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Post by Squirrel Taskmaster on Jun 13, 2019 0:05:00 GMT -6
I'm all for competition, but when it exists as nothing but power plays in the upper reaches of the industry I've no use for it. Where are the price cuts and concessions to the buyers? That's ultimately the beginning and end of any interest I have it all the jockeying, and so far all this has been is the PC version of console exclusives. Now, it's not like I have any great love for Steam. I resented it the instant it existed, and played my retail copy of HL2 via some workaround I've long forgotten because I wanted nothing to do with it. I wasn't even willing to install Steam until around 2009, because the crazy sales were in full swing. In the last couple years I've functionally abandoned Steam, putting my session into permanent offline mode and am getting my games off GoG/itch.io.
But even after all that the Epic store is a whole other can of worms, for one simple reason: They've got Tencent's claws in them. Tencent ultimately answers to the Chinese government, and that means nothing they've put hands on can be trusted. No amount of arguments, wheedling, or name-calling will ever convince me otherwise after all the compromised software and digital devices I've seen with Beijing's fingerprints on them. We already know EGS is hijacking and cataloging user/system info far beyond the scope of its own operation, and you don't need much of an imagination to guess one of the places where it's being archived. That software will never, at any point, be permitted on any computer I own.
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Post by Squirrel Taskmaster on Aug 21, 2018 10:15:36 GMT -6
Really, this was inevitable. I'm not saying it's cool or anything for the people that wanted it on Vita, just that the Vita's writing has been on the wall for a solid year and a half at least. I'll be surprised if any unreleased crowdfund game going forward that had Vita in its list actually turns up on the system.
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Post by Squirrel Taskmaster on Jun 28, 2018 10:55:45 GMT -6
Yeah, it's just the one that gets spread around as the biggest offender for that kind of thing. The problem turns up in Unreal as well when devs rely too much on what's in the box without customizing it. The same could be said for any engine really, it's more that the bigger ones tend to have a look/flavor to their defaults that makes them easy to pick out after a while. If you've ever seen posts getting fed up with artists for being guilty of "sameface", it's the same sort of deal, where the repetition drives some people to distraction.
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Post by Squirrel Taskmaster on Jun 28, 2018 10:32:11 GMT -6
Just imagine if there were a sequence with medusa head style enemies which also have a really high soul drop rate, and if you fall you have to climb all the way back up from the start.
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Post by Squirrel Taskmaster on Jun 28, 2018 10:30:18 GMT -6
I've managed to get something similar by (what I'm guessing are)pixel-perfect stops on the edges of platforms when dropping to them from above. More notable, unlike your bug it's a visual thing only and you're free to move, she just stays in the falling animation until you do so.
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Post by Squirrel Taskmaster on Jun 27, 2018 20:59:01 GMT -6
P.S.: yeah I'm not a fan of the missile doors from Metroid. I won't lie, I'm a sucker for elemental properties in games and I kinda like the idea of missile doors that require you to hit them with enough damage from a specific element one time to open. It would definitely be cool to have contextual save rooms, though I'm not bothered as such by using the same one in places it doesn't fit. I just think the idea is really neat. Hell, imagine even tying some secrets to it, like say you save twice in the vodka room, then save in the comfy hammock room, and end up seeing a crazy booze-induced dream. Or even end the save process by waking up in a different room with a new cosmetic(someone wrote on Miriam's face) that also acts as a secret passage between parts of the map that could function as a light sequence break.
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Post by Squirrel Taskmaster on Jun 27, 2018 20:48:57 GMT -6
I don't mind it, though I'm a bit torn on it looking too "stock". One of the concerns that pops up around the net is that the game won't do enough to differentiate itself visually, and fall into the trap that a lot of Unity games suffer from where they all manage to look the same due to using default shaders/physics/etc.
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Post by Squirrel Taskmaster on Jun 21, 2018 15:22:05 GMT -6
Never let it be said that MN9 didn't provide any entertainment at all. Part 1Part 2
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Post by Squirrel Taskmaster on Jun 4, 2018 9:48:39 GMT -6
Given the name and the screenshots, I'd say any sort of passive but not baked-in player modification is fair game. Showing cracked walls with the Eye on the one hand, while others might add on-hit effects to your attacks.
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Post by Squirrel Taskmaster on May 31, 2018 17:38:26 GMT -6
Might have wanted to hash out some decisions on details after ruminating over the results too, like what they plan to go with for the extra content availability or the costumes they want to run with.
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Post by Squirrel Taskmaster on May 31, 2018 17:31:14 GMT -6
Hopefully the content to be available to everyone. I didn't sign on so I could sit around giggling and doing my best star-bellied sneech impression.
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Post by Squirrel Taskmaster on May 31, 2018 17:23:42 GMT -6
Chef Miriam as a full gimmick would be funny. Beat things with a frying pan, toss rolling pins that go along the floor like ground missiles from a shmup, summon giant flaming meatballs from the sky to rain destruction on your enemies(call the spell Meateor, of course).
