Author Topic: 52 Games Challenge 2021  (Read 42709 times)

Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
« Reply #180 on: June 25, 2021, 11:28:01 am »
33. New Pokemon Snap (Switch)

I have a ton of wonderful memories around wanting and finally getting the original Pokemon Snap for my birthday in 1999. I played the hell out of that game and literally 100% did everything you could in that game. So when they announced a new Pokemon Snap game and at least superficially it looked like a faithful sequel to the original I was beyond excited to fnally play it. And as fate would have it, I ended up getting it for my birthday as well 22-years after I got the first one. But is New Pokemon Snap as good at the first one, or at least as good?


Almost. New Pokemon Snap is an awesome looking game that utilizes the same great rail shooter style mechanics as you take pictures of various pokemon in their natural settings. There are way more stages in New Pokemon Snap, especially when you factor in the Night Time and Illumina versions on many of he stages. I found the variety to be very welcome, although I didn't feel like the stages or Pokemon within them were as memorable as the N64 game. Speaking of Pokemon, there are way, way more than in the N64 version and represent a diverse spread across all generations of Pokemon. This game really highlighted how outof touch I am with Pokemon beyond Gen 6 though; I have somewhat accepted that I've outgrown newer Pokemon and as a result I don't know or recognize many of the newest additions to the Pokemon roster. Still, it was fun snapping pics of them all the same. My biggest gripes with New Pokemon Snap have to do with some of its gameplay mechanics when didn't seem to work as well as the original game. Also, the tacked on story and characters were superfluous to the point of the game, as was the excessive handholding during the first two hours or so of the game. Soundtrack was pretty good though. Despite more stages and more pokemon, I still prefer the original N64 game, but as a new entry I was not disappointed with this one and would definitely recommend it to anyone who was a fan of the original. (6/25/21) [35/50]
« Last Edit: June 26, 2021, 12:13:11 am by bikingjahuty »

Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
« Reply #181 on: June 25, 2021, 11:51:58 am »
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Quote from: Legend
bold games are games that have been beaten, previously beaten, or are unbeatable.
italicized games are in progress.
standard games are games I am not currently trying to beat.
strikethrough games are games that have been abandoned.

126. Mega Man: Dr Wily's Revenge (GB)
After finishing Tron Bonne, I decided I'd play through the handheld Mega Man games before jumping into Legends 2.  I'd say as a nice break, but that's dumb because I love Legends and am not that big of a fan of the Mega Man proper games, but it's more of get the disappointing food out of the way before you get to the good part of your meal.  Being the first entry, it's not very refined.  You do the regular level thing and fight 4 robot masters from Mega Man 1, do a wily stage, then fight 4 robot masters from Mega Man 2 with no stages just straight fight, and then fight Wily.  I like to think of the GB as equivalent to the NES, even though I'm sure it really isn't, so it's weird to me to see such a small game in comparison.  The platforming and such work well enough, but it has its issues.  Most of these issues are resolved in other entries via QoL and improvements in hitbox calculations.  That all said, I appreciate the shortness.  You get 8 bosses, 5 real stages, and no boss rush. But I believe this one is very Mega Man 1 with no rush or sliding.  After the 4 MM2 bosses, but before Wily, you face an original character boss Enker who gives you the Mirror weapon.  You have to use the mirror weapon to reflect Wily's shots to kill him.  Honestly, pretty great setup, fun original boss and original weapon to defeat the final boss.  Major points for making a down port feel original and worth playing, if only at the end.  I don't think I'll wind up recommending any of these handheld games, but if I were to, I feel so far that this might be the one to recommend.
Rating: Soft pass.

127. Mega Man II (GB)
So with this one, you start with the 4 MM2 bosses you didn't face in the first one and then fight 4 bosses from MM3.  I assume by the end you will have fought all of the bosses from 2-4 and half the bosses from 1 and 5, because my understanding is V has all original bosses and none of this half and half stuff.  Graphically the game is an improvement over the first, it reintroduces sliding and Rush mechanics.  This is also the only one not made by the same dev, just a note.  This one brings back stages for the second half bosses.    I'm reading back on it and it sounds like Inafune felt the developer didn't understand MM and had never been acquainted with it and as such this game's design felt off from the series and was why they went back to the original Wily's Revenge dev.  Interesting.  This one did the same as the first and gave you an original character with an original weapon, and the weapon must be used to defeat the final boss.  Though I think you could use other weapons, this was just "easier".  It was an interesting take, but even that original weapon didn't work well because you'd take damage when you use it.  I do find it interesting that while this is the bastard child game, they acknowledge its existence and even include Quint in MMIV.
Rating: Soft pass.

128. Mega Man III (GB)
Graphics improvement again, where I'd say this is on par with the quality of the NES games (even though it is monochrome).  I'd even say the levels themselves are starting to represent their NES counterparts.  I imagine they're slightly different, but they have all the same stuff I remember from playing the originals. Again you face the rest of the MM3 bosses and then 4 bosses from MM4.  I imagine MMIV will start off with the rest of the MM4 bosses and finish off with half the MM5 bosses.  I appreciate that they aren't deciding to repeat bosses, because they easily could.  As a retroactive statement, that applies to the whole handheld series, I expected the 2nd half bosses, at least one right, to be weak to a weapon from the 1st half of bosses, but they aren't.  So you don't have the normal Rock Paper Scissors thing going on.  By that I mean there 2 MM(1 old + 1 new) boss that isn't weak to any weapon in the game and 2 MM(1 old + 1 new) boss whose weapon isn't good against anyone.  I was hoping it'd go full circle and they'd make some new MM boss weak to an old MM boss's weapon.  Again they do the thing where you fight an original enemy and get an original weapon to be used against Wily.  I'm actually not opposed to this concept and am curious why that wasn't something the mainline series took on.
Rating: Soft pass.

