Blogging the experience of gameplayhttps://www.gamelog.cl/gamers/GamerPage.php?idgamer=1https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=7892I think I first heard about this game from an internet games website "list" article - probably something like "10 best ds games you never heard about" or something like that. I didn't research it much, and got it as a present for a birthday a few years ago. I've since played it and finished it and really enjoyed it. It's very kid-friendly (the story is even about kids trapped in this other world by themselves and they sort of turn into jerks, but you get them to change their mind) and, surprisingly (to me) is a bonafide metroidvania with all the backtracking that entails. You pick up new abilities that you use to unlock progress on the map, and backtrack as well. The game's key "gimmick" is the titular monster - a sort of "virtual pet" that accompanies you and can help out during fights and such. Enemies you defeat often drop "loot" that you can send the monster to play with (the monster area is on the bottom screen, which is where the monster also rests to heal up and recharge it's power meter). Over the course of the game you unlock new mutations/variations of the monster and it also grows into "older" forms (think baby, kid, juvenile, etc.) that each have their own mutations. It's an interesting system but the game isn't hard enough (or wasn't hard enough for me) for it to really matter all that much. There were a few places that had me spend some extra time before I could clear them. But, I didn't mind because the core experience of exploring, dodging enemies and such was engaging enough - especially when I started to more deliberately make use of the creatures powers and abilities. In keeping with genre canon, the game even has boss fights (each of the kids, they all have monsters that they basically oppress, but when you defeat them they change their mind). The game came out in 2011 though...does this predate with metroidvania indie game boom? I think so?Fri, 09 May 2025 17:47:05 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=7892&iddiary=13389https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=7889I distinctly remember Gris getting a "meh" review score in Edge magazine. So, I was expecting to be underwhelmed gameplay-wise though wowed visually. And yes, I was wowed visually (and aurally too - playing the PS5 version that makes use of the speaker controller in a cool way)...and the gameplay was sort of meh - but, it got better and better the longer I played! Not counting the "hub" area, the game has four zones/levels that each introduce a mechanic, as well as some in-world things to interact with. And so, the game really goes from less to more as later levels incorporate more in-world mechanics as well as require use of the character mechanics you unlock. It also all makes sense with the game's theme and story and balblabla (ludonarrative harmony is what my students brought up). That being said, it's a pretty relaxing and flowing kind of game - nods to Journey in there as well - and there isn't really a fail state, though you can get stuck on puzzles and some dexterity-timing dependent puzzles. There's some swimming bits that are just glorious - as you dash from "water bubble" to "water bubble" (blocks of water in the air) - and I loved swimming up waterfalls. What impressed me the most though were two things: 1. I kept on trying to "go the wrong way" and most of the time, it was the right way. 2. The onboarding and tutorials are really, really well done. You notice a thing, or do a thing, and then that's the thing you have to do later to solve puzzles and so on. It feels very natural and very normal. So, I'm actually excited to try Neva now...Sun, 20 Apr 2025 20:25:52 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=7889&iddiary=13385https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=7888Perhaps the strangest thing for me about this game is that it's a bona fide survival game on the DS. In my mind, the genre is more recent than 2006! I'm thinking of all the indie survival games (craft stuff, gather food, don't die of hunger or thirst) and then ones on Steam..and here's this game - a sequel no less - and it's straight up THAT. Survival. And there's two characters to boot - and you can die (I did, pretty soon it turns out). I guess I was surprised by how quickly I did die - and, from a novice perspective, it felt sudden and a bit unfair. As in, CLEARLY there was nothing I could have done differently to survive. I spent too much time exploring was probably the main problem, and I left the boy behind in a cave we found, and I'm not sure that's what you're supposed to do? You have to keep both of them feed, hydrated and energized, and I felt like I had my hands full with just the one character. I think my biggest mistake was probably not getting the spear for fishing made sooner? But then, I'm not even sure how you're supposed to use it - and all the other food I kept scavenging wasn't really doing much. Like, you'd eat it and not see a huge effect. I'm guessing there's something I'm not understanding and it makes me wonder if a full reset makes the most sense? (instead of loading into a saved game that's already doomed/too heavily stacked against success). Perhaps the strangest thing (for me) about the game is that there's a super simple mini-game for cooking! You collect stuff to cook and also stuff to use as spices and then need to sort of trial and error recipes - though I could set the boy (the character I was not controlling directly) to cook and he'd come up with his own stuff... it's weird. And it's a sequel? I guess I should look up if this is a port to DS from someplace