4 Pro I got in 2020. All raising prices does it make it harder to maintain consistent market share for products as old as the Switch, and since I don't want to play my backlog of "games my friends like and I found on the cheap" either- I'm sorry, they're just not interesting to me- I continue to feel confused, conflicted, and (referring to my short break I took a few weeks ago) actively better in my mental wellness when I ignore all of the drama this industry is getting me dwelling on that I have no control over.
It might be, but I just am so bored right now. Even though I know Capcom isn't like sega or Sony both companies that have dozens of abandoned franchises, the hope for mega man is still very low. The fact that it's only lifeline is a shitty gacha game doesn't help either. Like I WANT TO FUCKING PLAY AS X AND BUST MAVERICKS ON A REAL FUCKING CONSOLE GAME. I DONT WANT TO HAVE FUCKING.... IRIS IN A BIKINI LIKE WHO IN GODS NAME WANTS THAT??? NO ONE!!!!
I don't know how a mega man game would work in 3d though. Like Mega Man's design is based on shooting enemies in front of him.
You could make him shoot in any direction but that would rip off Bass, and the design of the metal blades.
Kinda weird to think about. But anyway, yeah man I just want a mega man game. And yeah I can be reassured that "it'll come someday" or "just play an indie game like shovelknight it's basically mega man". I won't be satisfied until I know a mega man game is confirmed to exist. It has to happen in order for me to change my mind. I'm that autistic about it. I mean, I could just play a Mega Man like Indie game but it's not the same. I mean, shovel knight is a cool character, but he isn't the Blue Bomber and I miss him. It's like... you want the McRib so bad but McDonald's won't make them anymore so you wait and wait. Sure you can try a ribeye sandwich somewhere else but you know that McDs has that one ribeye you love so so much.
I know I'm being an unhinged maniac about a game but it is legitimately how I'm feeling you got to understand.
I'm a big fan of video games; however, because I end up buying so many, there are some games that I was never able to finish or even start.
Here's the list (lemme know if you played them and how you felt):
Another problem could be that I felt like I had to force myself to play them, not because they are bad games, but because I felt a rush from doing so. For example, in Persona 5 Royal, I realised that you can't really rush through the game because you have to plan each day carefully, such as who you spend time with and which confidant you unlock. And that's a good thing, because a game shouldn't be too short; otherwise, it's not worth the money. But I think I rushed some of them too much, and I eventually burn myself out and not enjoy it.
Perhaps I also rush because I played Fire Emblem Three Houses a lot, which led to me getting sick from having to play through the Monastery every time, as I did when I tried playing Crimson Flower on Maddening Mode. Or when playing Pokémon Mystery Dungeon DX (a game that’s supposed to be relaxing), I felt tired having to switch my team members around for a specific dungeon, and took a break when I realised I was playing an unoptimal run on Mt Faraway just to beat it when I could have easily played it optimally.
I don't think I feel that unnecessary rush with games like Kirby, Mario, and Pokémon because they're usually relaxing and not too difficult most of the time. I also usually set a checkpoint for myself on when to stop playing for the day, such as stopping after defeating a mini-boss in Kirby/Mario.
Maybe the reason I feel the urge to rush is that I fear I'll be stalling and wasting time, or that I'll never complete the next game. I try to limit myself to playing only on Fridays and weekends, so I can do other things, such as drawing or looking up recipes.
How's everyone's experience with Three Houses, btw? It has its shortcomings, but I feel it's good (be wary of the fanbase, though).
Edit: I should mention that because of the huge backlog of games that I never got to finish, I'm hesitant to buy the switch 2 and play games like Mario Kart World Tour or DK Bananza, because the backlog will only get bigger.
Here's the list (lemme know if you played them and how you felt):
- Metroid Prime: Remastered
- Astral Chain
- Hollow Knight
- Cadence of Hyrule
- Tokyo Mirage Sessions: FE Encore
- Persona 5 Royal
- Sonic Frontiers
- Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy
- Batman: Return to Arkham
Another problem could be that I felt like I had to force myself to play them, not because they are bad games, but because I felt a rush from doing so. For example, in Persona 5 Royal, I realised that you can't really rush through the game because you have to plan each day carefully, such as who you spend time with and which confidant you unlock. And that's a good thing, because a game shouldn't be too short; otherwise, it's not worth the money. But I think I rushed some of them too much, and I eventually burn myself out and not enjoy it.
Perhaps I also rush because I played Fire Emblem Three Houses a lot, which led to me getting sick from having to play through the Monastery every time, as I did when I tried playing Crimson Flower on Maddening Mode. Or when playing Pokémon Mystery Dungeon DX (a game that’s supposed to be relaxing), I felt tired having to switch my team members around for a specific dungeon, and took a break when I realised I was playing an unoptimal run on Mt Faraway just to beat it when I could have easily played it optimally.
I don't think I feel that unnecessary rush with games like Kirby, Mario, and Pokémon because they're usually relaxing and not too difficult most of the time. I also usually set a checkpoint for myself on when to stop playing for the day, such as stopping after defeating a mini-boss in Kirby/Mario.
Maybe the reason I feel the urge to rush is that I fear I'll be stalling and wasting time, or that I'll never complete the next game. I try to limit myself to playing only on Fridays and weekends, so I can do other things, such as drawing or looking up recipes.
How's everyone's experience with Three Houses, btw? It has its shortcomings, but I feel it's good (be wary of the fanbase, though).
Edit: I should mention that because of the huge backlog of games that I never got to finish, I'm hesitant to buy the switch 2 and play games like Mario Kart World Tour or DK Bananza, because the backlog will only get bigger.
hollow knight is a fucking amazing game, you should play it. many people consider it to be the best game of all time, and I can absolutely see where they're coming from.
I can’t believe Sakurai got me hyped for Air Ride mode. The absolute madman…
I mostly played Air Ride mode as a kid so I was already down with it. The checklist gave you a lot to do.
I know some people have complained it's just more of the original, but tbh that's all you need. Just refine what was already there, which Sakurai seems to be doing.
Oh also fwiw the game seems to run at consistent 60fps based on reports from the Gamescom demo, but it's hearsay atm.
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just in the last week I replayed hollow knight on a new account and got all the achievements at an alarming rate. wasn't satisfied, so I then precided to beat all godhome bosses radiant except for the moth (not Markoth, I somehow beat him in under an hour) in a single day. I think I've dedicated too much time to this game.