129. Mega Man IV (GB)
This one introduces a currency and shop mechanic with P Chips.  This is actually the game in the series that originated the currency and shop model seen in Mega Man 7 and future games.  So at the least this is noteworthy for creating a mechanic that was deemed so good it should be pulled into the series proper.  I decided to read up and see what else this title is good for and I see they brought back the boss rush towards the end of the game and I am full of disappoint, it's not a huge thing, but it's always been my biggest peeve with this series as I hate refighting bosses.  Honestly, I can't decide.  I want to say I shouldn't recommend any of these handheld Mega Man games.  I'll maybe retroactively make my decision after V.
Rating: Soft pass

130. Mega Man V (GB)
This is the first handheld one with fully original story and enemies.  You face "Stardroids" which are robot masters named after planets.  You've got the 8 planets, pluto, the moon, and the final boss Sunstar. ::)  This one follows the 4 then 4 model of the handheld Mega Man games, but Mercury is weak to a weapon only obtained from the 2nd 4 bosses, creating the full rock-paper-scissors model of the mainline games, so this is the only handheld game that offers the full circle, which also means Mercury has no weakness in the 1st 4, because you can't even earn his weakness until end game.  Kind of a shame that they did it this way instead of just letting you access all 8 up front.  This one has the boss rush plus it has you fighting all of the original bosses from the 1st 4 games.  Then you fight Wily and then you fight Sunstar, a little weird that Sunstar is over Wily and then turns out to not really be a bad guy or something, just feels backwards, should've just made it Sunstar then Wily.  Honestly, since this one is fully original, acknowledges the original ideas from the previous 4 entries, and has the most QoL improvements, I'd say if I were to recommend a handheld Mega Man game, this would be the one.
Rating: Soft recommendation

131. Mega Man Xtreme (GBC)
This game makes my head hurt.  You get 3 MMX bosses and 1 MMX2 boss.  So you face Chill Penguin, which gives you the weakness for Spark Mandrill.  Cool, makes sense.  Spark Mandrill gives you the weakness for... Storm Eagle?  Well that ain't right.  Storm Eagle really has no weakness in this game and you basically have to do the fight with the buster since you don't have Chameleon sting.  Then you face Flame Stag the X2 boss, and he's weak to storm tornado?  Okay, whatever.  I don't remember his level from X2, but it feels very Armored Armadillo.  Just feels dumb that they didn't just do Penguin, Mandrill, Armadillo, Octopus.  Apparently you unlock Hard Mode after beating the game which gives you different robot masters and levels to do, but I'm just not doing that.  This game really wasn't good.  It should've been saved for the GBA.  The wall jumping mechanic just doesn't work well, it's nearly impossible to do dash jumps.  Basic controls doesn't assign dash to anything so you press down + jump like OG mega man, well you can't dash jump like that.  You can assign dash to the start button, but can you imagine how terrible that would control on a Game Boy?  At least on a Gameboy advance you could assign it to L.  I'm just sad that this game is so bad, it could've been serviceable on the GBA I'd imagine.
Rating: Hard pass

132. Mega Man Xtreme 2 (GBC)
Okay, first off, this game didn't even offer a way to map dash to anything... so I figured out, accidentally, that if you double tap forward, you dash.  I don't think that worked in the first game, otherwise I would've noticed it, but maybe.  At this point I'm pretty Mega Man'd out, luckily the last game I'll probably play is Legends 2 which is a completely different kind of thing.  I was expecting this to be MMX3-X4 bosses but half the bosses were still from MMX, and I didn't look up the other two, but I'd guess X2.  Weaknesses seemed to mostly work this time around, but this game is designed to be played multiple times and collecting all of the power ups across multiple playthroughs.  Story was pretty garbage, gameplay was just as bad as the last.  Really should've waited for the GBA to develop something so ambitious.  One of the boss fights was near impossible, only Zero could hurt him or one specific weapon from X.  Zero can't get close enough to hit without taking damage because melee and his health is weak and low because he wasn't the main character.  X burns through the weapon too fast.  I didn't realize there was a shop until after that fight, so had I went to the shop and got the 1/2 energy upgrade thing, maybe it would've been easier, but it was still no bueno.
Rating: Hard pass.

133. Metroid Fusion (GBA)
I've been meaning to play this one and I saw that it was part of the 3DS ambassador program so I've been slowly chipping away at this game when my Vita is charging.  It'll probably be a pretty slow play for this one.  I'm disappointed that the 3DS VC GBA stuff doesn't offer save states or anything.  Can't even natively do sleep mode in VC mode.  That said, this game seems to have a sleep mode built into the game which is interesting.  The plot for this game is confusing me so far, and I'm hoping it'll get cleared up.  I do actually consider stop playing on 3DS and setup my GCN with hdmi and gameboy player and play on a TV and stream it, because I'm getting 0 advantages from playing on 3DS.  I'm getting about far enough into the game that I need to make the decision soon otherwise I'm fully committed to 3DS.  I haven't been streaming because I've been in so much pain because of my work related injury. At this point I've committed to the 3DS version.  I'm act Sector 3, which is the 4th sector. ::)  I started largely following a walkthrough at some point because you couldn't progress without going through hidden walls and such, which I don't recall being a normal thing in previous games.  And since I was doing that I largely started collecting all the pickups as the guide suggested, but I still only wound up with like 50% item collection at the end of the game.  My understanding is that this game sort of directly leads to Dread, so I knew I needed to play it soon.  I might read up on the series before jumping into Dread when it comes out, but I probably won't play Zero Mission, 2/AM2R, or replay Super Metroid.  I'm expecting once Nintendo does the GB/GBC thing on NSO, if it happens, that Metroid 2 will be there and if they happen to do a GBA thing it'll have Zero Mission and or Fusion.  Here's hoping.
Rating: Solid recommendation

134. The World Ends With You: Final Remix (NS)
Finally started this game.  I had intended on starting it a while back, but I noticed it seemed like it's touchscreen game, so I was waiting for a time when I could focus on handheld stuff.  With my injury, I'm playing a lot of handheld stuff so wherever I'm laying around resting, I can just play.  I initially tried playing this just system only, but the game wants joycons at least on and connected otherwise you can't play, which is dumb for a game that seems very designed around touchscreen only game play.  You can't do anything with the joy cons without using Wii style pointer controls.  It's infuriatingly dumb.  I don't really get this game, and I don't imagine it'll wind up high on my list.  It doesn't help that this game has been overhyped to a point that it's essentially a meme.  There's no way it'll live up to its meme status.  It took almost the entire first section of the game for the game to really grab my interest, and even then, the gameplay was always a deterring factor.  The story for this game is actually pretty interesting, but the gameplay holds it back so much.  I'll admit it's commendable that they decided to come up with such an original gameplay mechanic, it's just not a very good gameplay mechanic.  The English dub for the anime just started, so I intend on watching that, if it's good and it works as a replacement for playing this game, I might update my recommendation to watch the anime.  It's a great story, but that's about where the compliments end, it feels like a poor adaptation of an anime, but it was a game first.
Rating: Hard pass

