 |
|
Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments (PS4) by jp (Apr 21st, 2024 at 00:26:13) |
This game is way more interesting than I initially gave it credit for (and I might even play all the cases, I'm that curious!)
There's a bunch of cases, you're Sherlock and you gather clues, investigate locations, use your special "eyesight", interrogate suspects, and more. So far, this is what you'd expect.
Some clues become more important and they show up in your "brain" where you can pair it up with another clue (if it's the correct one) to deduce something. Once you have enough of those, you can reach a conclusion. ALSO, once you've reached a conclusion you can decide how to act on it (usually it's either call the cops or call Mycroft - i think...).
What's really wild is that in the brain-connecting clues interface, you can reach lots of different conclusions! (I think it's 4 per case, at least it has been that so far and I've completed two cases). OH! And, as far as I can tell, the you can get it wrong! And, you just move on...the game calls some of them moral choices - which I'm confused by. But the idea that you could arrive at an incorrect conclusion and the game just moves on to the next case is pretty wild. So far, I've gotten both right (because there's abutton you can press that even warns you - like "spoiler alert" and it shows my result in green - which I assume is that I got it right).
Anyways, that's super cool!
Oh, and the game haslots of little mini-games that you play once, and they're part of the story (e.g. taking sherlock's pulse, or arm-wrestling with a sailor)..
The 2nd case is pretty neat - it takes place in the UK, there's a missing train...and there are rich Chilean (and Mexican) businessmen involved! Whoah.
read all entries for this GameLog 
- add a comment 
|
|
Fights in Tight Spaces (PC) by jp (Apr 21st, 2024 at 00:19:38) |
This one's a bit weird and I'll confess I didn't play it that much (just played one mission - which is like 1/5 of a full run?). It looks like it wants to be SuperHot, but it isn't - that's ok. But, it has a "play the movie" of what you just did in a level that you would think would play fast and smooth and super action-y. But now, it's slow and it even pauses between card plays...so it looks rather boring, which is a real shame.
As for the game, there's interesting stuff going on, but I haven't fully understood everything:
a. There's a typical energy system for casting, but a secondary system (combo) that lets you play some cards with a combo cost. If you move in your turn you lose combo so it's sometimes tricky to get everything to pull off.
b. While playing I was disappointed (because it seemed unfair) that there are objectives (bonus ones) in each level - and I wasn't getting any because I didn't know what they were! Apparently they're actually shown on screen, but in a place I did not see or notice.
c. The game seemed a bit slow - I was just moving and getting out of the way as I waited to draw into a good hand of cards. This cuts the momentum for sure and also made it hard/impossible to accidentally hit the secret (not really secret) objectives. So, I'm curious to go back and try again with awareness of the objectives. They should help a lot - in that I'm more likely to try to "solve the puzzle" of each turn and hopefully get the bonus objectives.
d. It's strange that you have to pay to heal, but I thought it was neat that you can upgrade several cards (if you have the money) and that some cards are cheap to upgrade - there's different pricing for them!
read all entries for this GameLog
- add a comment
|
|
Hadean Tactics (PC) by jp (Apr 21st, 2024 at 00:11:34) |
Ok, I've now cleared the game (not unlocked everything, of course) and it really is quite fun and interesting. The 3rd character (which I was waiting on to try out because I wanted to clear the game with the 2nd one) is pretty neat as well though as I write this all I can really remember is that it has an orb mechanic similar to one of the characters in Slay the Spire.
The harder ending is basically another 3 levels, but they get shorter! The last one, if I remember correctly, is just the boss. I don't remember what deck I was running, but it was pretty good - in the sense that I had picked up some good combos..traps and all.
I'm going to stop playing, for now, mostly because the list of games too look at keeps on growing - one a week - because of the design seminar I'm teaching.
read all entries for this GameLog
- add a comment
|
|
Before Your Eyes (PC) by dkirschner (Apr 14th, 2024 at 13:51:13) |
I've been looking forward to playing this, especially after playing One Hand Clapping, which had a singing mechanic. That game activates your mic and you use your voice, raising and lowering pitch, to interact with the game. Before Your Eyes was similar in that the game activates your webcam and uses your eye blinks as input. Before Your Eyes works WAY better than One Hand Clapping, and it's the better game all around. I figure that detecting blinks (yes/no) is easier than detecting notes along the range of human vocal pitch, so kudos to One Hand Clapping for trying.
Blinking in Before Your Eyes doesn't do anything unless you do it over a prompt (mouse over the prompt, then blink to interact) or unless you do it when the metronome icon is visible, which progresses the story to the next scene. The rules are simple, and it became a game in and of itself for me to blink strategically. I imagined that at the end of A Clockwork Orange, Alex's eyes are forced open so that he could successfully complete this game. At times, I felt like holding my eyes open with my fingers. This is because your eyes will get tired/dry/itchy while playing and you will screw up and blink when you don't mean to, skipping dialogue or ending a scene early. That's frustrating enough. Make sure you do the blink calibration, but I think that no matter how well you do it, it will still occasionally register some non-blinks as blinks. This really didn't happen much for me; through calibration, I think I turned the sensitivity way down, and I wonder what effect wearing glasses had. But like I said, it works surprisingly well.
