The Chatterbox > Gaming

2023 Still Back Loggin'

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vladgd:
1. Frog Detective 1: The Haunted Island



So played a lot of games last year, told myself to take it easier this year, got sick...so kinda not much motivation to plug along on vidya right now. It'll happen eventually but kinda been casually pattering away at Qud, picking at games without much intent to complete them. Obsessing over scotch, which I do remind you, is not vidya.

So basically I stumbled upon a picture of this frog detective man, thought "I like the cut of his jib". Noticed the game is like $5.00, and also very VERY short.

40 minutes later I beat the game, it's short, they tell you and they are right.

This is a cute barely a game game that is kind of impossible to lose. Mostly just talking to people with some fairly entertaining writing and a very deliberate tone which is appropriate for the artstyle. It's a cute little short thing that is priced appropriately. If you like the way it looks and ain't gonna miss $5.00 for under an hour of playtime, there are worse ways to burn five bucks.

I enjoyed it, there's 3 games, I'll probably sprinkle them in throughout the year. It's almost an hour of amusement for five bucks, that's cool.

vladgd:
2. Dragon Quest Treasures



I am a few months late to this game. Originally thought it was a mobile game. It could have been a mobile game released somewhat recently or got announced or something and I got this confused for that. This is not a mobile game, it's a dragon quest spinoff game exclusive to the switch.

Unlike builders which...you can figure what kind of game that was. This one is a bit different. As the title says your main goal is to get treasure. It's a bit more than that though, you have a base that has various upgrades/utilities. You also have a party of 3 monsters by your side who you have no control over, but it works well enough. You can recruit monsters on the field, then you have to hire them proper by paying them various materials. So you'll get a monster you want, see it needs a food item you don't have, so you search for the recipe to get the mats to make the item to get the monster.

There's quite a bit to this game, it doesn't shoehorn you into the main quest so you can really do whatever you want. Enemy levels "sorta" scale, so you can go wheever whenever, and higher level monsters aren't impossible so you aren't punished for trying. Not exactly a hard game but it throws enough at you to keep you on your toes. I'd call it easy, but not faceroll.

I could go through "everything" there is to do, but I'll just not and say there's quite a bit here. Finished in ~25 hours, but there's still plenty to do. May put a few more hours into this title before moving on to something else.

I enjoyed it, square been doing a great job with these dragon quest spinoffs. Builders 2 was a great game, and this one is holding it's own next to it despite being a totally different type of experience.

vladgd:
Metroid Prime Remastered



Not counting this towards the list due to having beaten it before, and it's VERY faithful to the original to where I'd just say they're the same game.

So this came out of nowhere. I bought it immediately...finished dragon quest first...then cracked on this until I beat it. It really was that hard to put down. I kinda standby what I said when the first 90% of the game is fantastic and the last 10% is kinda meh. As soon as you beat omega pirate and you're just looking for remaining missile tanks and artifacts...it's a bit tedious. Going by more recent Metroid titles I beat the "victory lap" before the final boss is usually pretty fun, not so much in this game. Pretty tedious, and I freely admit to looking up all the random missile tanks I missed. Really makes you appreciate the little map icon saying "there is an item here" on newer Metroid titles, they don't tell you where, just that there is something to collect.

The main issue I actually historically had with this game was the room before metroid prime. Metroids who are immune to all of your weapons minus one, so you have to trial and error them because it is random, and they infinitely respawn...as  you have to climb a tower...and they'll knock your ass down. This caused me to hard NOPE in the past, but this time I got lucky ignoring those metroids with "minimal" frustration.

Final boss wasn't as hard as I remember, game wasn't as hard as I remember. Still challenging, probably easier due to the awesome new dual analogue controls. This is a Metroid Prime title with more or less traditional fps controls. The old controls are there if you want em, they also have the wii controls for those who are into that, or a controller gyro aiming hybrid, something for everyone. I swear there was a timed escape sequence in this game? After I beat the boss it was like escape!...and kinda just went cutscene to credits.

That said, while the last 10-15% was less fun, overall I need to rate this game higher. It's a game I will be replaying again in the future.

Music...not much to say. Top 5 videogame ost of all time.

Graphics hard to appreciate the work they did unless you do a side by side comparison, but damn it's a looker. I never noticed the framerate drop in my playthrough, feels very smooth.

I ain't a speedrunner or great at Metroid games, but I completed it on normal in 13:57 with 100% item percentage. Got the whole Samus takes off her helmet scene that we didn't receive in dread...it's good!

Really hoping they do the same treatment to Prime 2 and 3 in the future with these new fangled "traditional fps controls".

Not much else to end on other than buy this game, and here's hoping fusion drops on the gba service sooner rather than later.

vladgd:
3. Metroid II: Return of Samus



Metroid man in a Metroid mood.