135. Night in the Woods (X1)
I had been meaning to play this game for a long time, even started it earlier this year, but kind of abandoned it.  It's leaving game pass soon, so I finally bucked up or hunkered down whatever you want to call it and finished the game.  I'm personally not big on dialogue in games unless I care about the characters, story, lore, etc.  So I have the trouble starting games like this and especially visual novels (not that this is).  So after like 7 in game days, I started caring, this is only a problem in that I missed a lot of lore and stuff in the first 7 days.  I won't be replaying this game, but it does make me want to replay it, and it probably wouldn't be so bad because there is so much content I missed I could manage to mostly not repeat a lot of stuff, or at least have enough differences in the second playthrough that it won't be so bad.  That said, I didn't get a lot of background on Gregg and Angus because I chose to hang out with Bea almost the entire game, mostly because my wife said she hung out with Gregg, so I wanted a different experience and if she were watching, she could also get a different experience.  That said, I really like Bea as a character, she's a very deep and well fleshed out character with a real strong backstory.  I'm almost concerned I wouldn't like Gregg's stuff as much, but Bea's content really emphasizes how much of a garbage mammal Mae is.  The entire game does a real great job of emphasizing how garbage Mae is as a person.  And even by the end, I'm not convinced that Mae is gonna change, other than that Bea seems to want to help Mae get help from a real doctor and not their local wack doc.  Game is like 80% just wandering and chatting and Mae being garbage, 15% detectiving, and 5% mysteriousness, rise to climax, and resolution.  There's just a lot of nothing going on in this game until right at the end.
Rating: Soft pass.

136. Night in the Woods: Longest Night (X1)
I wanted to not count this, but historically I count these things.  It's basically a side game that just has you looking at constellations and hearing stories about them.  Not much to it.  It's free on itch.io and stuff, but it doesn't really add anything to the game.  Honestly, should've just been part of the main game as a random evening event or something.
Rating: Hard pass

137. Night in the Woods: Lost Constellation (X1)
Okay, this one is at least different.  It plays different, has different mechanics, and is kind of enjoyable.  More or less one giant puzzle type of thing.  It only adds lore in that in the main game you talk about this person and their constellation.  So it's only tangentially relevant, but it was supposed to be a demo of systems that could go in the game, but as far as I'm aware, none of these mechanics were introduced in the game at all, so it's actually novel in concept.  That said, it still doesn't add much, and some of the puzzles were confusing and I think I had to look up what to do.
Rating: Hard pass

138. Katana Zero (X1)
A bunch of games got added to the list of leaving soon for Game Pass and as always I try to play the games that interest me from the lot.  I passed on the physical of this game, because I wasn't confident that it'd be a game I'd want to come back to.  Pretty pleased that I didn't buy it because I really didn't enjoy this game that much.  The game started on a bad note for me because I thought the referenced "rewind" feature would be an actual rewind feature, but instead it was really just a retry like every game does, they just called it rewind to make the plot make sense in dying.  That's fine, but it was definitely a letdown.  Other than that, gameplay was pretty fine, other than that given the unforgiving nature of the game, some later areas were fairly long which led to dying meaning that you'd have to redo a lot of stuff, which got frustrating.  Story wise, the game was kind of garbage.  A lot of stuff didn't make sense and the story had no real ending or resolution and left off on a giant cliffhanger, which means another game is coming, but I'm not hyped for that or down for how it left things off.
Rating: Soft pass

139. Heave Ho (PC)
Another game pass game leaving. I think I didn't realize this was PC only for Game Pass, it was part of why I passed on the Switch release, but it's fine as I am willing to play on PC.  Seemed like a Snipperclips type of game that should be played local co-op, but I played solo because I wanted to get through it and I wasn't confident that my wife would enjoy playing the game.  Controls are actually pretty good, I was expecting closer to "simulator" games where the controls are frustrating on purpose, but it worked pretty well.  The game relied a lot on physics of throwing yourself across the level, that got a little tough in spots, but it led to some interesting and cool stuff.  I really liked that when you die, you explode into a splooge of ink, it left me laughing in a lot of situations.  Game seems like it would be fun and/or frustrating in co-op, so it could definitely be an interesting party type game, but as a solo experience it loses its luster and value pretty quickly.
Rating: Soft pass

140. Fallout: New Vegas (360)
Don't really know why other than I was hurting because of my injury and I really didn't feel like streaming, so I played something I've beaten before.  So I sat and played this on my XSX for 10s of hours.  I generally have the problem of replaying this game on console to be the lack of mods.  I see the things I didn't care for the game about that mods fixed and I can't do anything about it on console, but just to deal, which is unfortunate.  It makes me realize that the replay factor is definitely diminished for this game compared to the PC version or even Fallout 4 because of the lack of mods.  That said, the world, the systems, the characters, the quests, this game is still amazing.
Rating: Highly recommended.

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« Last Edit: October 06, 2021, 08:28:47 am by ignition365 »


Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
« Reply #182 on: June 26, 2021, 03:01:20 am »
34. Spiderman and Venom: Maximum Carnage (Genesis)

I remember seeing this game everywhere in the mid 90s. Between ads in gaming magazines and also seeing it at the rental store a lot, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't partially intrigued by it growing up. However, I've never been much of a comic book guy, especially now with how oversaturated pop culture is with super hero crap,  but regardless I've always had at least an interest in trying this game out. Well, over two decades after first seeing this game in stores I finally have done just that!


Maximum Carnage is not a great game, even for a beat em' up. I feel like for nearly everything I like about this game there's something equally as strong that makes me dislike it. The end result is me feeling fairly meh towards most parts of this game. Howrever, on aspect of the game I am not neutral on, like at all, is its gameplay. Maximum Carnage's gameplay is pretty bad; between the super cheap, broken boss fights, the poorly implemented mechanics, and some of the most horrendous recycling of enemies and levels I've ever seen, this game is not that much fun to play. I suppose your mileage will vary depending on how much of a comic book fan, or more specifically a Spiderman fan you are, but for me I can't see myself ever wanting to play this game again, ever. (6/26/21) [22/50]

Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
« Reply #183 on: June 26, 2021, 03:03:10 am »
Been playing games like crazy again, so now I'm sitting at 73 games beat so far for the year.  I'm currently playing through Rogue Legacy, taking advantage of Cross-Save playing at night on my PS5 and during the day playing on my Vita.  I'm currently level 51 I think and I've beaten the first boss, this game is gonna be such a long and arduous process.  I honestly could see me abandoning it at some point just because of all of the dookie I've got to go through to get through it.


