2019 GAMING DIARY

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Cap_H
DIGITAL IDENTITY CRISIS
6625
Keeping track of my activity in 2018 was a positive experience. It made me think more about games I played and actively seek out games I could recommend to others. I could reflect on my gaming habits and I can swiftly recall memories of these games.
So, It's only logical that I will continue this year. If you're interested in previous year, it's in this thread:

2018 gaming diary

My plans this year are more ambitious than playing games from a bucket list. I don't want to spend too much time playing games as I have some big plans this year and I would like to release multiple short games of my own. In the last year's thread, I made a post on what I expect from me in this year. Still, there are some games, which clearly belong on my bucket list. I won't change the list this time to make my focus on them more visible.

Feel free to do the same and post your lists in the thread!

Bucket List::..
Games to play in 2019

Big Fat Games::..
Advance Wars
Advance Wars 2
Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis
Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade
Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
Metroid: Fusion
Metroid: Zero Mission
Lunar Legend

Jimmy and The Pulsating Mass
Ultima III
Ultima IV

Games I hope are short::..
Kentucky Route Zero Act V
Marginalia
Paratopic
Fugue In Void
No Response
A Good Gardener
Wheels of Aurelia
Storyseeker
Dujanah
Sagebrush
The Haunted Island
Tanks of Freedom
Of Men and Gods
Electric File Monitor
Curtain

Even the Ocean
Axiom Verge
Timespinner
And more

RM Games::..
Lisa
Soma Spirits
Paradise Blue
Hellion
Faxanadog
RMNeblem
In Search of Freedom
Flesh
Frozen Ember
Mechanima
Junkdogs
rxcovery
Flower Prisoner
Momo Bomber


Finished::..
1. Terra
2. Gumgem
3. The Odd Door
4. River Bones
5. Space Blood
6. Becalm
7. Disorient On The Murder Express
8. Curtain
9. Storyseeker
10. Touch Me2
11. The Isle Is Full of Noises
12. Istanbul, Texas
13. Air Mail
14. Alluvium
15. Aurora Railway
16. Last Minute Call
17. These Monsters
18. Twinkle Witch
19. Red Survivor
20. t- e ni hтm-are of·`a c ty
21. Even the Stars
22. Balade Urbaine
23. Tonight You Die
24. The Mechanical Age
25. Athenaeum
26. A Night in the Woods
27. In Search of Freedom
28. Memories of a Forgotten Home
29. Mechanima
30. Puzzle Agent
31. Puzzle Agent 2
32. 2064: Read Only Memories
33. FTL: Faster Than Light
34. Tiny Echo
35. Heaven Will Be Mine
36. The City Haze
37. Espectro City
38. Kimmy
39. Quiet City
40. The Fish Market
41. Spoolside
42. Like Roots in the Soil
43. Renowned Explorers
44. Siren Head
45. The Static
46. Paratopic
47. Northbound
48. Not Enough Space
49. Flower Prisoner
50. Electric Highways
51. El Arte
52. Date Knights Demo
53. Escape from Hell
54. Seize the Clay
55. Dirt
56. Post/Capitalism
57. Guardian Sphere
58. Black Gold
59. Towerbag
60. Demonstone
61. Seek Etyliv
62. Dunes of Karakas
63. The Tower of Tortenna
64. Flutter
65. A short hike
66. Minit
67. Hexcells
68. Even the Ocean
69. Blindmage
70. Wayward
71. Nanopesos
72. Soma Spirits Rebalanced
73. Driller: The New Fields
74. care
75. looking
76. Seven Simple Wonders
77. Cope Island: Adrift
78. Overwired
79. Library


Played::..
1. Advance Wars (maybe 10 hours)
2. Flesh (2 hours)
3. The Aquatic Adventure of the Last Human (1 hour)
4. Another World (1 hour)
5. The Curious Expedition (8 hours)
6. Ollie and Bollie (1 hour)
7. Epistory (1 hour)
8. Perenial (30 minutes)
9. Izel's Observatory (40 minutes)
10. Silent Hill (2-3 hours)
11. Fire RMNblem (8 hours)
12. Mighty Retro Zero (10 minutes)
13. Morphblade (2 hours)
14. Clickhead (15 minutes)
15. Elengrad (20 minutes)
16. The Things We Lost in the Flood


Playing::..

Over five minutes at work I wrote down a couple of games I should get to and hopefully will get to this year.