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Post by Squirrel Taskmaster on May 31, 2018 17:05:37 GMT -6
Given the small size of the files in the game's folders, I'd think there's a pretty good chance the music was made on some type of chiptune tracker. The only question is which one, and whether NSF is compatible with the output. I'm guessing they're prooooobably encrypted or whatever, but who knows; maybe they were done in a popular tracking software with a well-known file spec(that someone familiar with such things would recognize) that would make conversion possible.
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Post by Squirrel Taskmaster on May 29, 2018 10:28:38 GMT -6
After a fashion Simon's Quest was the first Metroidvania, if far more open-ended in progress and esoteric on puzzles. If they could keep those two traits(haha, well, maybe at least make the clues a bit less vague), I'd say go for it.
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Post by Squirrel Taskmaster on May 27, 2018 19:34:21 GMT -6
Yeah, there are a bunch of ending/gameplay variations depending on how you handle things.
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Post by Squirrel Taskmaster on May 23, 2018 14:02:15 GMT -6
1) Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night actually needs a quest system? Do you believe a quest system is something that adds more depth and replay value to the game or may be something distracting and not very useful? A varied and situational question. At the root I don't think this kind of game needs a quest system, since your primary source of new goodies is chests or monster drops(and in a way stats gained via leveling up). And then, you have to ask yourself what kind of quests are even involved. Do you have something like PoR that's more or less achievements that give a useful reward, or do you want it to be "real" quests with a heavy lore component that isn't required but can supplement the main narrative? In general I don't think they add to replay, unless they're a quest you can only unlock on a new game+(in which it's less value and more held hostage), but those can be maddening for people who would rather just go through a game on the hardest difficulty and fullest experience from the outset.
2) What character / characters do you believe will offer quests for Miriam to finish? Well really, they're sidequests. Anything you can interact with that isn't trying to kill you is fair game to start one from.
3) What kinds of quests do think the game will have, or would you like the game to have? 4) What kinds of prizes do you expect the quests to offer? Rare or exclusive materials? Gear? Shards? I'll combine these two. I do like the notion of achievements-with-benefits. Roughly, the way I'd do it if it were up to me would be to have several that offer progressive bonuses that will help power you up a little as you play, but to flesh it out I'd like to see some that are very specific to your play style, and maybe even some more tricky ones that offer heavier specific rewards when you take the actions to complete them. Here's sort of a rough skeleton of what I mean. First some generics: <School of Hard Knocks I> - Take 1000 damage - max HP +10 <School of Hard Knocks II> - Take 5000 damage - max HP +20 <Hocus Pocus I> - Use magic 200 times - max MP +10 <Hocus Pocus II> - Use magic 1000 times - max MP +20 Now some focuses: <Rawhide I> - Kill 300 monsters with a whip - whip base damage +3 <Kill it With Fire I> - Kill 300 monsters with a fire element attack - base damage of fire element attacks and spells +3 <Brutalizer I> - Deal 2500 physical damage - Strength +2 And as you can probably guess, if your weapon of choice was a flaming whip, you'd be triple-dipping on the bonuses. Lastly, the ones that rely on much more specific actions: <Tesla's Whipping Boy> - Defeat Baron von Mookdemon by electrocuting him with the pylons in his laboratory - base damage of electric element attacks and spells +15 BUT! We don't want to have a situation where a player feels like they don't have a choice either and have to go for the questchievement on a one-shot deal like a boss. So maybe the mechanics of the fight usually require you to short out the pylons in the boss room by zapping yourself; the previous quest is completed by making the boss eat his own zaps instead. However, assuming you do the normal self-short method, you instead get: <Static Cling> - Defeat Baron von Mookdemon while grounding the electrical output of the pylons in his laboratory - defense against electric damage +15 We're not done yet though. Let's say the pylons, if left completely alone, will do more and more damage over time to you. The idea is that you either take less damage by getting directly zapped, or get the boss zapped instead during the fight. Either way, unless one of you is in the area of effect you're going to take the stacking damage, with the intent that you're going to die if you don't make it happen. This brings us to the third possible quest of the fight: <God of Thunder> - Defeat Baron von Mookdemon without either of you grounding the pylons in his laboratory - electric attack and defense +10 A bit better numbers-wise, but it also requires you to either tank the major damage or kill the guy fast enough you don't get fried. In the end you only get one bonus from the fight, but all are useful and the player can make a choice of what will be most useful to them. One major problem with this idea though would be that you'd have to spoil people with the descriptions ahead of time to let them know what they could have done differently, or reveal it afterwards and force them to decide if they want to reload the game without saving to try for a different outcome.