I'm in the same boat right now, except I didn't play anything between late February and early May. Despite this I'm still ahead for the year, but this month has been filled with games and shows no signs of stopping.

dhaabi

Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
« Reply #184 on: June 27, 2021, 01:32:45 pm »
25. Catherine: Full Body || PlayStation 4 || 06.25.21

Being familiar with the debut Catherine after having played it in 2015, I was excited to try out what an updated re-release may bring. However, much of what lies within the game's numerous endings is unknown to me even now, as I've only unlocked one ending to the base game. As far as Full Body itself, it brings two great quality-of-life changes in particular that are simple yet extremely effective: highlighting the path one can take when hanging from blocks and tilting the camera so the player can see the player-character move about as they navigate the backside to blocks.

For those unfamiliar with Catherine, it is an action-puzzle title that stars protagonist Vincent Brooks as he has begun to experience horrifying nightmares which he must climb atop a seemingly never-ending tower of blocks all while in the midst of a troubling love life. As someone who is content with his static life and the familiarity it brings, Vincent is in a stable relationship with Katherine who is now looking to advance their relationship; nevertheless, uncertainty and new trouble begins as a new woman Catherine mysteriously enters his life who is carefree and promiscuous. While the game Catherine focuses on the dilemma between Katherine versus Catherine, Full Body adds a whole new dimension to the story by introducing Qatherine or Rin into the plot. Rin is a young woman Vincent crosses paths with who has undergone some sort of memory loss.

Wanting to experience all of Full Body's new content, my initial playthroughs with Full Body have been pursuing a relationship with Rin. Despite the extra element that does dramatically change the story and is a fresh take, I'm of the opinion that adding Rin to the narrative diminishes the integrity to the game. As mentioned before, Catherine offers a narrative that is focused as Vincent must discover what he wishes to gain from his future: a life with Katherine or a life with Catherine. However, the third element of Rin seems to place both aforementioned characters to the sidelines, and especially so if the player is pursuing a Rin path.

As someone who has not experienced many Atlus games, I can still comment that Catherine is a great game. Just as what you'd expect, Catherine is full of style with an interesting story, in addition to great characters and character development. Both Catherine and Catherine: Full Body mix action-puzzle sequences with plot-progression adventure segments so perfectly. And, knowing Atlus, all of these elements are packaged with an impressively executed style and ambience.

As an aside—it's challenging to recommend Catherine or Catherine: Full Body over another. Some may enjoy the added third element with the introduction of Rin, whereas some may not. While I personally think Full Body introduces elements that detract from the original story, it's still a great game in its own right. They're just different. If you're interested in the series, perhaps try out both. Also, I've already begun to play the game again to unlock the other endings. 3/13 completed so far!
« Last Edit: June 27, 2021, 09:18:59 pm by dhaabi »

Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
« Reply #185 on: June 28, 2021, 01:03:13 pm »
Main List
Previous List

Quote from: Legend
bold games are games that have been beaten, previously beaten, or are unbeatable.
italicized games are in progress.
standard games are games I am not currently trying to beat.
strikethrough games are games that have been abandoned.

141. Forza Horizon 4 (XS/Cloud)
I had intended on not including games like this this year, because in previous years I did include it and I wanted a bit more of a pure backlog clearing experience for my list this year, but I've spent so much time on these games they really should be included.  They should be included at the least as a sort of return review to these games.  The majority of my return to this game has been for the times when MS is like hey, earn an achievement in Forza Horizon 4.  I played some in the cloud via my phone, I played some on my X1X, and I played some on my XSX.  I've definitely put in at least like 10 hours into this game this year.  My original review of this game complained specifically about the live events nature of this game whereas the previous entries in the series gave you tons of replay value in doing different tiers/types of championships, whereas this one just kinda throws stuff at you and you finish the offline/solo experience pretty quickly.  That said, I've finally taken a look at the "Seasons" stuff and I gotta say, it works pretty well.  It gives players a reason to keep playing because if you do the seasonal events you wind up with useful and good rewards.  The only downside is that I think they have you doing races you've already done again, they are just recycling old races/championships, I can't confirm that at the moment, but that's what it seems to be, which is a bit of a shame as you've got such a big world, you could be generating new tracks and such, infinitely so, I imagine.  The seasonal stuff does make you racer with difficult set to highly skilled in order to win the good rewards, which is a bit unfortunate in my opinion, because it definitely does a bit of gate keeping on doing the seasonal events.  If I'm not that good at the game, I can't win these advertised rewards, thus I shouldn't keep playing.  I definitely had some difficulty with the races on that difficulty, but I managed to get the rewards for the few I did.  So on the one hand good ideas, on the other, the execution leaves much to be desired.  My previous review was a soft recommendation because I enjoyed the game, but felt the content wasn't quite there, but the service aspect, while not appealing to me seemed like a good idea.  At further inspection, I feel like the service aspect does the game no favors and thus downgrade its rating as essentially the worst Horizon game yet.
Rating: Soft pass

142. Fallout 4 (X1)
After playing New Vegas for so long, I decided that I really wanted to play Fallout with mods, I didn't particularly feel like setting up a new character and doing the whole PC thing, so I gave and started playing Fallout 4 again.  Loaded up my usual mods, because I already had a character with mods enabled, and went and dug through the latest popular mods and added some cool looking ones.  I'm sure I'll play this more, but I probably won't really update.  A lot of people hate this game for all it changed, I like a lot of what they did with this one.  Sure the settlements are annoying in many ways, the mod system is wack, the massive amount of pipe weapons is annoying, and the lack of variety is also annoying, but the versatility, lack of a level cap, and the massive expansive world... not to mention console mods, has this game making up for some of its shortcomings.  I will say however, that I don't enjoy the fact that enemies level up with you, so once you hit level 100, all enemies are 100+, you will never run into another level 3 chump ghoul ever again, so the game is this ever constantly threatening gamescape.  I liked in Fallout 3 that by the end of the game you were godlike and could just mow down everyone.  It's definitely a subjective thing, but I enjoy that.
Rating: Highly recommended.