The Long Dark (played it in early access but haven't since it came out ages ago!)
The Banner Saga 3 (I already have this installed, it's going to get played)
Pillars of Eternity 2 (I got a bit into this but I need to finish this epic of a godsdamn rpg)
Kerbal Space Program (years after everyone's stopped talking about it I should also give it a try to see what the fuss was about five years ago)
Frozen Synapse 2 (My most hyped game of 2018 didn't get nearly enough playtime from me)
Quadrilateral Cowboy (one of my most hyped games of 2016 still hasn't had enough playtime from me)
Battlefleet Gothic: Armada (giant spaceships in 40k. I didn't ever remember I owned this, but it has to be tried at least)
BattleTech (kickstarted this and played a fair bit, but it's been patched a lot since and I should just get back into it. I just know it's going to be a long ride)
Chime Sharp (this is a puzzle game I shoulda played by now. Original Chime was great)
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided (another epic I'm dreading to get into. I know it was not as well-received as Human Revolution)
Dust and Salt (I just heard about this randomly and it sounds like my jam, so I have to remember to also play my jam)

I wonder how many of these I'll get to over 2019. As it looks now I'm mainly just continuing my constant rotation of Plunkbat - Rocket League - Rainbow 6: Siege - Overwatch.
Cap_H
DIGITAL IDENTITY CRISIS
6625
January::..
1. Advance Wars
No need introducing this one. I enjoy the streamlined strategy game for GBA. But I'm also often annoyed by it. Missions often take just a little tad too long. And some units are useless in most situations. The one thing, which really lifts this game for me are special powers. Fighting Grid on maps with fog of war is thrilling. Also, navy adds more complexity than I would expect from it.
I enjoy vibrant artstyle and somehow naive story. Sami's my favorite character btw.

2. Terra
Terra is a free tactics game inspired by Advance war with uglier graphics and one significant twist. Both sides process their moves at once. This makes it more of a turn based rts than a classic tactics game. By building more units than your opponent, you can overwhelm them like in Starcraft. It's an interesting experiment and it offers quite a lot for the buck: 9 missions against AI, almost 30 maps for multiplayer and an infinite amount of fun with its editor.
To be totally honest I didn't enjoy my time with it so much, because of the simultaneous turns. It's not about solving a puzzle or trying to minimize your losses and just not a kind of wargame I enjoy a lot.

3. Gumgem
This is a submission for A Game By Its Cover jam and a very good looking game. Unfortunately, it's also very infuriating. I rage-quited after dying multiple times, because spiders are turning their weak spots away from you and you dash and jump all around just to end in spikes. I watched a video and the guy rage-quited too. I'm done with this game.

4. The Odd Door
A very small lo-fi experiment in which you can turn on a transistor and it plays psychedelic music and sometimes the screen flashes and something appears. I love the esthetic and I would like to see it used in something bigger and potentially even more mysterious.

5. River Bones
Turnfollow are my favourite devs, their approach to narrative is excellent. River Bones is no exception. You flow in a pleasantly green river, carried by it you pass several patches of land. On these you can enter scenes from a noir story. After returning to the river, you have time to think about these scenes and get excited for the next piece.

6. Space Blood
A very small and cute piece of interactive fiction featuring two cats in search of water or fuel or water or fuel in spaaace. It's heartwarming and very short. Also, the game just happens. There's nothing for you to influence.

7. Becalm
1) I don't think it's really a game. You can't influence it in any way and it turns itself off after five minutes.
2)I find it good, when I need to calm down and focus after three cups of coffee. Unfortunately, it's fairly ugly.


8. Disorient On The Murder Express
​A very fine murder mystery, in which nothing is obvious. Collecting clues and accusing people is always fun and it's even better with original look and good writing. I enjoyed it a lot and my only problem was that my weak linux machine doesn't like Unreal 4 so much.

9. Curtain
This is a short story definitely worth playing. I feel like the story matters. I guess the characters might be little heavy-handed and the end is very sudden, but it doesn't lack a punch and i like that. Also, the way dreamfeel solved cut/time transitions is great.
If not for the emotional value, I would recommend it for both look and sound. The story is about being in a relationship with a terrible person and feeling terrible because of it, the look manages to capture it. There's something conforming about looking out of window on all five squares and thinking about less demanding peeps out there, who just want to get home.


10. Storyseeker

Storyseeker is not your usual narrative game. While it uses words, it prefers visual storytelling. There're no dialogues, just a load of characters sharing their feelings. It was quite an emotional experience, yet a very calm one. In the game you visit a stopped world. But you can see the world changing, cycles of life and death all around it. It's very melancholic and sensitive and it made me pleasantly ​sad.

11. Touch Me2
This is certainly an interesting little walking sim. You progress by throwing your hand and yourself, dropping lower and lower. You're always pointing at something. It made me feel like a horrible person, yet I really enjoyed being destructive and the game even gives you time to think about your behavior at the bar.
Also, I think it works originally with glitch esthetic and textures composed of texts are very interesting too. It looks very polished but I can't say if it really is polished or a prototype. It's a really short experience. I managed to play though it in 5 minutes.


