FinalBaton wrote:kitten wrote:i've finally moved all the classic gaming consoles back into the living room
Now THAT's what I'm talking about
it's about time, yeah
i appreciate it, hoping i dive enthusiastically back in and keep it up
How do you like it in Tennesse btw?
born, raised, and spent the vast majority of my life here. people here are amicable when you fit in, and, well...
not amicable when you don't. as long as you're friendly and don't look too weird, you get to interact with a lot of people who still value common courtesies and the pleasantries of just getting along in a small town. however, be noticeably different or avoidant and anti-social and life is harder than elsewhere.
i'd say i live a pretty repressed lifestyle down here, and that it's not good for me. i've been wanting to get out for many years, but it's proven to be pretty insurmountable for a serious variety of reasons. i know how to navigate things down here, get friendly conversations from grandmas, smile and share thoughts with people in the grocery store when talking to my roommate out loud about what to cook that night - but i don't really get to be or express myself. on the other hand, though, big cities also scare the shit out of me. everyone's so callous and focused on routine or survival that it feels terrifying. also, i have a lot of trouble living anywhere without sprawling hills & mountains & loads of green.
wish i could live somewhere with smaller town sensibilities but much more politically progressive. no idea if i'm ever going to feel at home, anywhere. anyway, bil is going to come back and raze me to the ground if i get any more off topic.
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i just played (the shit out of)
bloodstained: curse of the moon. hadn't been planning on getting this, but an LRG release was enough to tempt me! for those of you not familiar, i don't much care for castlevania 3/akumajou densetsu, and i've never, ever been hot on inti creates. i gave this a single play and wrote this in the middle of it on my discord -
- but!! to my shock and delight, upon diving into a second playthrough and choosing to kill everyone with zangetsu rather than have them join my team, i started really warming up to it. it seemed as if there was - somehow - an actually designed game somewhere in this hodgepodge mess. usually, games like these purportedly offer a satisfying way to play no matter how you choose, but in actuality end up being so loosely designed that
nothing is tightly done or worth your time. here, though, i think they actually they actually managed to at least make a couple of the modes and mindsets you take into playing this work surprisingly well. that may be short of all of them, but i'll take this, frankly.
it still suffers a lot from putting its finger in too many pies - do you play the default mode with only zangetsu and kill everyone? do you play nightmare mode and mix things up, akumajou densetsu style? do you just run through ultimate like a total psychopath, using that sweet new charge attack to shred levels up? the game doesn't know which of these its best designed around, either, and definitely suffers a bit because of it. the default mode with all 4 characters is absolutely weak as hell and a very awkward experience your first time around. dealing with inti creates' penchant for memorization-heavy, overtly cinematic bossfights and sudden instant death amidst otherwise stakes-less level design while
also swapping between four characters that the levels only kind-of-sort-of accommodate each of isn't exactly a great time.
i feel like the game is probably at its best when you're playing as an upgraded zangetsu, though i frankly have to say it's a toss-up whether i prefer the default mode where you power-up him up, or ultimate mode with its additional charge attack and more challenging boss fights. the former is maybe a bit more designed, but the latter helps mitigate this game's overt length and make it a bit of a blast. while i did end up doing a nomiss clear (ultimate mode without recruiting the magician - it's sloppy and i was mostly just going for the last trophy, but i'm uploading it, anyway), i don't think the game is super well accommodated to 1cc (which is hard to
not get - i never continued on any mode) or nomiss. its sensibilities are more modern, and i think it prefers you play with reckless abandon. death is sometimes sudden and learning a new boss is sometimes not entirely fair (the zangetsu fight might as well be a QTE with how strict the memorization and prompts are), which is definitely something they're aware of, as they stick a free, respawning 1up outside the final bosses.
it's also just a bit too long for it, really. inti creates' has always had a focus on the individual stages or boss fights over the cohesive whole, and this lacks the classic castlevania sensibilities of being meant for a challenging marathon session. it's a bit more akin to something like rondo than it is cv3, but with a character who can potentially haul ass faster than any belmont. though i'm someone much more enamored with a quality, challenging marathon session, occasional games like these will still manage to charm me by sticking enough explosive fun on a slower, more stage-by-stage basis.
anyway! i recommend this, honestly. it's fairly good.