143. Fallout 76 (X1)
I don't know if I've ever written anything about this game.  I've been playing it on and off since it went on Game Pass.  I bought this game at launch because of the CE like an idiot, but I never actually opened the CE, it's still sealed in the shipping box matter of fact.  The game was obviously garbage at first, but they've done a lot to make the game better.  That said, there are so many complexity to the game that make it unenjoyable from a casual perspective.  All ammo has weight, you have limited storage options, and ammo has 0 value.  The most useless things in the entire game are missiles and mini-nukes.  In the solo Fallout games, those are the most valued ammunition, in this, you literally have to throw it away, because there is no other use for it, this is one of my biggest complaints.  The other being the fact that there is no system where you can really sell items.  You can sell items to other players, but I imagine, like myself, nobody is buying, so nothing is selling.  It very much makes the game about only carry what you need immediately.  Only pickup ammo for the 2-3 guns you use and throw everything else away.  The MMO aspect works pretty well as the PvP is very much optional, but I do find that almost every enemy in the game is tough as nails so solo'ing the game is just kind of a wack concept in general.  Regardless, I give this game a try every so often, and it has no clear end goal, so I'm gonna call it "unbeatable".
Rating: Soft pass.

144. Super Mario 3D World (NS)
Copying over my text from my Wii U notes.  Another Wii U game that I bought day 1 and just sort of abandoned very quickly.  Plays like the Super Mario 3D Land on the 3DS, but with the added Cat outfits.  I normally hate Peach, but Peach is super adorable in this game.  When she gets the fire flower she puts her hair in a ponytail and just looks like she's ready to kick some butt.  When she gets the cat suit, she looks like an adorable pink sorta catgirl.  I somehow skipped the middle of world 4 over to world 5, didn't mean to, just kind of happened.  Sorta abandoned this again.  These Mario games can't really keep my attention.  Started this over with the re-release on Switch, played through a chunk of it back at release and then finished it up recently.  I did random for a bit thinking that'd make it interesting or something, but I wound up just playing as Peach over and over.  She's got her advantages which makes her basically easy mode I think, but she's got some disadvantages too.  Basically played the whole game as Peach though and treated it like a Super Princess Peach 2 but not sexist.  Overall not a terrible game, my wife watched part of my playthrough and certain levels she's like "Games I watch you play that I file under never ever playing this game"  There were some levels that were pretty brutally designed, and not because they're tough, but because the natural camera angles make it tough to distinguish depth and such.
Rating: Soft pass.

145. Family (PC)
Someone was talking about Obra Dinn and I remembered that I've had this game on my recommended list for a while because it's free to play (in browser) on itch.io.  Recommended as Obra Dinn, but about 80s rock bands.  I wasn't sure about the music based on the description because 80s bands is vague, but I enjoyed the music, so that made the experience better.  Just a quick little 30 minute to an hour game about determining which people belong to which bands.  I think I only wound up guessing for 2 because it was like "We'll either get (x) or [y] so I assume they expected you to guess, which logically doesn't make sense for a detective game, you want hard facts, not trial and error.  Trial and error shouldn't work for detective stuff, but it's game so... whatever I guess.  I'm still knocking it points.  There was a game I played where you could pick the right answer, but it wouldn't tell you unless you explicitly pointed out proof supporting your selection, I appreciate that kind of mechanic in a detective game.  You can be right, but without proper proof, it doesn't matter.  I might check out the dev's other games because they are more fleshed out, but consider me mildly disappointed, but also quite entertained by the game.  Lucas Pope even gave the game compliments.
Rating: Soft pass.

146. Bowser's Fury (NS)
Started this up at some point after finishing 3D World.  Starts out slow and small and gradually opens up the world.  This is a new Mario 3D experience for given that it's one open world with access to all of the "worlds" in it pretty much all at once.  It works pretty great.  2 player mode is pretty good in that it's non obtrusive and can be fun.  The AI is mostly useless I imagine, but I had it set to help a little, which turned into him getting in my way sometimes and sometimes actually being helpful.  The game did some interesting things with the boss mechanic, locking certain shines behind his boss attack and the lucky isle stuff in the post game.  Integrating Plessie into the game made it pretty good to travel, and you do unlock fast travel in the post game so you can clean up pretty quick.  It definitely doesn't feel like a full game, but rather a sort of side game like it is, but I'd absolutely love to see a full game like this just adjusted feel a bit more cohesive... or even a new "Galaxy" game where the planets are the size of this world or larger with 10 or so planets to visit, or even just 1 full size planet with biomes and such.  That would blow my mind.
Rating: Solid recommendation

147. Cruis'n Blast (NS)
Bought this a few days ago because of the $30 sale + the $10 GC... so essentially paid $20... and having played it, I paid too much.  Comparing it to the old N64 games, it might be on par content wise, but I expect more from a modern game, even at bargain prices right after release.  That said, the game is pretty fun and I'm surprised that the game licensed the vehicles in the games rather than just make look a like vehicles.  I think when I saw the keys thing I was thinking Rush 2/2049 that the levels would have a free roam mode where you would collect collectibles, but I was mistaken, the keys are baked into the races and the races are pretty linear.  Honestly, this game just makes me yearn for a new Rush game.  I loved Cruis'n as a kid and this meets that nostalgia, but Rush was always the superior game for me.  This game does A for gas and B for brake, which feels weird with a Switch controller, and the game doesn't allow for custom controls.  Game has zero options, as far as I could tell you can't even control the volume of the music/sfx.  All of the vehicles have the same noise, so the helicopter, unicorn, and shark all have engine noises lol.
Rating: Solid pass.

148. Metroid Dread (NS)
Prepared for this game by playing Fusion earlier this year, I enjoyed the game, but the SA-X stuff bothered me and this game sounded to be that turned up to 11.  Luckily it isn't, it's just turned up to like 8, which still isn't great, but at least the checkpoints are so frequent that you aren't having to replay anything but the section with the EMMI.  The game relies a lot on the manual targeting to hit targets at various angles and it doesn't quite work very well, personally I would've liked to see it snap to target or something, but I could see that being problematic.  The EMMI fights can be frustrating with this because you have to hit it a lot and fast, so if you're barely missing it can cost you the fight.  The other thing with this is the Chozo and Robo Chozo fights, especially when they throw multiple enemies at the same time at you.  The last "powerup" you get, which isn't really a powerup but more of a plot device, is pretty bad ass.  Like I wish I felt well enough to stream my playthrough because that whole reveal was just awesome.  Gosh, the final boss fight was tough, 3 phases of just tough ass git gud bossery. Plus a 4th phase to just show off. ::)  I got through the final fight and it loaded what seemed like a cutscene so I just watched and didn't parry and died... I almost cried having to do that fight over again, but I kicked his ass the second time around because I guess I was prepared.  What an awesome game.  I'd call it Dark Souls meets Metroid kind of, it's tough, has parrying, and the bosses are no joke in this game.
Rating: Solid recommendation.