12. The Isle Is Full Of Noises

Ok, I shouldn't call this a game. It's a flatgame, which means that it's more of a visual poem than a game. It's great and aggressive and very very cool. I'll play more flatgames. Btw, This year's Flatgame Jam is currently running. I might join it because of this gem.

13. Istanbul, Texas
Another vignette from dreamfeel. I couldn't appreciate this one as much as The Isle, because text didn't show up. I only could drift around and smash things, while listening to Turkish psychedelic music. Which I like.

14. Air Mail
A game from Sokpop Collective in which you play as an air mail delivery pilot. It's cute and color coded like a set of lego. It's very calming too. In order to fly you need to refuel your plane from time to time and that give the game a good pacing.

15. Alluvium
This was better than I expected it to be. Colours and graphics are top-notch and i very enjoyed the narrator too. Everything is sudden in this game and more sensitive people could get several heart attacks. Also, the adventure part was great in the way it parodied old school games with very off the wall solutions. I highly recommend this.

16. Aurora Railway
​A sweet little game about losing someone close, but not feeling sad appropriately. It's a cute little angle and it connects well with the gameplay. I enjoyed seeing something like this being a pico game too. I think it would benefit from some music. As it is now, the game feels little hollow.

17. Last Minute Call
​I find this game to be very positive and I enjoy the topic it is focused on. Old people are overlooked in games in general and I don't know any other game, which would treat their sexuality. Plus here it's done tastefully and with humour. The tedious gameplay (you fetch things for people) feels somehow appropriate after a while. You're this old lady, who still has hope and almost act like a child, ignoring social norms and privacy.


18. These Monsters
​I almost forgot how it felt to play a proper walking sim. Strangerthink are great at doing alien digital public spaces. This is a lot like less polished Secret Habitat. It's a gallery again, but this one's more contained and vertical. Also, art isn't as interesting. It's trying to achieve something else as a space, but I just don't think it works so well.
Nonetheless It's one hell of a walking sim.

19. Twinkle Witch
​Cute em ups were always one of my favourite genres. They usually feature nice pixel art, hardcore difficulty and very good soundtrack. TwinkleWitch lacks the difficulty as it is quite minimal with only one kind of enemy for each stage and easy boss fights but it manages to catch up on that with charming writing, which envelopes overall tight package of cuteness. Recommended.

20. Red Survivor
Ok, there's not really much to it. It's a simple board game like game without any goals or hook. It looks nice, but there's no music and no level design. Just a random grid and one boring kind of enemies. You die of boredom before getting killed by robots. I think someone could build something interesting around this, but as it is, it's not worth picking up.

21. t- e ni hтm-are of·`a c ty
​A very cool mood piece. I almost passed on it because of simple brutalist graphics, but damn that would be a mistake. They're there on purpose and together with great sound direction make for something extraordinary. It's almost a parallel to city life. You can stay calm and watch or run around excited by new and new blurry images and eventually get hit by a car. And you always end in ground.

22. Even The Stars
Another piece about life and its passing. In this case the whole game and your whole effort makes sense only after you die. You play as an explorer traveling around galaxy without a map and seemingly without a purpose. It's philosophical, showing the player that world can be something bigger and that your role in it might be different and maybe more important than you think. Play it.
Another interesting thing about this game is partially text based input, which might be annoying, but it totally makes sense. It changes pace and obscures your mission as only one of routine activities.

23. Balade Urbaine
​I find this to be somehow pleasant prototype, but I don't think that the presentation makes theme (concrete jungle living) justice. It doesn't fit together, it's too pleasant and doesn't transfer atmosphere of suburbs well. It looks more like softly coloured paradise. Ofc, I have no idea what individual actors are saying, but from words I managed to catch, they are suburban Parisians and that place is far from utopia.

24. Tonight You Die
​This is a good mood piece, far better than the other game I played from Jack Squires. He utilizes coldness of brutalist architecture rather well in this game. Squires creates a great atmospheric space, in which you manage to both lose and find yourself, with minimal means. ​Also, the game being interconnected with a song gives it a whole another level. There's some basic storytelling built up by sound design. I guess the conclusion is little lackluster (you expect your death after all), but it works well with music and while not surprising it gives you a clear sign that the game you've just played isn't a horror after all.

25. The Mechanical Age
​Ok, for a walking sim, this game's ugly. Colours aren't really pleasant or interesting and shapes feel in discord to each other. I appreciate the idea behind but execution missed the mark. The game being mostly silent doesn't help either. Sounds of sea and wind or weird sounds would make it slightly better. And the message? That shallow person is a shallow person.