Let me first say, the metroid queen is a royal pain in the ass, and as such, while I did beat the game, I did use a single savestate before the metroid queen just to finish this sucker. My whole arm hurts, my wrist hurts, she requires 150 fucking missiles to down, and I'm usually dead before then. Death means going back to the last save point, going up the tunnel, getting max missiles/health, getting the ice beam, killing 8 regular metroids which being not perfect means I will take some damage...then going to attempt the queen. I did this 3 times being totally baffled at how many god damn missiles it takes to kill. I have beaten all of the metroid games minus prime 2, and 3(other m doesn't exist, and hunters I would call a spinoff). In the games I have beaten, metroid queen is the hardest boss out of all of them. Dread bosses require more finesse and knowledge, metroid queen requires a turbo controller which I do not have.

*the day after edit*

Ok this game counts for real for real now, no savestates/rewind. Took another 4 attempts and finally got it. All of the metroids before the queen minus one I can do without getting grabbed, so I usually have decent health. Also when the queen opens her mouth, you don't just morph ball and bomb, you gotta travel into her stomach and lay the bombs. I still don't know how you can do the fight without taking significant damage, and it still IS quite hard, but I got it once and that's all that counts. It's not like the save point is THAT far from the boss, but it's enough to be annoying.

Rage aside, this is an enjoyable little game if you have a map. Without a map...well, that's THE reason I have passed on this game in the past. But in interest of being entertained by a metroid game I haven't completed, I'ma use the tools I have to get through it. Game is pretty friendly for an old game despite the final boss/no map. Save points are placed in fair locations for the most part, final boss/no map aside, I would say this is one of the easier metroid games for the majority of the playthrough.

Like the first metroid on the nes, this game has a quirk with weapon upgrades. As in, the ice beam is required for the final boss, when you pick up the wave beam, you'll need the ice beam later. Unlike metroid 1 where you just don't pick up the wave beam ever, metroid 2 just gives you an ice beam before the final sequence, albeit after the save so every time the queen kills you, you have to get it again, but regardless they know you need it so you can use whatever flavor of beam you like before then.

The upgrades are pretty cool. Coming from the nes game, this game has spider ball which lets you climb...all walls...seriously. All walls that don't damage you for whatever reason can be something you roll on. Space jump is back, so infinity jumping is there, the timing is a bit odd feeling so it takes some getting used to. You also have screw attack late game, and even a varia suit upgrade which noticeably changes your character model. Minor things, but appreciated in something on this hardware.

I played the 3ds "Samus Returns" and going back to the original they did a really good job of taking the essence of this game and making a modern game of it. Like every time you'd kill a certain quota of metroids the next zone would open up by the "lava" or "acid" or whatever draining away. Hard to spoil a 30 year old game, but even the sequence after the queen with the baby metroid clearing your way was a nice touch. No "SURPRISE RIDDLEY IS THE LAST BOSS LOL" like they like doing in those remakes "cough" why do you fight sephiroth in 7r when you barely see him in the original? "cough"

Speaking of the baby, remember the beginning of super metroid, it says "metroid 3". Yeah like, 2 is the game that happened before 3! Sarcasm aside, while there really isn't "story" here, the events in metroid 2 are a pretty big deal going forward, as such, nice to experience.

I also wanted to test a new controller for some of these older games I wanna dive into. Mainly got it for fusion whenever that drops on the switch gba thing, but it works pretty well. The shoulders aren't great, but the d pad is great, it's clicky like the gba sp. For older pre n64 titles, I think it'll do the trick.

Gonna have to put this game on the worth playing list. This wasn't really on my backlog at all, but being as I do have memories of playing it as a kid without knowing what I was doing. Nice to see it to the end.

*edit*

Just watched somebody beat the queen with 2 energy tanks and 60 missiles. I may just need to git gud...though I didn't do the morph ball into the queen thing that much. Probably my main cause for frustration not making that a priority.

vladgd:
Metroid Dread
...again



Metroid Dude with the Metroid 'Tude

Since Prime dropped I have really been in the mood for some damned Metroid.

7:49, not a speedrunner, not a good time, but better than my first time.

This game is still as good as I remember ohh so long ago back in late 2021. Honestly the music, while not bad at all, is the most lacking part of this game. Everything else, ESPECIALLY the god tier controls, top notch.

Actually I lie, those EMMI sections are still annoying. I get wanting to put a 'lil horror in your game about blasting everything to pieces, then obliterating the planet too...wait, no, I don't get it, it just doesn't fit. I think the EMMI just spawn in different places, so I just do the route I'm gonna do, die, and repeat till I get out of the zone. It's annoying, but at least it's quick. Game would be better without them.

BESIDES THAT, I will be playing this again. These damn controls though, it's gotta be one of the best "feeling" 2d games to exist, I can't be crazy for thinking this.

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