What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Anything from run & guns to modern RPGs, what else do you play?
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BulletMagnet
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by BulletMagnet »

So, one of the optional side things you can do in Gravity Rush 2 is use text descriptions to track down certain NPCs in certain areas - basically Where's Waldo - and take their picture with the in-game camera. I happened upon one of them, a woman looking over the side of a bridge, but since the only shot I could get of her on the ground would be a rather dull profile picture, I figured, "y'know what, the whole point of the game is that I can float around wherever I want, I'll see if I can get in front of her for a more interesting angle, because why not?"

So I try shifting into the air in front of her...as I approach, the camera freaks out, I lose any sense of where I am, and overshoot her. Okay, I try again, from a bit closer this time...too close, as she and several surrounding objects get caught up in the gravity shift and thrown out of place. One more time, then...and I just manage to skim the edge of the bridge as I fly, end up standing on it, and freak out the camera again. By the time I reorient myself and get another look at the photo spot, it seems I inadvertently caught the woman again in the process, and this time managed to fling her off the bridge entirely, nowhere to be seen. I gave up and wandered off - a bit later I passed through the area again and she'd reappeared, but this time I just took the boring profile shot and moved on.

This is about as apt a microcosm for my Gravity Rush 2 experience as I can recount - whenever you're tempted to relax and have a bit of fun with the game's mechanics rather than constantly handle them with kid gloves for fear of having them force you to restart whatever you're doing, myriad technical issues and "too bad, screw you!" game-of-inches niggles that the mechanics were never designed for almost inevitably snap you back into the "dammit, I just want to get this overwith" mindset. At this point I'm far enough in, and fond enough of the world and characters, that I do want to finish, but at times the game seems almost aggressively determined to infuriate, which is made even more frustrating by the whole overarching theme of complete freedom of movement that is simply never given what it needs to work consistently.
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by gameoverDude »

Trails of Cold Steel (PC) - Finished it.
Rolling Thunder 3 (Gen) - 1CC, 71710 on Normal.
NBA Jam TE (arcade) - Got the first three teams down with the 76ers. Right now, 3-2 record.
Narc (arcade) - 1CC. 3925025, default difficulty. Stuck around on the Bridge for awhile, got 610000 for stage bonus.
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by WelshMegalodon »

The latest releases of that emulator have been advertising improvements to its FM Towns driver, so I tried it out on a whim and was reminded that the Towns versions of the Ultima games look really nice:
Spoiler
They also have redone music and everything. Might be worth a look for interested parties on this forum, including a certain someone that's 1-ALL'ed Pop'n TwinBee...
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by Blinge »

Could it be? Little old me?

So the towns version of Ultima I is good is it? Tempting, tempting.

However my wrpg list is pretty fat atm. Was gonna start Witcher 1 as soon as I've read beyond spoiler point in the books.
I'm on Tower of the Swallow currently. This is much better than the previous book, Baptism of Fire kinda sucked.
Overall the series isn't blowing me away, but it had been nearly a decade since I'd read the high-fantasy trash novels of my youth and I was missing this kind of thing. Some of the characters are great, some are terrible.

I also want to finish my Elder Lolz wanderings by playing Morrowind (the good one apparently) for the first time.
I tried playing Daggerfall for a while over xmas and hit my limit of oldschool jank, basically.
I wanted to get into the world and roleplay my character but then decided what I like about TeS is thieves guild shit, so let's get into the thieves guild. Right? Nope.

You have to pick 10 pockets successfully or break into a shop. Levelling the skills is practically impossible, even after I re-rolled as a broken ass thief using a stat guide and starting with an ebony dagger to blaze through the intro dungeon.
I had to do this because my regular thief roll could not get me out of the intro dungeon..

So I run around, attempting to pick locks - one attempt per door or the guards will come after you, get you a criminal record and then no one in that town will talk to you again HRURKRGK.
Go to sleep to see if i get a skill increase from all that practice. NOPE.
Fuck that game.
Can't even be bothered to try finding the murderguild.
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by Xyga »

Yeah fuck Daggerfall!
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by Blinge »

Haha. Support group?
what was your experience?
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by Xyga »

Forgot a lot since it was a long time ago but basically after being pestered to play it by friends I jumped into that damned game without any help, and it was a horrible experience.
Died way too many times for no relatable reason, restarted from scratch way too many times, never got the creation right apparently, never understood what I had to do nor where I had to go, abysmal controls, also crashes, etc.
It's one of the games that convinced me w-rpg's aren't my thing. :p
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Games Yoni Arousement is playing this month