26. Athenaeum
​More than anything else I find this underwater cave beautiful. I need to see something ​more ​in this style. Athenaeum is small and the space and sound are the only two things I like about it. I'm not interested in the story. Something in the writing doesn't click. It doesn't feel connected to the visual experience. And you gameplay activity is mildly confusing. There's no real reason to collect bubbles, is it? Game's roughly five minutes long. Most games I played this month are.


27. A Night in the Woods
​A very polished small scale project with beautiful lo-fi graphics and sound. The setting and ​Gone Home​ inspired gameplay offer some food for thoughts. Is this where's our society going? I don't think Anarchy would be the worst scenario. It's almost romantic in that regard. It also uses visual storytelling well. At one point the scale of destruction is shown and while you read old news, the value moved elsewhere. Books, letters and other signs of civilization don't have priority here. Survival does.


28. In Search of Freedom

I returned to this after years and finished the demo. It's an enjoyable adventure from Indrah and Fomar with great progression systems, good fights, deep lore and alright story.


29. Memory of a Forgotten Home
An GGJ entry from Frogge and his hoodies. I liked it, it fits my style of gaming and I want to see more games like this from ma boi. Read my review of the game.


30. Flesh
I haven't managed to finish the game yet, but I wrote a favourable review nonetheless. It's possible that the game has some big endgame bummer, but the part I played was really cool. The setting of the game is dark radical and the game design excellent.
Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
Sure, why not.

January

Suikoden 4
Yeah, I've been playing this again. Don't judge me. I tried to find some kind of way to hack items without using the inventory hack codes from CodeTwink, to no success. Well, there was one time I used Cheat Engine to find the place in memory where the items seem to be located, but, altering those values isn't quite as straightforward as I thought.

Endless Space
This is a new game to me. Was interested in it through Endless Legend. All I can really say about it is that it feels a lot like Master of Orion. There don't seem to be any in-game cheats for this. Which seems a bit odd. However, I have used Cheat Engine with some success to affect on-hand money and research projects.

Star Control Origins
Another new game. Certainly a throwback to Star Control 2, though, I understand that's entirely on purpose. It's not 100% stable, though. There's cut-scenes that failed to play, and froze the game. Other users were having a similar issue, so, I was able to fix that, at least. The game still randomly crashes on me, but, I'm still mostly having fun here.

*Edit:
Neir: Automata
Darigaaz, I'm still on my bloody second play-through of this. I guess it just fell on the wayside, but, every so often, I plug a few hours into it.
@the Advance Wars playthrough: I highly recommend Into the Breach which came out last year and reinvented the TBS genre imo.
Cap_H
DIGITAL IDENTITY CRISIS
6625
author=Darken
@the Advance Wars playthrough: I highly recommend Into the Breach which came out last year and reinvented the TBS genre imo.


Into The Breach is the reason I'm playing Advance Wars now.
2019 beaten:
(PS3) Need for Speed: Carbon
(PS3) Need for Speed: Undercover
(PS3) Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed
(PS3) Midnight Club: Los Angeles
(PS3) Need for Speed: Shift
(PS3) FEAR 3
(PS3) Resistance 3
(PS3) Resistance: Fall of Man
(PS3) Gran Turismo 6
(PS3) Ridge Racer: Unbounded
(PS3) Need for Speed: ProStreet
(3DS) Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D

edit: well it's 2020 in half an hour so I guess that's it for the year.

2019 was my PS3 year apparently. Maybe 2020 will be my Switch year.
Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
Finally completed that second play of Neir: Automata I mentioned up above. Picked up Legend of Legaia, which I managed to get sometime after Feld's topic on the game.
I've discovered the Switch and exercising on the elliptical go perfectly together with the split joycons are so I've actually been playing some games! I started Xenoblade Chronicles 2 a while back but it... is really kinda a sloggish experience. So I switched to Blaster Master Zero a while back and beat it tonight. I really enjoyed it myself, it played like the original while also improving on it in every way. I wouldn't fault anybody preferring the original music though, I like both but BMZ comes out on top for me. If you ever wanted a nice modernization of Blaster Master I'd whole hardheartedly recommend it. It supports multiplayer too, I need to try that out.

I am sad Platinum Boss from the old Blaster Master novelization didn't appear, iirc Blaster Master 2 actually used that book as backstory, but oh well~
I've been trying to solo Mount & Blade: Warband. Also I've started drinking heavily. I don't see any correlation between these two things. I've come to the realization that as much as I like Mount & Blade for it's total lack of story and complete freedom, I really hate having to drag around an army.