So, the game itself is narrative-heavy. It's an obvious play on the idea that a life can pass in the "blink of an eye." You're picked up by a ferryman of souls who asks you to tell the story of your life. Back in time you go to remember it: your childhood, your parents, your career, etc., blinking your way through each scene. I won't spoil the story, but there is a twist that I absolutely did not see coming (though I should have paid more attention to the mysterious dark scenes) that changes the narrative and the tone of the game. This is one you can spend time reflecting on.
Aesthetically, it's got a simple visual presentation, sort of painterly, with some really nice piano music. The voice acting is good, with the exception of the girl-next-door (who sounds the same at 10 as she does at 40). For some reason, they also used the same voice actor for your dad and her dad, which made the one scene with her dad calling her very confusing ("Why is my dad at her house?!"). But I liked the dad and mom's performances. I was wondering through the whole game if your character was mute and/or on the spectrum because he doesn't talk--only through a typewriter later in the game--and otherwise expresses himself through his prodigious musical and artistic talents. But I think he's just a silent main character, not actually mute.
Anyway, the game won a BAFTA for a reason. It didn't blow my mind, but it's a neat experience that's worth having. It's short too, doesn't waste your time. I'm considering incorporating it into a class.
read all entries for this GameLog
- add a comment
|
|
Stray (PC) by dkirschner (Apr 13th, 2024 at 12:00:39) |
Patrick and I have been playing this together this semester, and finished it a couple weeks ago. We were talking after beating it about despite how simple and straightforward of a game this is, it manages to be something new. Playing as a cat (and being able to do cat things like curl up and sleep, scratch things, knock objects off tables, etc., so cuuuute) was novel, and the setting and story were interesting. But really, playing as a cat. I smiled a whole lot throughout the game. The lil companion robot was cute too.
On the other hand, I was often tired and bored while playing, and literally fell asleep during several sessions. Patrick would be making dinner or something in the kitchen, and I'd snap awake, cat walking into a wall, and I'd pretend I had not fallen asleep, and that I was just watching the cat walk into the wall and thinking. Like how my dad always used to claim he was "resting his eyes" when he'd fall asleep on the couch.
I would not call the game exciting. It was a lot of wandering around the city and talking to robot NPCs, fetching things for them. The city is a really good-looking dystopia, and the robots are quirky, but I wish they had more dialogue. You don't get a sense that many of them have personalities besides whatever one-note thing they do. I mean, the lack of dialogue makes sense, and it's not really "dialogue" since the cat can't talk. The fact that you are a cat adds a whole layer of silly to the game. Like, why has this lil robot befriended a cat? Why are all these robots putting all their faith in a cat to save them? Cats don't understand what we're saying to them, and cats do whatever they want! Playing as a cat in a game where you're doing fetch quests (fetching is dog stuff!) and doing things to help people is very un-cat-like.
But, you know what? The ability to play as a cat and do cat things trumps how little sense it makes, and I would play as a cat in this dystopia again. Idea for next time: more cats. And what do you think? Were there cats at the end?! Optimistically, I think so.
read all entries for this GameLog
- add a comment
|
|
|
|
|
GameLog hopes to be a site where gamers such as yourself keep track of the games that
they are currently playing. A GameLog is basically a record of a game you started playing. If it's open,
you still consider yourself to be playing the game. If it's closed, you finished playing the game. (it doesn't matter
if you got bored, frustrated,etc.) You can also attach short comments to each of your games or even maintain a diary (with more detailed entries)
for that game. Call it a weblog of game playing activity if you will.
[latest site fixes and updates]
[read more]
|
view feed xml
|
 |
|
2157 registered gamers and 3105 games. 7607 GameLogs with 13096 journal entries. 5074 games are currently being played.
More stats
|
 |
|
The Banner Saga (PC) by dkirschner |
| This is amazing. It's like The Walking Dead games, but with some SRPG combat. Bleak setting. ------------- So intense, much decisions. |
|
most recent entry: Thursday 31 December, 2015
|
I didn't quite know what to expect from The Banner Saga. It looked like some sort of viking themed strategy RPG also consisting of leading a caravan from one place to another. I guess that's a decent description in actuality. The caravan gives it a distinct Oregon Trail feel. There's no dysentery, but some of my rations were poisoned, there were fights among caravan members, I ran into bandits, I did ford a river (chose that option as a nod to good ole Oregon Trail!), found lots of cities and ruins, and tons of other events. In that sense it reminded me also of Faster Than Light, or other roguelikes with various events that can happen on the journey. So...Oregon Trail + Faster Than Light + narrative Telltale Games + Shining Force II. If you like all those games, then The Banner Saga will gel with you.
