Discuss games you've been playing

[DarthConker]

Crash N. Sane Trilogy on Switch. Used to play the hell out of the second and third games on the original PlayStation but goddamn the first game in the remake trilogy pisses me off. I can't even imagine attempting to 100% it yet. The second game's difficulty was pretty much perfect though.

[pastiche]

I finished Advance Wars
I went back to my game of Pokemon Emerald that I started a long time ago
But I might also play Advance Wars some more

[AndyNPC]

Nigoro just held a live stream showing off the work so far on La-Mulana 2. The game is shaping up pretty great. They also announced the release date.

Spoiler: (highlight to view)

It's tomorrow

[Masked Hero]

Replaying Paper Mario. Just finished Chapter 3. The thing that has stuck with me the most is just how little talking there is compared to Thousand Year Door. I love that game, but I'm really enjoying how little time is spent in cutscenes with this game.

[Zondekel]

Not a response to either of those posts in particular (though I will note that while I do love TTYD, I actually think 64 is a better game), since we're on the subject of Paper Mario, can I address Color Splash for the Wii U?

After TTYD, Intelligent Systems went in different direction with Super Paper Mario- a side scrolling (though sometimes 3D) action game where you still leveled up, and I think it's one of those games that people really disliked when it first came out but now they look back on it and enjoy it. I liked it a lot myself! But, I can imagine they wanted to try to make another traditional RPG, and reportedly, they even did at first, until Miyamoto noted that it was just another TTYD and they should try something more original. It sort of hurts to know that they ditched a lot of it for Sticker Star (even the early trailer, while still heavy on stickers saw things like a Chain Chomp partner, which would've been neat), but... I like that they tried something new? The sticker mechanic was kind of garbage, but... I don't HATE the game like a lot of people do. They tried something new, and the art was beautiful, the writing was solid, the characters... well, there were a lot of Toads, which wasn't so... great... and the world was the same NSMB Grassland, Desert, Ice, Jungle... but I enjoyed it. Amazing soundtrack, too. I just think the gameplay mechanics needed some work.

And then they did make them work in Color Splash!

See, one of the problems I had with battling in Sticker Star was the one-use inventory as your standard attacks. You needed stickers to attack, and you could only use it once. There were stickers stuck around the levels, but a lot of times I just didn't want to use my good ones on common enemies, especially since the only reward for battling was coins, which you could use to use, and then slow down, a spinner like in TTYD, though one that'll let you use more than one sticker per turn. Neat in theory, but it didn't work great in practice. Color Splash avoided a lot of that- you start with only using one card per turn. That's it, the end. Shortly after the game starts, you get a second card slot, and then you unlock a few more so by the time you're at the final boss, you can play a lot of cards, which worked really well. Battles were still arguably useless... but you get so many coins by doing them that after each level you stop into the hub world's shop and replenish your deck and I think it worked really well. And then sometimes enemies would drop Hammer Scraps which would let you hold more paint, so it was sort of like leveling up. And while cards could only be used once, the shop was constantly upgrading, and question mark blocks were all around getting you more cards. I actually ended up with more cards than I'd ever use! And unlike Sticker Star, where you have a sticker book and stickers are in different sizes depending on how powerful it was (with photorealistic Thing cards taking a lot of space), each card was the same size, regardless of what it was, so your inventory was just that. No trying to make it work like the sticker mechanic.

The levels were fantastically done. They weren't generic NSMB anymore- you had fossil excavation sites! You had not only a train level, but a level where you have to repair the train in a giant workshop. You had a colosseum, complete with the boss on a Chain Chomp chariot! You do a kitchen level where you end up having to battle a photo realistic steak in just the right way to cook it for a character. There was a circus! There was a pirate world where you're flipping between parallel dimensions! It was so good. And the art for them was just so good. Like, Sticker Star was clearly all props- clouds hanging from strings, mountains made of cardboard, etc. A little heavy on the "paper" idea considering the first three games didn't really use that, but I think it was neat. Color Splash continues that trend, but in HD with absolutely beautiful art direction.

Soundtrack was phenomenal. Everything from bluesy riffs in the Tangerino Grill, to big band swing with a musical number with Birdo, and a whole lot of jazz, which Sticker Star (which had some of the same composers) also used. *

Writing was fine- definitely a lot of good lines, especially because during battles, if you wait a moment the enemies themselves will say things. It gave it a lot of personality and charm and I really loved it. Some of the writing was sort of... eh... Like at one point, Huey, the paintbucket partner of yours, comments something to the effect of "What in the name of the Lost Levels is that??" and that's really forced. But then you had enemies making puns, or, like, the Birdo musical has a lyric, "Two hearts in Doki Doki Panic," which I think is a really clever line and makes me smile every time I think about it.

I wish people hadn't skipped out on it, both because the Wii U didn't sell and because people didn't like Sticker Star. I think it fixed a lot of flaws from Sticker Star, and I think it was just a really fun game that I absolutely recommend. It isn't a traditional RPG, no, but I think it was a good game in its own right and I hope that, like Super Paper Mario before it, people eventually look back on it and enjoy it. I do hope for another regular RPG, but if they wanted to make another Color Splash (and ignore what is hopefully just a very very vocal minority), I'd have no problem with it.