Also, I tried to get into Ultima 4 again, but I was put off by the random character class system. I don't wanna play a fighter, dammit, I like rangers!
Cap_H
DIGITAL IDENTITY CRISIS
6625
February::..
1. Mechanima
I wanted to play and review one of Piano's many game for almost two years and it's only logical that I picked the one Marrend and Gourd worked on as I have great respect for these two guys. The game turned out to be very Piano, but definitely for the better. It feels very consistent and its story is great. If you're reading this in the future, this should link to my review of the game.


2. The Aquatic adventure of the Last Human
And back to commercial games! This one looks delightful! You play as a submarine in a submerged world. Fish and seaweed are humongous in the future! The game's presentation, both visual and aural with music from Flodin, is top notch. Metroidvania gameplay is so far middling (I miss jumping).
Ok, I gave up on the game after an hour. The linux version lags during boss fights and when I tried to play with mouse, it messed up input. You need mouse to play this game. So, the graphical fidelity is the best thing about the game and I guess that some people might appreciate shmup-y boss fights.


3. Puzzle Agent
I wanted to play something winter themed with snow and neither Banished nor Road Not Taken work on Linux. So, I opted for this gem from Telltale and it was a good choice. Puzzles are mostly enjoyable and often more about observation than logic. The graphics and the story are great. The game hints towards Twin Peaks and Fargo massively even in music, which is great too. Adventures are not my favourite kind of games, but I enjoyed this one more than Advance Wars and managed to finish it in two sittings.


4. Puzzle Agent 2
This one starts great, but isn't as good as the first one. It explains almost everything, while making it a complete mess. The humour is more far less subtle and more like your usual tv shows. The worst part here are weaker puzzles, which break immersion. For example there was an optional puzzle, which wasn't about coming up with a logical solution but about knowing pi number. The atmosphere is a lot more X-Files mixed up with The Big Lebowski than Twin Peaks too.


5. 2064: Read Only Memories
I tried to play this game before and bounced off. I like slow-paced games, but this one is differently slow. It's chatty and most characters are voiced. The scrolling and overall progress through dialogues feel sluggish. But I enjoy the game and its story. I think the best thing about it is that it manages to capture a society unlike ours. The problems might be reminiscent (intolerance), but it feels completely different, glamorous and it's not so easy to relate to it. It's not because this cyberpunk society is very queer, but because everyone explains something and their explanatory speeches are often very tech-savvy. It's a society of computer heads and almost everyone's interested in technical aspects of things. It feels very nerd-ish. It works really great.
The other things I love about the game are retro graphics, soundtrack, humour and subtle World of Xeen references in these departments. Ok they probably often are references to olde text adventures of the same time as M&M.


6. Another World
This is a classic. The visual approach to storytelling is excellent and cinematic intro is great. The gameplay, while clever, is extremely frustrating. Most obstacles require you to be fast and checkpoints are placed as inconveniently as possible. The graphics of the new version look worse than pixelated surfaces of the old Amiga version. The game sounds great!


7. FTL: Faster Than Light
There's no need for introduction. This is one of my favourite designs and I finally managed to victoriously overcome the flagship this month. And I immediately started another round. This game's so addictive and it's due to brilliant bite sized bricks (individual systems), which build rooms (sectors), which are manageable to fly through under 30 minutes and you still want more. Also, every small variation to your ships equipment counts tremendously and it's really fun toy around with your arsenal and overall strategy.


8. The Curious Expedition
This game's curious and very fun. It checks many of the same boxes as FTL, while staying a different enough experience. You recruit and update characters, which all have various perks and these tends to die a lot. Usually, It's after I get greedy and try to rob one too many temples. The other great thing is presentation. The pixel art is very cute and midis excellent. Both is reminiscent of Might and Magic series (just listen to the title screen tune, it's very Xeen-ish).


9. Tiny Echo
A very cute point and click adventure about delivering mail to spirits. The look of this game isn't only adorable. It's damn nifty attractive. The sound design is very solid too. The game's very meditative. Every time my character fell asleep, I did too. It's a very pleasant game, but it lacks strong emotion and it feels little clunky. I managed to break it twice and controls aren't all that responsive.
Def a good pick for fans of Samorost.


10. Heaven Will Be Mine
This month I played and enjoyed surprisingly many adventures/visual novels. I'm rounding up the stretch with this sleek piece from some very queer developers. It's great. The fiction is crazy, dialogues weird and hot, characters sympathetic. One more great thing is UI. It's fabulous.
author=Bluefeathr42
I've been trying to solo Mount & Blade: Warband. Also I've started drinking heavily. I don't see any correlation between these two things. I've come to the realization that as much as I like Mount & Blade for it's total lack of story and complete freedom, I really hate having to drag around an army.

Also, I tried to get into Ultima 4 again, but I was put off by the random character class system. I don't wanna play a fighter, dammit, I like rangers!


