Ultimate Gaming Madness

[Desov2]

Skullgirls basically has an offical release date. It was leaked by Xbox.com hilariously enough. The date is april 4th so YESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYEYSYEYSYEYSYYESYESYESYEYSYESYEYSYEYSYEYSYEYSYEYSYEYSYEYSYEYSYEYSYEYSEYESYEYYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYEYEYEYEYES

[Ben]

So am I the only person that played through Journey and felt like they'd just been taken by an elaborate con? I mean the game was fun and pretty as anything, but I'm seeing all these reviews for it saying after playing it they feel enlightened, or it's a revolution in games as art and shit. It's just a platformer, not even a particularly good one. Just one with really pretty art.

[Matador]

I felt that it was an unfinished game that failed to fully explore it's mechanics. For a game as short as it was, there were some parts that were long and tedious.

Basically, the coolest part about the game was gliding around, and the coolest moment for me was discovering that singing recharged another players scarf. First thing I wanted to do when ipI figured that out? Get 3-5 other people and fly around like a flock.

Apart from that, it felt way too similar to Flower, which was a game I really liked. I thought this was going to be a humongous game where you're a swordless Link exploring the desert.

Still pretty cool, but I've played this game before. It kind of made me feel the same way I did when I went from playing Costume Quest to playing Stacking. A lot of the mechanics and the ideas overlapped. Why did you create a new IP when you were designing a sequel?

[Ben]

yeah from all the talk of discovery and exploration that the game advertised itself on, I was really dissapointed to find out it was a bunch of levels like a typical platformer, I'd expected a huge open world that you have to walk around and figure out what's going on. There was also all this talk of exploring to find out the story of what happened with ended up being "You sit down at the end of each level and someone explains it all to you" which... isn't exploring to find out the story at all. It's just such an incredibly linear platformer.

But the game tricks you really convincingly into thinking it's something different. Wich is why it feels like I've just been conned.

[Matador]

I still liked the floaty feeling it had, though. Also, sliding down the sand was great fun. But again, I really wish that it explored It's mechanic, even if, at the end, there were a bunch of other players there together to sing/fly together to the top of the mountain.

This is what happens when you spend all your budget on art direction and software engineering and not on game design.

[Ben]

Yeah I think mechanically it was great fun, it's a good game and I think definitely worth the price to pay for it, also seriously, it's fucking gorgeous. But I feel like all this talk of it's emotional resonance just seems.. manufactured. Like it places you in this giant wide open desert that;s actually just a narrow corridor through invisible walls. Every time it makes you feel an emotion seems cold and manufactured and manipulative. Like the joy of discovery you get isn't from actually exploring and finding shit, but rather from it guiding you into a specific bit for something the game is telling you "Now you need to find this bit"

[Matador]

The whole experience leaves the player in a passive role. There's maybe one "Puzzle" in the entire game, and even that was made to introduce you to the mechanics.

The interaction with other players in the game was minimal, and that worked really well. I liked that you could kind of lead other players minimally, or you could follow. I don't think the other players ever separated themselves from me. I also felt like I could prompt them to "Sing" when I liked. I think if there was voice chat it would ruin the experience.

I just wish that another players presence mattered more than "Oh my, another player."

[Ben]

I rekon if the game had been a big open world the other players would have mattered more. A massive open world would have conveyed the whole lonliness thing a lot better wich would have made the addition of someone else matter far more to me, as it is though there was no real sense of lonliness cause it was just a small platforming game level.

Also hidden shit that could only be accessed with two people would have been super keen.

[Matador]

Spent the time between my last post and this one playing Journey. I ran into a player with a golden robe and spent the rest of the game with them. They pointed out a bunch of the hidden glyphs. Pretty fun, though I wish I knew how you get that robe. Curious, mostly.

Edit: turns out it's linked to a trophy called Transcendence. after that, you have to go to the chapter select screen to get it.

Next time I play, I plan to spend more time in the desert just flittin' around. There's no reason I have to play the game the way the devs want me to.

[eitlobsaboo]

Saw this on Dualing Analogs..


It's actually not a bad idea.. well for certain levels anyway.. find a large candy and BAM! pac-man suit! Would love to have it in the special levels of SM3DL.. Man those Boo's are annoying.. not as bad as that phantom Mario tho.. I hate that phantom mario.

[Jim North]

I think if there was voice chat it would ruin the experience.

Of course it would. Have you met other people on the internet before? They're assholes.

[Ben]

Of course it would. Have you met other people on the internet before? They're assholes.

Fuck you shit head!

[Jim North]

Of course it would. Have you met other people on the internet before? They're assholes.

Fuck you shit head!

I AM OFFENDED THAT YOU SAID THAT! YOU SHOULD BE BANNED! NO ONE SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO HAVE FREE SPEECH BUT ME!

[Matador]

I agree! Ben everyone from the Internet! I demand that no one ever insult someone ever again!

[Jim North]

See, Penny Arcade knows what we're talking about.

This validates everything ever in my life.