else? It would make more sense in a way - the game is also low-poly 3D as you wander around the environment. Still...I might just put it on the shelf.Fri, 18 Apr 2025 18:46:41 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=7888&iddiary=13384https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=7886I'd heard of the game's hook (or gimmick if you will) as, everyday it's a different 1st person platforming game/run, and if you die - that's it. Play a different run later. I'm guessing stuff changed along the way, though the concept is still here - it's a reasonably challenging rogue-like 1st person platforming game. I've had fun, you have a whip to help you climb and each level has different modifiers (the whip has an ability) and you can pick up boons in your run (if you have enough coins to afford them) and hopefully make it to the end. BUT, you see a bunch of ghosts for everyone else who played this level - if someone died, you can collect their spirit or something for a small heal! During each run you collect keys you can use to buy permanent upgrades, and so you go up the progression ladder of many roguelites... Someone described this as first person temple run, which is close enough? I mean, the levels themselves are a lot more interesting than the "mere" reaction times that temple run goes for, here you can side-step/etc. stuff - and there are different paths, and in all you can be a bit creative for how you approach stuff...I've had fun so far - unlocked all the green levels and I've started on the blue ones!Sun, 06 Apr 2025 19:14:27 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=7886&iddiary=13383https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=7714I only get to play this when my son comes around - and we play together and I realized, yeah - I need to either start practicing seriously or just give up. And, I enjoy playing it co-op, so there's not much sense in practicing, so I decided to give up. We did make it to the 2nd island(?), and played some of the levels there - but I was clearly starting to see a steeper path to success. As in, it too us (mostly my fault) more and more tries to make less progress. He's already played it, beat it too? So, not much point for him really.Sun, 06 Apr 2025 13:37:03 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=7714&iddiary=13382https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=7885I started playing this from the saved game - with new(?) character Blaze on "area 2" (I don't remember the exact name). And, I just could not beat the level - it was set in the casino world, and everything was moving super fast and on "automatic" - so, you just press move and the character zips along, bounces, etc. It's actually quite boring! Because you just do this, at some point you hit an enemy (very few enemies in the game!), lose your rings, and then carry on. But, I'd lose because I'd fall into a bottomless pit, lose three lives and then out. I'd say it wasn't so much frustrating as it was a disappointment. Yes, the point of Sonic is that it's "fast" - that's it's thing. But I find that there's little interaction to the game for most of the levels - you just "go along with the direction". It's neat when sometimes you get bounced around automatically, but for the most part I like to control the character. So, I deleted the save file and started a new one, this time with Sonic in the equivalent of green hill zone. This level has two areas and then a boss. So, it's like 3 levels make up a level. And, the experience was pretty similar - run on automatic for a while, lose rings suddenly or die, repeat with a bit more caution...etc. I did make it all the way to the boss fight - which I almost beat one too many times, and I just realized - ok, this is dumb - at least the boss fights have more gameplay ( you dodge, make an attack when the weak spot is open, etc.) - but it's still a pretty boring/uninteresting platforming experience. So, off to the shelf it goes!Sun, 06 Apr 2025 13:34:08 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=7885&iddiary=13381https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=7884I think there's a weird moment in time when everyone thought that point-and-click style adventure games were dead, but they were not. And, I think this game is an example of a game that was under the radar of "mainstream" games press at the time? Or at least under the radar of the average consumer of videogames... This particular game is also a strange little time capsule - it's a port of what I think was a PC game...also at a time when people where porting all kinds of things to the DS. And, it works! Well, from a UI perspective at least. And it works pretty well. At least compared to another adventure game I played recently on the DS whose name I'm blanking on as I write this. I bounced on that one because it had some character/3D interactions that were awkward and unintuitive. Here, they were much smarter about it (I'm assuming they made UI "concessions" because it's on the DS). So, while you have a 3D character that navigates a static space - you don't actually have to move the character around directly in order to interact with objects/places in each scene. Press one button and all the interactive spots highlight, and you can just tap on them directly. I LOVE this solution - especially because I was never a fun of the "hunt for the pixel" approach that many games had (on PC) - and I'm super glad it didn't come across into this DS version (for all I know, the "here's all the highlights" was also possible on PC). But, the UI triumph aside, I still kind of bounced off this. I got stuck on a puzzle (how typical!) - and what I had to do was leave a location to visit another