Ultima 4 doesn't give you a random class, it's based on the answers to the test you're given at the start of the game. It pits two virtues against each other and you pick one, eliminating the other until you end up with one virtue and that determines your class. iirc the virtues to classes (and your starting city) are:
Humility: Shepard & Magincia
Valor: Fighter & Jhelom?
Compassion: Bard & Brittania
Honesty: Mage & Moonglow
Honor: Paladin & Trinsic?
Sacrifice: Tinkerer & ???
Justice: Druid & Yew?
Spirituality: Ranger & Skara Brae
(my memory of the cities is bad)

I'm a fan of Druid, but any spell caster is better than a non spell caster in U4. Plus you start on the main continent so you don't need to wait for moongates to appear to get off your starting island.
@GreatRedSpirit

Gahhh I knew that >< Poor word choice. Still, the unique-ness of the rest of the game makes up for it. I think I may actually like it more than Ultima 7.

Started over my solo Warband game as an archer. I'm debating between the warbow, for its power, or a shorter bow for its speed. Also, for some reason forest bandits are better shots than Vaegir archers. And also the number of Sea Raider groups around Rivacheg is ridiculous. There are easily more Sea Raiders on the map at any given time than any other bandit party.

Update 2/8/2019 - I have angrily deleted the Diplomacy mod for M&B after getting tired of it's BS. Back in 2010-2011 it was THE mod for enhancing the base game without being a total overhaul, now it's...nothing. I actually don't know what purpose it serves, anymore. Tried the 1050 AD Mercenary Uprising Mod, which is really cool. I think I'll stick to that, Last Days of the Third Age, and Viking Conquest.
Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
Totally forgot about this. Welp.

Feburary

Suikoden 4, Legend of Legia
Still plugging away at these, slow and steady.

Flowers For Kasumi, Final Fantasy vs. Dog
Games played for Review Pirates event. Probably the only ones I'll do for that event at this point.

Weird and Unfortunate Things Are Happening
The demo's only 60% done, but, it's still a magical game from a magical person. ^_^
Cap_H
DIGITAL IDENTITY CRISIS
6625
March::..
1. The City Haze
​It's a fine walking sim created for Cosmo D's jam. The sound and the look are great, the message and level design could be more creative.


2. Espectro City
This game was also created for Cosmo D's Jam and managed to win a popular choice. It's a city exploration simulator with one twist. There's no space. The whole game is presented as a computer interface, but it doesn't acknowledge it. Espectro pretends to be a normal text based game. ​This is kinda neat. I think the setting helps the game a lot. It draws a parallel to real world and real lives (many live like ghosts), but eternity gives it an extra edge. The abstraction of space really helps a rather simple story to shine.


3. Renowned Explorers
This is a roguelike about exploring. It's very likeable and way more approachable and less frustrating than Curious Expeditions, but also less forgetting. If you're out of supplies, you're very likely out of luck as well. With every other move around map (which is more board gamey than in CE), one of your characters get a significant debuff. This can make it impossible to win against boss. You can lose very quickly this way.
Battles in this game are tactical, but they don't offer many options. I find myself using one of the basic attacks way too often.
I really enjoy role playing and management mechanics of the game. Getting various perks, improving your character, making research. These are all enjoyable mini games. Expeditions are fun thanks to them and thanks to all components being simple.
Overall, I find this to be more polished than Curious Expedition. Also, the ultimate reward differs. CE are about being greedy just enough. Here you enjoy playing the game, while using your resources the best way you can. Every stap is small enough to make playing very enjoyable and this connected with witty writing makes for fun experience.


4. Kimmy
This was a wonderful experience. The game's about Dana, a good caring kid, who is babysitting Kimmy. They walk around town, chat and play games. Mechanics of the game are simple but the way it presents itself, together with its structure and everything weaved in its narrative is simply brilliant. At first it might feel that the game's about building relationships with other kids. That part's really cool on its own as you get to know more about them and they're all original characters and all positive in one way or other. Next, you uncover the second line. Simple game we all used to play and how we all managed to lose something, when embracing playing on computers and even various board games with many rules and components. It's never been the same sensation since. The last thing is the overarching narrative of the relation of Dana and Kimmy. There were more serious tones thrown in and the final plot twist went against my expectations and made me totally happy. The move from simply satisfying player is a bold one and I would say more rewarding in this case as I will remember the game and keep on recommending it.


5. Ollie and Bollie
This is a Sokpop collective game with wobbly graphics. It's a small one but you can't save, so you need to start fixing up stuff anew every time you boot the game up. It's very relaxing, tho. There's a puzzle to figure out but everything is slow and fairly straightforward and wobbly, that you care more about doing weird jumps than progressing.