149. Carto (X1)
One of the handful of games leaving game pass again that I'm mildly interested in.  Game is part puzzle game, part exploration/adventure game.  Most puzzle games have the problem that either the puzzle mechanic gets stale/boring/tedious or to keep it interesting they make the puzzle mechanics get too complex.  This game does a fantastic job of keeping sections short enough that the current design doesn't get stale and few enough sections that there aren't too many new mechanics, and the diversity of the mechanics is diverse enough to remain interesting, but not so complex that it gets tedious or frustrating.  I'll echo the sentiments that I've read that there are a handful of puzzles that were complex/unintuitive enough that I had to look it up, but once I read it I was like oh yeah, that makes sense.  Dialogue and story was pretty good too, nothing special, but interesting enough.  The gameplay is really what makes this game.
Rating: Soft recommendation

150. Eastshade (X1)
Another game leaving game pass, looked interesting enough and was recommended to me by a few people.  The world and characters didn't really click with me and the dialogue in this game just isn't very good.  The fact that all of the characters are animals is a little weird, especially when there are cats and horses and such in the game.  I try not to dwell on that too much.  Game is pretty buggy too, crashed more than once and had to restart sections because things got borked.  The progression and layout of the world isn't exactly intuitive and leaves a lot to be desired.  The quests are pretty bland and honestly a bit too interconnected.  The map doesn't show where you are currently and fast travel only works with a limited inventory item so you've just got to walk the entire game unless you waste time fishing or something.  Fishing is pretty much required in the game and it's not very fun nor hard, it's just kinda there.
Rating: Hard pass

151. Knights and Bikes (X1)
My wife started this game a long time ago, but was playing it slowly.  It finally got to the point that it was being removed from Game pass so I told her I was going to play through it before it left and asked if she wanted to play with me even though that would mean starting over.  She said yes and joined me, as it turned out in order to start over I had to overwrite her save data anyway.  It's really unfortunate that there is no simple way to share my game pass ultimate on pc with her so she can play on her own profile.  I mean, there might be a way, I'll have to google it.  Very early on we both had the opinion that Ness was an imaginary friend and that Demelza was just a crazy kid.  Honestly, this thought process really hurt us emotionally, because our kid doesn't really get to hang out with other kids his age due to covid, so it sort of hits home for us about a kid who has no friends.  Ending was meh for me personally.  I know they are making a Knights and Bikes 2 and either it'll be unrelated or they'll have to explain things that were left open ended.  Was Nessa imaginary or is she the pilot's daughter who managed to sneak onto a ferry to Penfurzy?  If she isn't imaginary, what happened to her at the end of the game?  What's up with Oba, he's the only person who acknowledges Nessa the entire game, is he imaginary too or is he playing along with Demelza's delusions because why crush a child's spirit?  Yay, you got me thinking, that's great, but I know a sequel is coming, so you gotta have something definitive in mind.  Story aside, gameplay has its moments that are funny and interesting, but all in all, combat is pretty frustrating, the art style isn't for me, and I sped through the game so I didn't check out the side areas that I probably could've ventured into.
Rating: Soft pass.

152. Gear.Club Unlimited 2 (NS)
I think I bought this game before I even finished the first game.  I enjoyed the first game well enough, but it just had too many performance issues to be a good game.  It crashed a lot, tons of slowdown and framedrops, and in simple screens you had to press multiple times to get anything to register.  In this game, at least early on, I had none of those issues.  As the game progressed and I got further into the game I noticed a lot of the same issues.  If I left the game running for too long, this includes putting the system into sleep mode ::), the game would stutter pretty bad, it got so bad at one point that I swear the race was running at like 10 fps.  The game started crashing a lot, like sometimes I'd get 2-3 races in between crashes.  The pressing multiple times to get things to register wasn't so bad this time around, I think I didn't really have the issue at all, but I did have some issues where it had a delay between actions so I had to wait for some animation to complete before I could make the next selection and that often threw me off.  All of that said, this game may have a similar number of races overall, but it doesn't force you to do nearly as many races to get through the main career mode, so I managed to burn through this game much quicker than it took me to get through the first game.  This game is obviously better, but just throwing that out there.  Another issue that happened was sometimes when the game was running for too long, the AI would throw higher class racers against me so it would be impossible to win.  Like I can't drive anything better than B3, but they throw a single D3 racer in there and they just absolutely demolish me the entire race... I turn off and reset the game and now all drivers are B3 max, so I can win easily.  This game I will say had a certain difficulty curve compared to the last one, in that in the first game I had no trouble with just about any race, but this game had a lot of scenarios where you were just screwed racing against AI/vehicles that out class you constantly and there isn't much to do as your car is maxed out and you can't go up classes or anything.
Rating: Soft pass

Next List
« Last Edit: November 04, 2021, 02:57:29 pm by ignition365 »


Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
« Reply #186 on: June 29, 2021, 01:35:56 am »
35. Keio Flying Squadron (Sega CD)

I finally got a working SCART cable so I've been on a Genesis/Sega CD kick as of late. I thought what better way to christen the new cable than to play the rarest, most expensive game on the Sega CD!