(*no, but seriously, I listen to the soundtrack a whole lot. I have to get ready for work, but I might add to this post some examples because it's just a really really really good soundtrack and I love it a lot and want people to hear it too!!)

[DarthConker]

Originally Posted by Alakazam

there's a huuuuuge degree of difference between the dialogue of pm1 and pm2, and it was something they changed in the middle of pm2 development to make it more "wacky", "zany", "nintendo quirky", whatever

i heavily prefer paper mario 1, its writing, and the way it feels like a soft and lighthearted adventure rather than a slapstick children's cartoon

but i wish i could play ttyd in japanese and be able to read it, or play its beta translation
i'd probably love it

This was actually pretty interesting. I always found the dialogue a little too over the top in its cheesiness but didn't know it was changed during development like that. For what it's worth, I also prefer the original if for nothing else then its aesthetic. TTYD had more actual secrets but the original Paper Mario always made me want to actually explore the worlds more and actually admire the scenery.

Also I remember when Game Informer gave TTYD a 6 cause of the dialogue and everyone lost their shit.

[AndyNPC]

La-Mulana 2 is exactly what I wanted for a sequel. The puzzles are less obtuse, but still enough to give your brain a hefty workout. You have more air control with your jumps and the platforming was made more demanding to match it. Each field is larger and more treacherous than the ones in La-Mulana 1, with way more traps and enemies as well as multiple Holy Grail warp points per field. There's scaling difficulty as well, so as you progress more enemies will spawn and bosses will become more aggressive.
I feel like they've done a much better job with the puzzles especially. The tablet hints give you enough clues to point you to the relevant information for each puzzle while still leaving enough for you to logic out yourself. It helps that the hint NPCs actually give you hints now too. Mulbruk and the Philosophers usually have something to say about most major puzzles when you ask them, or at the very least they'll chime in if you're on the wrong track. That's not to say that the game still doesn't turn into a slow spiral into madness as things start to wind down and you are forced to start working on those puzzles and areas you've been putting off.
But be warned; Nigoro has become quite fond of the instant deaht "gotcha!" traps. For one example: there's this one set of three crush traps which look like you should use the sprint move to run under. Surprise! There's actually a fourth one after the third which doesn't stick out enough to see and if you try to sprint you'll bounce off the wall and get crushed by it. There's several traps like this where you have to die to them once to know how to get around them. I can only think of about two situations like that in La-Mulana 1, but for some reason 2 is littered with them. At least it checkpoints you frequently.

Overall though, great game. One of the shopkeepers is bad boxart Megaman. 10/10.

[Zondekel]

I came across some of my old Nintendo e-Reader cards. I really only had the ones that came with it, Donkey Kong Jr. and Game & Watch Manhole. I know that, like, just about no one bought the thing but I still really liked the concept of it- Animal Crossing features, and Super Mario Advance 4 stuff, Game & Watch.... Honestly, just the idea of putting all that data into little barcodes on cards to swipe was super rad to me when I was younger.

While I didn't get any of the other e-Reader branded cards, I was getting the Pokemon TCG e- series, and those were super cool because they unlocked all sorts of different mini games. There was a music one? Where different cards gave you either different instruments or different songs and that was kind of neat. My favorite was this platforming game one, though, where different cards gave you different parts of the level. You could scan one and play that one part, but if you scanned in a bunch of them you could platform your way through a little game trying to capture Pokemon, and it was pretty neat. And of course, the bottom of most of the cards gave you Pokedex information...

[Zondekel]

I'll write up a full response and impressions when I get a chance, but as a teaser, I... impulse bought something and it finally came in today..



Are you ready for the future?

[Danny Trabajo]

Oh shit what games did ya get

[AndyNPC]

I beat La-Mulana 2, clocking in at just under 60 hours. The final area seemed a bit rushed, but overall the game was pretty great. There were a few puzzles that stumped me for a while in the late game, but I still managed to do it without looking up any help. The Brahma Trial and Eternal Prison Gates were my favorites. A recent patch also added visual clues to the surprise traps I mentioned before, so that's not so bad anymore.
If you were planning to pick up the game you might want to wait just a little longer though. There's still some softlocks possible and one boss which is glitched into being way harder than it's supposed to be.
Now I'm not really sure what game to look forward to in the future. I guess there's always Half-Life 3.

[Solid Snix]

Game I am not playing but will be playing

[pastiche]

Originally Posted by GB Printer Paper Memorial Garden

Oh shit what games did ya get

to the tune of They Might Be Giants - Particle Man

Wario Land
Wario Land
Virtual Boy has Wario Land
It's the best game on the whole console
Wario Land

[Masked Hero]

Been playing a lot of WarioWare Gold lately since I bought the game off of Siege. It is pretty good!

[Zondekel]

Originally Posted by GB Printer Paper Memorial Garden

Oh shit what games did ya get

I've been meaning to do proper response but haven't really had time to play more than one game. So!

5 games, though technically six because one was duplicate:
Mario's Tennis (x2)
Teleroboxer
Red Alarm
Golf
and yes, Virtual Boy Wario Land which is the only game I've really played so far. I've experienced Wario in the third dimension



I'd like to get Galactic Pinball and Mario Clash. The former isn't too expensive, the latter is a little more so... still!

I'll still do a proper write up when I play all five games though!!