6. Quiet City
A small experiment, which is basically a joke in a video game form. Everything about the game is minimalist. The presentation consist of some very basic black and white graphics with some occasional colors thrown in. It's actually not as appealing as a minimalist game could be. Game mechanics are barebone and there's no failure state. I think it would be interesting to use them for something more developed, tho. In the first part of the game, you activate places. You can only watch an animation here, but I already see more intriguing ways to use it.


7. The Fish Market
And this is proper 100% walking sim. Grace Bruxner is a popular author and i think this is the game, that made them. It was all over internet back then. You walk around underwater market and giggle. Most stalls are puns and there's a cafe with an adorable live band in one corner of the place. Details such as smiling stars laying on the ground are great as well. It's just such a good game for gray days like this one.


8. Spoolside
This is another of Humble Originals and it certainly is original. It uses the same mechanic as Fez, but the space isn't that elegant here. It's all about time. You travel through four locations again and again and you also move in time. You're trying to fix various things and change timelines but it's often impossible. You save one person and the other one gets doomed. I don't think there's a good solution, only variously bad timelines.


9. Like Roots in the Soil
A five minutes long narrative experience with pleasant low poly graphics. You only control camera and drift between two points at a timeline while the story's unfolding.


10. Epistory
So far, I'm torn on this game. I've only played about 40 minutes and I intend to continue, but I don't feel hooked. The storytelling is trying to sound all mysterious but it's little too much, it's pathetic. Also, the second voice suggesting something's wrong is there too early. I'm also torn on graphics. I think the style looks mostly nice and the creators are competent graphics, but I dislike various details and choices, which suggest that their taste isn't equally good. Also, there are so many things in the fiction, which are generic.
The gameplay itself is good so far. I enjoy unfolding of the map and writing. I think I could learn some new words in this game if there were more original models for plants and ores.
This would be a better game, if it were simpler. Without a narrator, just a character traveling through (a dimmer) a world and communicating via typing out words.
Oh Shit! How have I missed this thread! :O

January
- 50 Cent: Blood In The Sand (PS3)
- Crysis (PC)
- Ashen (Xbox One)
- Borderlands 2 (Xbox One)
- Zone of the Enders (PS3)
- Hyrule Warriors (Wii U)
- Dusk (PC)
- MadWorld (Wii)

February
- Read Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare (Xbox One)
- Dead Space 3 (Xbox One)
- Resident Evil Revelations (Xbox One)
- Slain: Back From Hell (PC)
- Fallout New Vegas (Xbox One)

Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
I haven't closed out any of the games from February, and am still playing those. However, I have started a play of Persona 5 just yesterday, so...
Cap_H
DIGITAL IDENTITY CRISIS
6625
April::..
1. Siren Head
A very short entry for The Haunted PS1 Halloween Jam. Basically, you walk up one way, examine few items along the way and then run back down. It's not more interesting than this but assets look good, they certainly fit the theme and I like brownish cubes and bushes. The game's also competent in sound department as various siren sounds made me unnerved and they can make your ears bleeding if you're in more subtle music than I.


2. Perennial
I haven't got very far so far, but this is a rather neat looking and playing game. It was created for the same jam as Siren Head but it's more complex and polished. The creator managed to make an open world with rather nice low poly models. The game's environment reminds me of Firewatch. You walk around a national forest with a map. There's a twist to the formula. Something's after you. The game builds up tension and it's neat how subtle horror elements are. They're all in sounds. Another mechanic of collecting logs to make fires to be able to save the game is nifty as well.


3. The Static
This surreal landscape of energy and glitch can burn your eyes. It's supercool, like looking into an esoteric computer. You can easily lose track of real world and slide into this hollow nightmare of electricity. You walk around strange flashes and images you're not really able to imagine without code. It's like aura borealis of digital age.


4. Paratopic
​It will take me a while to process this game, but i get why it's so praised. It's good. Firstly, I absolutely love the look. The forest part of the game's one of the best walking sim experience I've ever had. These models and the whole level design are great. There was a feature on Heteropais on space in this game and I don't think I can really say more about it. Secondly, the sound design is lovely too. I love how music becomes more prominent in the second part, slightly annoying broadcasting and noises. They're so disturbing. The game is. It's not a horror because of being scare. There's maybe one scary moment, but because of disturbing content, which looks like some twisted lynchian world. Also, I like how's everything muddy, bland and low. I read ​Naked Lunch ​last month and this is basically it. A crazy non-story about junkies, agents and horrors surrounding them. Only homosexual orgies absent.
You don't have any control over this game. There are dialogue choices, but they don't matter. You can roam, but it doesn't matter. It's misleading and it's great. It creates characters we're playing as. They're not us. The game puts too much distance between us and them for that. I can't really role play when answering questions for example. I can't choose what to do in the forest. I can just do something and wait for the next cut.