I feel like I've got to the point where I always automatically lower my expectations when playing a holy grail game, mostly because they almost never match the hype and reputation around them. And while yeah, that's mostly true of Keio also, it was actually a surprisingly good, charming game. Keio's presentation is excellent and despite the Genesis tier in game graphics you have cool anime style cutscenes and transitions between stages. Also, the CD quality audio and voice acting is very good; this game is genuinely funny and I definitely laughed out loud several times. Gameplay, while good overall was Keio's weakest area. This game is a power up based SHMUP that luckily doesn't maroon you like many older shmups like this do when you die, but the ability to collect power ups and use them effectively can be a little too difficult. On top of that there are issues with the framerate in the more hectic areas as well as some projectiles that could have been made more visible. My biggest gripe though was the inconstant hitbox which I felt sometimes was the size of an elephant and other times was a speck of dust. Despite these issues the gameplay is fun, engaging and certainly has more balance and refinement than many other shooters from this era. While I'd say Keio's US release asking price is a very, very tall order, it certainly is worth playing if you can get your hands on it some other way. (6/28/21) [36/50]

Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
« Reply #187 on: June 29, 2021, 03:25:18 am »
Super Metroid (SNES 1994) - DROPPED - Unfortunately I think I'm done with this game, I'm just not having a lot of fun with it.  It's general feel and visuals are better than Zero Mission, but I find exploration and progression in this game to be pretty obnoxious.  There were some times where I hit a point of being lost, I'd look up where I needed to go, and I would just feel like...how was I supposed to know that?  It doesn't help that the map is pretty basic compared to the improvements I saw in Zero Mission.  I think it comes down to some outdated design ideas that doesn't hold up as well to the games I've played that were inspired by it.  I feel like I'd love to see a remake or mod of this that improved the map, faster transitions, and better button placement (I'm playing emulated so I can change the controls, but the controls suck for the original game), I'd be more inclined to finish it.

It's unfortunate I'm not loving the Metroid series so far as Zero Mission was just okay and Super Metroid isn't doing it for me.  Gonna wait on doing Fusion next, but I'm gonna still continue the series run, not counting Dread, which I'll likely not get.

telly

Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
« Reply #188 on: June 29, 2021, 10:14:59 pm »
Game 15 - Silent Hill 2 (PS2) – 7 Hours

I don’t think I can understate how important Silent Hill 2 is for me; it’s still my favorite game of all time, and easily the most significant experience for me as a gamer. One of my favorite aspects is the setting of Silent Hill itself, a town haunted by a tainted spiritual power that draws in people with emotional baggage and forces them to reconcile their past and regrets. Such a brilliant concept, and sets the stage for quite several really interesting, flawed characters. It’s a way better concept overall when compared to the occult-heavy stories of the other Silent Hill games. The narrative is also conveyed through a maze of deeply complex and layered symbolism and subliminal messaging that just gets more fascinating the more you dive into the game.

One of the things that I found a new appreciation for on this playthrough was how the game tackles how people care for loved ones who are dying, and it unpacks some of those complex emotions, in addition to all the other dark themes the game explores. I also still love the multiple endings which only change how James redeems himself (or not) at the end of the game so the story can retain a tight focus no matter which ending you get. Frankly, I can’t say enough good things about the story, characters, pacing, and execution.

The audio is one of the best aspects of this game and the Silent Hill series as a whole. Love the industrial, non-traditional, distorted and downright disturbing soundtrack and sound design, especially the use of silence. It’s masterfully done, and perfectly encapsulates the game's themes of fear, loneliness, oppression, and dread. Also really enjoy the voice acting, especially since the characters are played by normal people instead of big-name actors. Gives the voice direction a more grounded, believable experience. The artistry continues with the monster design, game environments, pretty much everything is phenomenal.

Touching on some of the more technical aspects of the game, personally I think the game controls well. I’ve always liked the tank controls of the Silent Hill series, and it’s pretty much mandatory given all the changing camera angles. That said, I do think there are some flaws to this game that are important to mention. On the topic of the camera, it loves to swing dizzyingly around you all the time, which can get very annoying. I think they game does have some issues with difficulty as well if you spend enough time collecting all the items you can find and you understand the controls. For me however, these are small flaws that are very minor, and they don’t detract from my love of this game in any way. This game shifted my opinion about games as a whole and made me appreciate how games can tell their own unique stories and provide you with unique experiences, and that’s why it’s so significant to me.
« Last Edit: October 12, 2021, 12:31:48 pm by telly »
Currently Playing:
Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes (PS4), Resident Evil 5 (PS4), Pokémon: Ultra Moon (3DS), SSX3 (PS2)

My music collection | My Backloggery

Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
« Reply #189 on: June 30, 2021, 01:08:15 am »
Game 15 - Silent Hill 2 (PS2) – 7 Hours



This is an incredible game. I actually didn't care for the first Silent Hill game that much so it took me a while before I gave Silent Hill 2 a chance. Holy crap though, my experience with 2 couldn't have been more different than with the first game. I was emotionally winded after playing it and it has still stuck with me all these years. You've reminded me how I need to go back and replay it.

telly

Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
« Reply #190 on: June 30, 2021, 09:56:21 am »
Game 15 - Silent Hill 2 (PS2) – 7 Hours



This is an incredible game. I actually didn't care for the first Silent Hill game that much so it took me a while before I gave Silent Hill 2 a chance. Holy crap though, my experience with 2 couldn't have been more different than with the first game. I was emotionally winded after playing it and it has still stuck with me all these years. You've reminded me how I need to go back and replay it.

Yeah, I really didn't enjoy the first Silent Hill much at all. 3 and 4 have some great moments but are held back by the story and some of the gameplay in 4's case. I think Silent Hill 2 is the best by far all around, though 3 is more scary.
Currently Playing:
Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes (PS4), Resident Evil 5 (PS4), Pokémon: Ultra Moon (3DS), SSX3 (PS2)

My music collection | My Backloggery

Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
« Reply #191 on: July 04, 2021, 07:07:35 am »
June Update

Games Beat in June

Ghost of Tsushima - Good, but not great game that is on the verge of being great.  Lots of little things about it were bugging me for some reason, and held me back from really loving it.
Splinter Cell: Conviction - First Splinter Cell I've played since the original.  Not bad, a little too easy, and the "action" sections were a drag, but the presentation was incredible.
Maneater - This was a doofy fun time.  Game is probably a little too long, overall, without enough variety, but it has enough personality for me to recommend playing it.

Games Played in June

Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance - A buggy, clunky mess.  I beat the tutorial and the first stage and peaced out.
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice - Either I'm generally getting way better at games, or the discourse of how difficult this is was pretty overblown.  I'm finding the stages to be well designed, fun, and shockingly in a lot of cases, easy.  The bosses can be frustrating, but no more so that any of the Sousborne games - in fact, there's yet to be a boss I've spent more than like 10 tries on when I was definitely hitting like 20-30 on some from the other series.
« Last Edit: July 19, 2021, 10:05:46 am by Cartagia »


Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
« Reply #192 on: July 04, 2021, 07:51:03 am »
Ghost of Tsushima - Good, but not great game that is on the verge of being great.  Lots of little things about it were bugging me for some reason, and held me back from really loving it.