location and then continued...this seemed really "unfair" to me - as in, unintuitive - mostly because I had assumed I could not leave the locatio in the first place. It wasn't entirely unintuitive - but it was the sort of puzzle where I was sure I should be able to (in this case) get the key out of the aquarium - but it turns out that no, I had to leave the place, do some other stuff, and then come back. At this point I was well into the tried-and-true "try all the things with all the things", except that I did not know I could leave the location I was at. Sigh. So, from glancing at my list of DS games I still need to play...well, I wasn't THAT interested in the story so far and the puzzles didn't feel particularly interesting either..so, it was an easy game to put on the shelf.Fri, 04 Apr 2025 19:16:25 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=7884&iddiary=13380https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=7878I picked this up a while ago because it was cheap. It also had a few games I was curious to try - and while I could (probably) easily boot up MAME and load some roms...why not just try them here. So, this game collects Pac-Man, Galaga, Dig Dug II, Xevious, The Tower of Druaga, Mappy, Galaxian, and Pac-Man VS. I was familiar (have played) most of these so I only really spent time with the ones I was most interested in...The Tower of Druaga, Mappy...and out of curiosity I tried Dig Dug... a. I thought it was Dig Dug, but it's Dig Dug II which I had never played! This was a nice surprise...especially because the game has no digging...which seems really weird. It has a sort of top-down view and you can inflate enemies as per Dig Dug...they die you get points. I actually thought this was pretty lame. But I also noticed the map had these brown lines (that seemed to have no meaning) and these little squares (that also seemed to have no meaning). From reading the menu stuff - pretty impressive actually because it has all kinds of options (you can set dip switches and the like, so good effort here from Bandai Namco!), I realized there was another button in the game! So you can pump/inflate and also "drill". And you have to drill on the square points, this creates a fracture line and portions of the map sink into the sea. So, it's a top down island! Weirdly, my first game I did none of this and got pretty far just on pumping...but the drilling is where the points are! I wouldn't be surprised to learn that Dig Dug II didn't do so well commercially, and perhaps there's actual digging later on? b. The Tower of Druaga - this game looks like a sparse version of Gauntlet meets Pac-Man. It's a maze, you need to get the key and leave for the next level. You're also a warrior with a sword and a shield. Sounds good! Except that I never really got/understood the timing for the attacks and the blocks and ended up dying all the time in ways that felt super unfair. c. Mappy is sort of Elevator Action meets Hard Hat Mack? You need to pick up objects and avoid animals chasing you. You can drop on to trampolines that then let you land on different levels of the building/house you're in. This is fun and fine except that it's super easy to get caught in situations you can't get out of. Like, enemies coming from left and right and you can't escape. I think there might be something I'm missing here - either in terms of strategy or gameplay, because otherwise the game feels too unfair?Sun, 23 Mar 2025 14:11:20 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=7878&iddiary=13378https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=5900Oh wait, I did post! lol. Ok, so here's what I recall from the first time I played - over ten years ago now. I remembered it was fun and interesting and not too difficult and that I started to get overwhelmed with secret stuff and not knowing where I was in the game. It's the sort of game that, now that I started it over again (and I'm 5 hours in, and about 85% complete according to the menu), doesn't go down well if you stop playing for too long. This is mostly because it's not easy to move around the different areas of the game - even with the map - so you have to kind of remember everything... Right now I'm trying to get to 32 cubes - I've picked up a few blue ones (I think it's nice that these also count towards the number you need) - and once I get them, I go through a special door and that should be the end. The game does "hold up" really well - it still feels fun and reasonably fresh. It doesn't help much that I finished Tunic not too long ago, and both games rely a lot on secrets and discovery. Here the secrets feel a bit more awkward - especially the "do this input on the controller" ones...not a big fan of those, and while Tunic and Fez both have them, they seem better in Tunic than here... Now that I'm on the "get the last cubes I need" run - and stuck on an annoying rising-lava level - I'm starting to get more annoyed with the navigation across the world. The map does help - once you figure out how to navigate it, but it's annoying to have to figure out (again) which doors go to where so chart a path back to the beginning. It's not quite "metroidvania backtracking" but worse in many ways...because there's puzzling involved...Sun, 23 Feb 2025 18:22:49 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=5900&iddiary=13375https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=5900Huh. So, I knew I had played Fez for maybe an hour or so. I must have created the GameLog but never actually wrote anything. And here I am today, 2 PS generations later playing it on PS5 and NOT bouncing off the game as I did before.Sun, 23 Feb 2025 18:15:47 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=5900&iddiary=13374