5. Silent Hill 2
I originally downloaded this because of Haven Decay. The chain game got cancelled, but this staid. This game's visuals are great. I totally love its fog and models. I don't think many big budget games look that good. They can have more realistic polygons but this has its own esthetic. I dig it. Also, the cutscenes are golden. Playing the game feels little like making chores, but that's part of the experience I guess. I wouldn't appreciate it being faster, more action oriented, explosive. I like the almost lazy pace it got. Camera angles are often painful and I guess they will lead to many game over screens later on.


6. Northbound
​This game has some great ideas, but it falls flat when it comes to execution. For example the map is great. You have this real object, which is infused with memories and children fantasies. Also, the space being limited to the van is a great idea. It gives you more options to interact with objects and people, but it challenges you to make something special with it.
Unfortunately, the game is pretentious in many ways as everything you make with high school nostalgia on your mind (yeah, I wrote some stuff exactly like this). Dialogues are often uninteresting and they lack tension. For example Fred taking his girlfriend along is handled poorly. She's just an object to use in a dialogue. You need to work way harder on that drama and actually make the girl matter. Uncover something from the past. You need to make players sweat before getting to the lake. It should be a bittersweet reward for enduring the journey. Indie music is cool, but does it really fit? I'm not sure the story fits video game format so well either and maybe, just maybe, it could do better as a film. Cut doesn't suit it in this medium.
You can download the game for free here.


7. Izel's Observatory
​Finally played it. It's good and I enjoy movement in this game a lot. I think it looks exceptionally well and deep sea environment is not as overused in metroidvanias so far. Also, it looks different than Aquaria or The Aquatic Adventure of Last Human. I think most challenges this game presents are interesting, but the boss run is trully tiresome and I don't think there's an in-game map. Orientation is my biggest complain. I get upgrades to progress, but I don't get metroidvania feel of backtracking and visiting familiar places. It's not about the puzzle of orientation. It's about movement. I enjoyed that part.


8. Not Enough Space
​This is a barebone space ship needs sims, which is fairly enjoyable imo. I might even like it better than IGMC winning game, Izel's Observatory (I don't think it's the best gam of the competition, tho). I find it relaxing to allocate my resources and upgrading my ship to make the game even more relaxing. There are some limitations like space of your cargo and limited resources, but the prototype is fairly easy and avoiding fail state isn't any challenge. I guess there could be more game to it and especially more meaningful mechanics, more friction, but I enjoy it in this state. I would try to add a time limit, tho. It would be nice to have score based on amount of resources and upgrades you're able to secure in 10 or 15 minutes.


9. Flower Prisoner
This is both a prelude to something more grandiose and a self-contained rpg. I enjoyed writing, art (trees are beautiful and certainly keep music on as it helps the game to stand out further), themes. Battles were good, but I would prefer to be able to monitor my current mood differently. It was an interesting twist, but it felt too simple for anything bigger than this. Also, all battles were on the longer side taking 5+ turns. Other than that it's classic zDS fare and a good distraction, while waiting for ​Cope Isle​'s release.


10. Electric Highways
​This is a super cool game of mazes and futuristic depression. The whole thing takes place in a virtual reality. You're trying to escape. Both to and from this reality. You come across a variety of cool environments, and you can break stuff sometimes. The game fashioned itself in lo-fi aesthetic of Quake. All environments are cool, but not breathtaking. It lacks detail and originality for that. This is more about functionality about creating mazes with neat details and enough variety to keep eye occupied, while listening to banging beats also reminiscent of old shooters.
The gameplay is decent. Some levels are quite well designed, some are about running around randomly and solving them by probability. Maze-like character is the main part of the puzzle after all. The game's free and I recommend to try it out for yourself as it is a highly polished hobbyist endeavor.
Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
Oh, yeah, this thread exists. Welp.

So, yeah, I've since finished Suikoden 4 and Legend of Legaia, and have picked up on Xenosaga Episode 3 since last post. I've given a non-zero number of thoughts of doing another written LP on here in the last couple minutes. Even if I end up not doing it, I'm kinda torn between Xenogears and Wild Arms 2.
Frogge
I wanna marry ALL the boys!! And Donna is a meanc
18536
Oh, you're playing Silent Hill 2 for the first time? Awesome, it's a really amazing game (see: I tried and failed to host a chain game inspired by it) and I'm always happy to see more people playing it because it's a top notch class in how to make a horror game right.

Will definetly follow this thread, you're sharing some really cool games I hadn't actually heard of.
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