Yeah Ghost was like this really solid 8/10, where it does so much good, but it was definitely lacking, mostly in its open world setup being very beautiful, but very dull.  Mostly a lot of the side stuff just feeling very samey and predictable.  I'm hoping they can improve on this with the new island DLC coming.

dhaabi

Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
« Reply #193 on: July 05, 2021, 02:24:03 pm »
26. Sky: Children of Light || Nintendo Switch || 07.04.21

As a fan of thatgamecompany's previous works, I've been casually waiting for the time when their most recent project would be ported from away from mobile platforms and to consoles. That being said, due to Sky being a mobile exclusive experience for two years, I admittedly had no knowledge of what the game was like. As such, I began playing Sky more blind than I have been before playing a game in a long time. However, with Sky being designed by thatgamecompany, my expectations were high. I will note, though, that I did not once consider how a free game for mobile devices would be designed.

Upon beginning, I wasn't quite sure what my initial thoughts were. Unlike their past releases, Sky introduced narration—albeit brief—which was simply different from what I've come to enjoy as previous games guide players through an abstract story. It is in this aspect—in being different—that sets Sky apart from all of thatgamecompany's past projects. However, the differences offer a unique experience to players.

At its core, I attribute Sky to being an MMO adventure title, as the player embarks on their journey in an open-world environment with many others at any given time. While I've noted that Sky is different, it mostly certainly would not have been created had their previous title Journey not released. Similar to Journey, players can guide one another through the game environment and even navigate through locked paths. Yet, Sky elevates this gameplay experience further, as upwards to eight players can directly connect to one another to trek forward. Created as an even deeper social experience than Journey was, Sky is best experienced when interacting with others. Communicating initially through sounds, players can befriend one another by multiple tiers which unlocks much more direct communication. Among this, players will naturally unlock character expressions and gestures which allow for greater ease in communication toward all players.

Despite Sky being designed with a social experience in mind, I largely ignored this aspect and played through the game as a single-player experience. At times, others tagged along with me as we explored our environments which was a nice change of pace. However, as a game steeped in player interaction, I was a little disappointed in how communication ensues. With multiple in-game currencies, Sky requires players to unlock further communication means that are bound to a player-player experience. If one were to seek to invest a multiple friendships, one must spend more to allow for such. This alone may not be so bad, but the currency required for more transparent communication is somewhat sparse unless taking the initial steps of a friendship seemingly on a whim by spending more common currencies. It's a little difficult to explain. Though, I will say that this form of connecting with others does show a clear sign of growing one's relationship with others. Another major downside to the communication system is that, when approaching parties in an attempt to seek guidance (as many new players do), it's difficult to know what goals others currently have. As the game is fairly open-ended, is revolved around subsequent playthroughs, and has players constantly farming for currency, partnering up doesn't always succeed, even if both parties accept. Whoever leads may very well simply drag the followers around, although anyone is welcome to leave whenever they choose to do so.

Originally and largely still a mobile experience—and free across all platforms—players can spend money toward in-game purchases unlocking more social aspects and in-game currencies. At the same time, the game has undergone numerous "seasons" of free updates, which I am still experiencing as I continue to play post-game. Noting before how Sky's Switch release is a port from mobile, there were admittedly many technical problems I encountered such as sometimes severe clipping and locked character movement. These problems aren't a deal breaker (I mean, it is a free game), but they are a little problematic.

As a game harboring a very welcoming community, it is common for veteran players to organize daily groups playthroughs to collect currencies and to simply hang out with one another in typical MMO fashion within hub environments. For someone who enjoys thatgamecompany's previous works and also enjoys MMO and social experiences, Sky is a must-play. I'm not so keen on MMOs personally, but I'm still enjoying my time with Sky. Again, it's a game that offers a MMO experience but doesn't require it.
« Last Edit: July 05, 2021, 07:54:02 pm by dhaabi »

tripredacus

Re: 52 Games Challenge 2021
« Reply #194 on: July 06, 2021, 10:00:57 am »
40. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night

A game I had started many times but never actually played much of. I was originally going to play this on PS3 but I couldn't find everything I needed, also it has been warm recently and as a result I have fans plugged into the power outlet where my wireless speakers for my TV normally go, so I decided to try something else. I kind of have been taking a different approach lately of trying to do everything on my computer rather than original or age appropriate hardware. It is an interesting exercise to see what a person can do with less. Can they collect games but not hardware and accessories, or have the need for old TVs or monitors? So far it seems to. And now that I have this small taste, I will have an option to be playing the Japanese games I have no consoles for.

So for this attempt at playing SoTN I had installed Retroarch and used the Beetle emulator. Then the next step was to get a controller to work. I have already connected an Xbox 360 controller (which is X-Input) that I use for playing Pinball games because Steam automatically recognises it. I also do have a PS2 (PlayStation 2) controller connected via a USB adapter but it did not work with Retroarch at all. So then I tried again (after many years) of using the PS3 controller via USB and did manage to get it working with Retroarch both in menus and in game. Then I could play the game from disc, but it complained about it. After I dumped the disc using the Retroarch menu and loaded the .cue from the HDD it worked with no issues.

I played through to the credits but did not do everything. There were still some areas on the map I didn't go to (such as the spiked corridor on the top left of the map) and also items I did not buy from the vendor. And here again is an example of where I do not have the patience or the care to work through a game to memorize everything. I do not know how I used to do it as a kid. Getting hit and sending you back x distance I know has always been a thing. How did I make it so far into Castlevania III when I had it for NES? I think those days are behind me. And so then you guessed it, I used the HP cheat in the retroarch cheat menu to play this game. Even then it was annoying and confusing.

There were some times that I had to go watch a LP of the game because I didn't know where to go next. I kept running into situations where I was at a certain point in the game before I got there. Or perhaps the places I went were not optimal, or perhaps I didn't grind enough. Liked the map, didn't get lost but there were some passages that were not showing up on the map properly. Might have been the resolution I was playing at. Sometimes it was just because I didn't go right or left enough in a particular room to know there was a door. Watching a video to know where to go next did certainly help a couple of times. Interesting how much of a huge boost it is once you can become a bat, or get the mirror armor so the yellow medusa doesn't turn you to stone anymore.