Post by YoniArousement »

Lethal Crash Race - Racing game made by Video System. I had 6 wins in a row, but then I started credit feeding against Ellen & Cindy.
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe - Although I prefer Mario Kart Wii, MK8D is one of the only Nintendo Switch games I like to play. Am looking forward to Kirby Star Allies.
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by BulletMagnet »

Last night I made it to the (I think) final boss in Gravity Rush 2, and the issues that have plagued the game from the start seem to themselves be making a final, vicious stand: after several failed attempts, every single one of which ended courtesy of attacks I couldn't see as I tried to figure out where I was, I decided to call it a night and attempt to tweak my approach to sneak me past it in the morning.

Today I wake up, and my first thought is, am I seriously still doing this?

Playing a game that doesn't click with me always triggers two dueling mindsets; the "suck it up, you're probably doing something wrong" notion to keep going and see if things change, especially if I'm dealing with a title other people have lauded, versus the "your backlog is how deep now?" mindset, which questions why I would spend any time with a game I'm not digging when there are so many others waiting in the wings. At this point, I have to side with the latter; as much as I enjoyed the first game, and how much I want to be able to say "...but there was enough to keep me going", I've seen pretty much everything the sucker has to offer by now, and can only see it as markedly, hopelesslly inferior to its predecessor to the point that I'd be forcing myself to finish it. Oh, and while the online treasure hunts and whatnot are fine as far as they go, after having played through almost the entire story and done most of the side quests I'm still less than halfway down the reward list, so if I wanted to earn everything I'd be grinding to kingdom come on top of everything else. Screw it, I'm out, and frankly have no idea how reviewers managed to score the thing as high as they did.

As something of a palate cleanser I'm dusting off Puppeteer for the PS3, which is by the same developer but has been gathering dust since I picked it up some time back; in the early going it's similarly rough but also much more forgiving, and does a lot more (especially visually) with a smaller budget and more limited framework. It's sort of a fool's errand to compare the two games too closely since they're so different, but it pains me to think how poorly Puppeteer must have sold, as it's largely the opposite of what the market has been demanding for years now, and Gravity Rush 2, which would have turned out so much better adopting a similar mindset, ended up as one of the latter's most tragic victims.
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by ryu »

Axiom Verge.

Just got the Enhanced Drone Launcher. I like the game more than Samus Returns, bit it's not super great either. It's similarly linear and lacking real interconnectedness between areas... I'd have loved to reexplore previous areas, but the route back was blocked multiple times.
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by gbaplayer »

Lost Sphear:
Great game but i can not decide if its better than I am Setsuna.
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by JBC »

That new Monster Hunter seemed okay but it was a bit too peppy for me, so I traded it in for Nioh. Having crushed every Souls game I can say that Nioh surpasses it's clone status by being equally as great while also bringing something new to the table. It shifts some aspects around in a way that feels fresh & also adds some new layers of complexity to the formula.

Also if you like the spooky side of Japanese folklore then you shouldn't miss out on Nioh. The monsters in this game are wicked.
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by gameoverDude »

NFL Blitz (AC) - Picked Philadelphia, & the CPU just happened to take New England. Patriots got their revenge for the Super Bowl. :( 23-31.
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by Udderdude »

BulletMagnet wrote:Today I wake up, and my first thought is, am I seriously still doing this?
Oh, the self-inflicted punishment of trying to force yourself to complete a game you don't really like. These days I drop stuff for all sorts of silly reasons just because my backlog is 200 pages long.
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by Chaos Phoenixma »

Udderdude wrote:
BulletMagnet wrote:Today I wake up, and my first thought is, am I seriously still doing this?
Oh, the self-inflicted punishment of trying to force yourself to complete a game you don't really like. These days I drop stuff for all sorts of silly reasons just because my backlog is 200 pages long.
This is pretty much the case for me with Tales of Zestiria. I've been playing it on Hard Mode(not enough battles yet to unlock the harder ones) first playthrough. The game and its balance is an absolute mess, I barely load the game up once a month if even that and I've only gotten through the fire dungeon's trial. Playing on higher difficulty so less experience, less experience means lower levels so way less damage, not enough money or equipment to make good equipment, bosses take way too long and you basically don't get any grade from them due to the bad AI. Even normal battles are extremely dangerous because of how underleveled I am. The last boss I got the No Items Hard Mode trophy on had the AI die over 40 times because the seraphs just keep self reviving just to run into the boss's attacks constantly, so no grade. Also even with the skits explaining it, I still don't understand the skill system.