The setting is distinctly bleak. It's set in a viking/Norse inspired fantasy world with rich history that you can explore by reading location descriptions on the map. There have been two great wars. Humans and varl (like viking giants) allied with each other against the dredge (a heavily armored race of humanoids who reminded me of white walkers). Like white walkers, the dredge invade from the frozen north and are relentless. They've got a leader like Night's King (Bellower). Bellower has a key weakness, just as the white walkers (not sure about Night's King), and I haven't read far enough in the Game of Thrones books to know if there are more big similarities. They're different enough, but I got a familiar feeling from the dredge.
You play as several different characters in the first chunk of the game, then it settles you into the role of a human named Rook for most of it. Simply put, the dredge are invading (supposedly) and you are trying to make it from A to B, and then when things go inevitably wrong, to C to D to E, etc. The flow of the game is nowhere as simple or predictable as "go from A to B, event happens, go from B to C, event happens, go from C to D..." You might pass through a town on the way to your main destination and find that there is a little civil war going on within its walls. Will you deal with that or leave them to their fighting? Depending on your choices, you'll gain or lose followers, gain/lose rations, morale, renown, etc. So you eventually leave, and are quickly set upon by a faction from that town who, for example, is pissed off that you intervened. Do you fight them, convince them to come with you, run away? Again, more consequences. Then maybe your scouts spot a huge dredge force ahead. Do you charge, go around, camp out for a while to see what they are doing, try to split their forces, lead them back to the other town? Again, consequences. And so on.
All of these choices and consequences feel very significant. You have a lot of resources to think about when making decisions. You have some number of regular caravan travelers (like normal townsfolk), human fighters, and varl. These can fluctuate. Have a lot, and you go through rations faster. Don't have enough, and some of the larger "war" fights will be tough and you'll incur more losses. Did you run out of rations? Great, then every day people in your caravan will die and morale will drop faster. But hopefully that next town has a market with some rations. Or oh! I'm stumbled upon a small farm with some animals. Do I pillage it or be nice and leave the farmers alone and starve until the next town. When I get to town, I can spend renown (global experience points basically) on rations, on promoting my warriors, or on purchasing equippable items. Which is more important? Should I starve more to promote that varl to level 5? Is not starving and having higher morale better for the caravan than promoting my warriors? If I have high morale, then all my units in combat get willpower bonuses (essentially more extra attack power or actions). Or I can let morale drop so they get no bonuses or even take penalties, but purchase a nice new item or promote a character or two. AAAAAAAAAAAH!
I would literally sit in front of the screen for 10 minutes at a time weighing options. These decisions are brutal because there isn't enough of any resource to go around. You will starve. Your morale will drop. You will not promote all your warriors as much as you wish you could. You will not buy many of the items. It is a fact of life in The Banner Saga.
Combat is of course a huge part of the game. It's familiar grid-style strategy RPG combat like your Shining Force II, Final Fantasy Tactics, Disgaea, etc., but is fresh too. Every character has 5 stats: armor, strength, willpower, exertion, and break, plus one passive ability and one active special ability. Strength doubles as attack power and health. So the more strength you lose, you are not only closer to death, but you don't hit as hard. Losing strength can severely weaken a character and make things difficult. So to counter that, get armor! Usually, you have to whittle down an enemy's armor to do much strength damage. So for example, I have 12 armor and 12 strength, and an enemy has 10 armor and 10 strength. If I make a strength attack against him, I will do 2 by default (my 12 strength - his 10 armor = 2). If he attacks me at full strength, he will do 1 (10 strength - 12 armor = a base damage of 1; you'll always do 1). Or will you? If I have more armor than he has strength, he gets a 10% penalty on chance to hit (which is otherwise always 100%). So really, he has an 80% chance to hit me for 1 strength damage.
So what you do is get their armor down by choosing an armor break attack (modified by your armor break stat). So if you're only going to do 1 damage to an enemy's strength, you might want to hit him for 3 armor instead, which will make it easier to do more strength damage later. This all makes perfect sense once you are playing! Willpower comes into effect because it allows you to modify damage. If I have one willpower, I can use a special attack (costs 1 for each level, up to 3), or I can add a damage to a regular attack. To add damage though, I need points in the exertion stat, which determines how much willpower I can use during an action. So if a character has 3 exertion, and has the available willpower, he can really clobber an enemy. If he would only do 1 strength damage normally, for example, he can use willpower to do 4. Yay! Exertion and willpower will save you a lot and are very useful. All the stats are very useful and, like the other resources, you will not be able to max out all the stats even if you promote the character all the way. You always have to choose wisely!
Finally, the art and music are fantastic, and I enjoyed the story, even though it didn't really resolve. Apparently there is another Banner Saga game in development and these will be just parts of a larger story or something. I dunno. I could have kept playing this for a long time so I was a little bummed when it ended. It doesn't end abruptly or anything. It is very climactic. But it is obvious that the story isn't finished. I really want a sequel.
[read this GameLog]
|
|
|