Now... all that long-winded BS said, it's not likely anything like that is happening; at most I wouldn't expect to see anything other than the generic-types. Going back to quests that are important to the story, to be done well they should be a bit longer, and have more tangible rewards like better armor and weapons. Maybe even a few that award crystals you can't get as monster drops. You could have this be reactive too, like if the player has been doing a lot of ice damage you get some equipment with a bonus to that damage type. I'd prefer if they have some kind of puzzles, otherwise you just get what amounts to "Kill a Void Bear and bring back a Non-Euclidean Bear Ass".
5) What do you think about continuous or unlimited quests? This exist in some MMORPGs. Some kind of quest that can be repeated infinitely, and you can receive the same reward again and again. Not a horrid idea, but needs some careful implementation. If the reward is particularly useful, you run the risk of the player being able to use it to cheese the game. If it's of limited use, or only useful the first half of the game, you get people sitting on a pointless mountain of the reward long after they have any reason to do anything with it. To an extent drops from monsters also suffer this problem, especially if they're a consumable like a potion or whatever. It might be better to tie this sort to another type of progression, like killing enough treants gives you a board, enough boards and the safe zone with shop NPCs gets fortified allowing them to sell better stuff, but maybe you can choose where the boards are placed and that determines roughly what will be available to you first.
6) Would you like if the game had some kind of quest that is mandatory to progress? Or maybe some quest that, if you don't do, you don't get the full castle / ending / true final boss? Yes, absolutely. I'm a sucker for the hidden-quest-to-unlock-real-final-areas thing. On a side note, always give such hidden areas the most badass song in the game(except possibly the final boss music), it really cranks up the mood. For more mid-game required quests, I go again to choice and would suggest having a selection players can choose, with so many needed to progress. Or alternately, you can select the order to tackle them in, but each holds a piece needed to get back to primary progress. It doesn't even have to be blatant either, the game can simply come to a point where you either go over The Spooky Walkway or cross The Lake of Slime, each giving a new power, the NPCs setting you a task in each that leads to a power. But, once you come to the end of either you find you need both powers to advance through That Tower on the Other Side of Both.
7) Would you like if the second and third character's modes also had quests to complete? Simple answer, yeah. However, it's long-since standard in games like this that secondary characters will almost never have the degree of fleshed-out quests or objectives that the main one does, and might strip out everything except the most raw combat aspect of the game. Also, as secondary characters, how complete is their own story and motivations compared to the main one? Do you have the time or interest to breath them full of purpose the way you did with the main character? How much room is there for them to do something else within the framework being held up by the leading role's jaunt through the game? So sure it's better, but I don't expect it.
8) Portrait of Ruin had 37 quests. Order of Ecclesia had 36 quests. How many quests do you expect and/or want Bloodstained to have? Depends entirely on what they are. If it's questchievements the only real limit is how many extra conditionals you feel like coding in. If it's full-fledged quests, obviously there will be fewer, further influenced by just how complex they are and how much writing goes into them.
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Post by Squirrel Taskmaster on May 16, 2018 20:04:05 GMT -6
I want a Jungle Adventure Miriam where she's wearing one of those jungle explorer outfits and has a machete to help cut her way through the jungle and any enemies she may encounter Now I'm imagining Miriam done up kind of like Lara Croft, except with a pith helmet that has holes for her horns and instead of guns she's got a whip with a soul crystal acting as a bladed tip.
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Post by Squirrel Taskmaster on May 16, 2018 20:01:21 GMT -6
GOG tends to be very glacial in adoption of new titles and OKing patches, so I wouldn't expect much quickly. Though don't get me wrong, I'll still take that over the alternative.
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Post by Squirrel Taskmaster on May 15, 2018 9:56:56 GMT -6
1) Yeah, it definitely feels like a bit of a mirror of the way Death was presented in the PS2 and DS-era games.
2) I'm ambivalent, but tying in to #3, I think it works better this way so there's an excuse to have Miriam be playable. The series is just starting and she's the face of it, it's preferable for her to be out there.
3) No real feelings on this either, we haven't played the games yet and so there are huge gaps in our understanding of the characters' motives, outcomes, lore, coolness, etc. We're going in too blind at the moment still for me to have very strong opinions to this end.
4) This is the perfect way to have done a game in this style. Maybe you take Dude A and you skip a really nasty part of the level, maybe you take Dude B and you can find extra powerups to make the boss easier.
5) Presentation-wise they're fine, but this is really going to come down more to playing the game than anything else to see how the attacks feel and flow. Does something with decent area denial on paper take so many hits that monsters can tank through anyway? Does a super-strong attack have such low speed or range that it's extremely situational? Gotta try them first-hand to know. As a bit of an example, I see Mega Man 9 as a gold standard in ability use. Every boss weapon is well-balanced in number of shots, multiple enemies and stage hazards that are fully exploited by each weapons' properties, and they're all still very useful in generic non-tailored situations.
6) Yeah, more or less.
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Post by Squirrel Taskmaster on May 11, 2018 23:13:24 GMT -6
This is perfect, since I've been wanting something closer to a Classicvania for quite a while. I started giggling like a loon when I saw all the Castlevania III influence.
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