On better notes,

Been playing Persona 5. I'm up to the third palace right now. Game is so good. Playing Hard mode because Merciless is terrible with the only 40% experience/money and triple weakness/crit/tech damage leading to killing things you want to negotiate with and often unfair one shots(even on Hard, I've been one shotted by some weakness/techs at times)


Also been going for All Chars Low% on Crypt of the Necrodancer. I've been past Bolt Low% 12 times, but then died on Dove or Monk Low% right after(it's usually Dove though). Dove Low% is pretty much BS if there's a bunch of enemies in the exit room, so she really should be first, but I'm completely terrible at Bolt, so I do Bolt first, Dove second. Then I'd have to get through 7 other Low% runs if I get past those first 2, but at least those ones are more skill, less luck, though luck can ruin your day there too.
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by Marc »

Just finishing up The Chaos Engine, but its more frustrating than difficult at this point. It loves to spawn enemies up close to the player which simply rush into you, two hits from those even with a fully upgraded health bar and you're usually dead. Plus the enemies that don't rush you are starting to fire from off screen, so progress is less run and gun, more inch forward a few seconds, instantly retreat to the last narrow area you passed if you hear a spawn noise, mop up, repeat. Still, different enough from console fare of the time to be worth a playthrough.
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by wgogh »

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Roomania
One of the Dreamcast titles that went to the Playstation 2 (just like Nights Into Dreams, Space Channel 5 and Code Veronica). It is worth it for the unusual concept, good ambientation and music. You feel good for playing it. Once again, I'm playing hoping to improve my japanese, and it kind of works for learning few more phrases. As for the gameplay, you simply throw balls at the objects in the room, giving sugestions to the protagonist (Neji), so that he makes more than smoke all night while watching TV. Apparently, your goal is to make his life more meaningful.
This game has a sequel called New Roomania, but I've never played it. This time, looks like Neji is interested in some girl. Based on some videos, seem to have the same gameplay.
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by null1024 »

Space Harrier II [Genesis].

I'm still really, really enjoying it, and the more I play it, the more I think that it's a better game than the first. Cooler bosses [holy shit that fucking winged tiger boss is just the coolest looking thing ever], better stage design, more variable bullet speed making positioning more important, etc.
The music is worse, but that's almost entirely because of the ridiculously weird FM instruments they made, because the melodies are quite nice.

and I can't help but imagine how good it'd look on a 4MB ROM, or even better, on actual scaling hardware
just about all of its issues stem from it being a crazy early title
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by soprano1 »

Another run of Dragon Quest V DS. Will follow with VI DS, which I never properly finished. It's amazing how the music from the DS trilogy sounds great compared with the weak synth version for VII and VIII for 3DS.
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by Marc »

Played some Deom's Crest over the weekend. Not sure how I missed this first time around. I'm of the opinion that despite being an early title, Super GnG is still one of the best looking games soon on the SNES, but this puts even that game to shame. Must be one of the high points for pixel art on the machine. Enjoyed the hour I spent on it, a little more sedate and less rage-inducing than GnG, but still enough going on to hold my attention. Will be getting stuck into this properly this week.

Also tried out King of Demons... weird. First level looks like Castlevania filtered though an '80s bar. Controls feel a bit stiff, and the whole thing just comes across as very odd - odd enough that I'll probably persevere just to see what the rest of the game offers visually.
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by soprano1 »

Marc wrote:Also tried out King of Demons... weird. First level looks like Castlevania filtered though an '80s bar. Controls feel a bit stiff, and the whole thing just comes across as very odd - odd enough that I'll probably persevere just to see what the rest of the game offers visually.
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/snes/5771 ... uou/cheats
For the duration of the game, play as each of the three different forms (depends on crystal color chosen at the end of certain boss battles) at least once. If done right, the second last level will yield a grey-ish crystal, which provides the ultimate form for the final level.

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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by Sumez »

soprano1 wrote:Another run of Dragon Quest V DS. Will follow with VI DS, which I never properly finished. It's amazing how the music from the DS trilogy sounds great compared with the weak synth version for VII and VIII for 3DS.
DQ5 on DS is probably the best example of DQ music carried over to synthetic console sounds IMO. DQ6 however does not sound good. I played most of it with the sound muted. However, I consider it by far the best of the DS games.
On the other hand, I have no idea why people love 5 so much. The story is mediocre at best. It starts out strong, but gets more and more rushed and cringeworthy as you get further into the game. More importantly though the combat in the game was probably one of the worst examples I've seen of "use best attack to win", with no fights ever stopping to give me any sense of challenge or danger. Including the final boss and the optional postgame boss, both of which are usually major difficulty spikes in a DQ game.
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by Sumez »

Marc wrote: Also tried out King of Demons... weird. First level looks like Castlevania filtered though an '80s bar. Controls feel a bit stiff, and the whole thing just comes across as very odd - odd enough that I'll probably persevere just to see what the rest of the game offers visually.
We had some talk about that game over in the very awesome action thread. I honestly think the first stage is one of the best aspects of the game, and I'd wish you kept playing as the same character for the rest of the game. In general it feels like a very rare example of a 16 bit incarnation of a lost genre otherwise belonging to the 8 bit generation. The game isn't great, but it's enjoyable enough to put some time into beating.
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by soprano1 »

Sumez wrote:DQ5 on DS is probably the best example of DQ music carried over to synthetic console sounds IMO. DQ6 however does not sound good. I played most of it with the sound muted. However, I consider it by far the best of the DS games.
On the other hand, I have no idea why people love 5 so much. The story is mediocre at best. It starts out strong, but gets more and more rushed and cringeworthy as you get further into the game. More importantly though the combat in the game was probably one of the worst examples I've seen of "use best attack to win", with no fights ever stopping to give me any sense of challenge or danger. Including the final boss and the optional postgame boss, both of which are usually major difficulty spikes in a DQ game.
Christ, I feel like we had this discussion before. :lol:
Which one, out of the ones you played, did you feel were good? VIII?
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by Sumez »

I'm currently on 3 and 9 as my last remaining titles (playing them simultaneously, 9 on daily commutes, and 3 at home - which is a little confusing because the two games are a lot more similar than I had expected)

Out of the entire series, my favourites so far have been 6, 8 and 2. I'm quite positive about 3 and 9 though, with especially 9 being a huge positive surprise for me. I will gladly go into details if you are curious about any of my preferences. :) For some reason both 2 and 6 are usually the least liked games of the series, which is genuinely puzzling to me.

8 is definitely the most untraditional game of the series for better or worse. But I'm glad it exists, as it's able to explore some areas the series usually avoids (mostly with its character focus), and it seems like 11 will be more of that.
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by soprano1 »

Sumez wrote:I'm currently on 3 and 9 as my last remaining titles (playing them simultaneously, 9 on daily commutes, and 3 at home - which is a little confusing because the two games are a lot more similar than I had expected)

Out of the entire series, my favourites so far have been 6, 8 and 2. I'm quite positive about 3 and 9 though, with especially 9 being a huge positive surprise for me. I will gladly go into details if you are curious about any of my preferences. :) For some reason both 2 and 6 are usually the least liked games of the series, which is genuinely puzzling to me.

8 is definitely the most untraditional game of the series for better or worse. But I'm glad it exists, as it's able to explore some areas the series usually avoids (mostly with its character focus), and it seems like 11 will be more of that.
I honestly still haven't played the Roto trilogy, mostly for dated mechanics (yes, I know the series is all about that :) ).
I liked IX too, felt huge. I read that it's like an upgraded version of III, with the generic characters and the job system.
On a related note, I'm losing the hope they will localize the 3DS version of XI. :x
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by Sumez »

As long as we get the PS4 version (which we will), I'm ok. Though the 3DS version would be a fun addition down the road. I'm not expecting to play the game through more than once within one ten year span anyway, though.

9 is like 3 in more ways than just the class system, but that's definitely one main thing. Essentially, it's a mix of both 3, 8 and 6/7, though. I think it's a really excellent leveling/skill system, among the best I have seen in any RPG ever for the single reason that it makes customizing and leveling your characters so much fun that I completely forget about advancing the story. In 3 you have to be ready to make huge sacrifices if you want to change classes, and there aren't a lot of advantages to doing it.
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by soprano1 »

Sumez wrote:9 is like 3 in more ways than just the class system, but that's definitely one main thing. Essentially, it's a mix of both 3, 8 and 6/7, though. I think it's a really excellent leveling/skill system, among the best I have seen in any RPG ever for the single reason that it makes customizing and leveling your characters so much fun that I completely forget about advancing the story.
Oh yeah, it has the skill point system from VIII, makes things more interesting for sure.
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by Marc »

Sumez wrote:
Marc wrote: Also tried out King of Demons... weird. First level looks like Castlevania filtered though an '80s bar. Controls feel a bit stiff, and the whole thing just comes across as very odd - odd enough that I'll probably persevere just to see what the rest of the game offers visually.
We had some talk about that game over in the very awesome action thread. I honestly think the first stage is one of the best aspects of the game, and I'd wish you kept playing as the same character for the rest of the game. In general it feels like a very rare example of a 16 bit incarnation of a lost genre otherwise belonging to the 8 bit generation. The game isn't great, but it's enjoyable enough to put some time into beating.
Fired it back up last night, made it to the 2nd boss and was rather enjoying it. Then it froze on me. Time continued to go down, but I couldn't move. Hoping this was just a one-off, rather than something that's going to happen continually due to running it on SNES Mini, though it seems to be listed as compatible.

Gave my somewhat neglected Switch purchases some love last night. Fast RMX... Wow. I mean to think that this is essentially an indie title, it's bloody impressive. Controls beautifully, frame rate is rock sold, tracks are excellent so far (done three cups), difficulty is spot on... It falls just short of the greatness of F-Zero GX, but I'm surprised at just how close it gets. Only thing that really lets it down is the removal of an energy bar - they fixed this with the hero mode which re-introduces the traditional F-Zero boost/shield and demands a first-place finish, but it's a shame that mode is restricted to one-off races. Still, at £12.00 it's genuinely one of the best purchases I've made in a long while and I can't wait to get back to it later.
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by BIL »

null1024 wrote:Space Harrier II [Genesis].

I'm still really, really enjoying it, and the more I play it, the more I think that it's a better game than the first. Cooler bosses [holy shit that fucking winged tiger boss is just the coolest looking thing ever], better stage design, more variable bullet speed making positioning more important, etc.
The music is worse, but that's almost entirely because of the ridiculously weird FM instruments they made, because the melodies are quite nice.

and I can't help but imagine how good it'd look on a 4MB ROM, or even better, on actual scaling hardware
just about all of its issues stem from it being a crazy early title
Good to see some love for SHII. :smile: Always been very fond of it myself... admittedly mostly for the surprisingly cohesive future/ancient space aesthetic, the turbulent OST - the tiger thingy has a memorably plantive squall with a helluva trackname*, "The Stairs to Z" - and just the general cool surrealism of running that glowing chequerboard. I always end up playing the whole thing through whenever I revisit.

Needless to say, a pseudo-AC version with screaming Super Scaler velocity would be nice. I often think how goofy the original comes across in comparison to the sequel, stylistically, where technically it's the total inverse!

*one of the earliest home releases I can recall with proper tracknames too, and cool ones at that.
Marc wrote:Played some Deom's Crest over the weekend. Not sure how I missed this first time around. I'm of the opinion that despite being an early title, Super GnG is still one of the best looking games soon on the SNES, but this puts even that game to shame. Must be one of the high points for pixel art on the machine.
Ye, muhfucka!

Spoiler
Image

URL ends in "GNg," IMGUR KNOWS WHATS UP BOYEEE

Spoiler
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Spoiler
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(ta for gif squire!)


(mild boss spoiler)
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(calcium for strong bones, motherfucker!)

A visual, aural and atmospheric highlight of its generation. One of those shorter, action-packed ARPGs I like to single-session occasionally, with frequent pauses to take in the mood. The outset of the water shrine is an affectingly forlorn vista... wish I'd giffed that too actually. Then again there's dozens, like the infernal red sky over the \m/etal as fuck demon cathedral, and the ghost-infested frozen abyss full of clutching disembodied hands. Sumptuous occult fantasy aesthetic with a keen balance of beauty and horror, and the classic Makaimura streak of ghoulish humour.

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Could swear that's Damnd of Final Fight infamy selling demon foetuses there.

Design-wise I think the Arremer trilogy declined slightly as it went on... although the first has some harsh slowdown+breakup and annoying random encounters, its wallclimb-driven platforming is quality hardcore. The sequels have it in bursts, but the grueling climbs are softened by the emphasis on character expansion. My favourite parts of both are early on, when the base Arremer has the player doing most of the work. All this in strictly relative terms, though - DC is still a damn fine sidescroller, with a priceless aesthetic catapulting it way the fuck over the line.
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