This game is everything I hate about stealth games magnified by a factor of ten. It's literally the opposite of EVERYTHING that makes Mark of the Ninja such a great game. That game was pushing the genre forward. AC Chronicles is everything it's running away from.
Chronicles gives you ZERO freedom. Stealth sections are meant to be played EXACTLY THE FUCKING WAY THE DESIGNERS WANT YOU TO. So expect plenty of trial and error. Even once you figure out what to do you'll still fail repeatedly. Why? Because windows of opportunity are minuscule in this game. You have .5 seconds to sneak past that guard before he turns around and spots you. Patrol patterns and enemy placement are designed to almost guarantee you'll get spotted. Enemy vision cones are REALLY...FUCKING...BIG. On top of that, collectibles are often placed in obnoxious places that can get you spotted. AND, the game's fucking stupid scoring system PENALIZES you for killing people in a game about FUCKING ASSASSINS!!!!!
What...the...fuck
So naturally, that makes the game exponentially harder
Oh...and then there's the god awful checkpoint save system. Once a checkpoint is activated, it can't be reactivated. This means if you just realized you have to back track for an optional objective or collectible before moving on to the next section, you better hope that next section doesn't kill you. Not only will you have to do it over again, you'll also have to do all the backtracking all over again.
And should you try to replay a stage for collectibles, you have to play through the entire level again. If you reach a checkpoint and exit out of the game, when you return, the game will "forget" whatever collectibles you got and they WON'T show up in the level again for you to re-acquire them.
Everything about AC Chronicles is designed to frustrate. If you want a "hardcore" stealth game then here it is. I know there's a weird sort of gamer who loves masochistic games like this...so have a blast with it. I'm moving on to games that are FUN and don't raise my blood pressure.
RyaNtheSlayA wrote: Seriously. Screw you Shao Kahn I'm gonna play Animal Crossing.
BoneSnapDeez wrote:I enjoy your posts, Gamerforlife, but your distaste for modern-day AAA games makes me wonder why you don't just play more retro stuff...
Well, the game is 2D. Does that count
Actually, I'm moving to a new place soon where I can hopefully set up a CRT television and bust out some old consoles
I'm playing Broken Age: The Complete Adventure too, which is old school point and click. No complaints with that game so far as it's pretty much what I expected.
RyaNtheSlayA wrote: Seriously. Screw you Shao Kahn I'm gonna play Animal Crossing.
BoneSnapDeez wrote:Well I'm now up to my birth year. And, coincidentally, today happens to be my birthday. So Frankenstein's Monster is 32, just like me.
Happy Birthday! I knew I was forgetting something in my previous post!
BogusMeatFactory wrote:If I could powder my copies of shenmue and snort them I would
1. Devil's Attorney (Android | 2012 | strategy) (7/10) 2. Resident Evil 5 (360 | 2009 | action adventure) (8/10) 3. Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed (360 | 2010 | kart racer) (8/10) 4. Dragon Quest VIII (PS2 | 2005 | JRPG) (9/10) 5. Gears of War (360 | 2006 | cover shooter) (6/10) 6. Uncharted: Golden Abyss (Vita | 2012 | action adventure) (7/10) 7. Orcs & Elves (DS | 2007 | dungeon crawler) (7/10) 8. From The Abyss (DS | 2008 | action-RPG) (5/10) 9. Army of Two (360 | 2008 | cover shooter) (7/10) 10. Psychic World (Master System | 1991 | platformer) (4/10) 11. Endless Ocean: Blue World (Wii | 2010 | adventure / simulation) (9/10) 12. Journey to Silius (NES | 1990 | platformer) (6/10) 13. Sword Master (NES | 1992 | platformer) (3/10) 14. Project: Snowblind (PC | 2005 | FPS) (7/10) 15. Yakyuuken Part II - Gal's Dungeon (Famicom | 1989 | maze / puzzle) (5/10) 16. Bishoujo Sexy Derby (Famicom | 1988 | horse racing) (2/10) 17. SiN Episodes: Emergence (PC | 2006 | FPS) (5/10) 18. Seirei Gari (AKA Ghost Hunter) (NES | 1989 | puzzle / adventure) (4/10) 19. The Guardian Legend (NES | 1989 | action-RPG / shmup) (9/10) 20. Prey (PC | 2006 | FPS) (7/10) 21. Ys IV: Mask of the Sun (SFC | 1993 | action-RPG) (4/10) 22. Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader (GameCube | 2001 | combat flight sim) (3/10) 23. Ys V: Lost Kefin, Kingdom of Sand (SFC | 1995 | action-RPG) (7/10) 24. Bonk's Adventure (TurboGrafx-16 | 1990 | platformer) (6/10) 25. Lost Kingdoms (GameCube | 2002 | CCG-action-RPG) (8/10) 26. Bonk's Revenge (TurboGrafx-16 | 1991 | platformer) (6/10) 27. Blazing Lazers (TurboGrafx-16 | 1989 | shmup) (7/10) 28. Heatseeker (PS2 | 2007 | arcade flight combat) (7/10) 29. Castlevania: The Adventure (Game Boy | 1989 | platformer) (3/10) 30. Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge (Game Boy | 1991 | platformer) (7/10) 31. Castlevania Legends (Game Boy | 1998 | platformer) (5/10) 32. Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 (Game Boy | 1994 | platformer) 7/10 33. Bonk's Adventure (Game Boy | 1992 | platformer) 7/10 34. Brandish: The Dark Revenant [Ares mode] (PSP | 2009 | dungeon crawler) 9/10
In 1995 Falcom released a SNES game entitled "Brandish". Brandish at its core concept was an excellent idea. In Brandish instead of the player rotating to traverse dungeons, the dungeon itself rotates around the player. Unfortunately crippling graphical decisions rendered its implementation completely disorienting. Had Falcom utilized Mode 7 to rotate the game's world around the player smoothly, instead of snapping it in 45 degree increments, Brandish would have been much more popular. Well 14 years later, Falcom decided to remake Brandish for the PSP. This time calling the game "Brandish: The Dark Revenant" (henceforth: B:TDR). This remake recreates the original game in polygons, making rotating the world around the player a smooth affair, thus no more disorientation. Not only that, but an onscreen mini-map is always present. With these two simple but vital changes Brandish is finally able to shine as the brilliant idea it always was. B:TDR's primary gameplay is what I call "Ares mode". This is the original SNES game recreated on PSP. Every dungeon, enemy, boss, etc. is present in Ares mode from the original game. After you complete "Ares mode", "Dela mode" unlocks. I have not started Dela mode yet. But I intend to soon. I should note here, Dela mode is exclusive to the PSP version with its own new dungeons. It doesn't exist in the SNES original. In 2014, XSEED localized B:TDR, and it is now available on the PSN store. That means you can play it on PSP, Vita, or PSTV. So one day Ares the warrior and Dela the sorceress were fighting. Dela was furious because Ares had killed her master, he did so for a bounty on her master's head. Dela cast a huge fireball at Ares, but missed him. It destroyed the ground beneath their feet and they both fell into a huge abyss below. They landed in a mysterious place, which turned out to be the remains of a long sunken kingdom that still remained cursed. Due to being separated, they put their fighting aside. It became more vital for both Ares and Dela to escape this deep dark cavern of despair, one floor at a time. As they crawled individually out of the ruins, they both had their own adventures and misfortunes, but sometimes crossed paths temporarily. Slowly the history of their new environment and its cursed kingdom began to become known to them. But I won't spoil anything here! What do you do in B:TDR? You crawl dungeons son. And I mean you are going to be crawling dungeons like you've never crawled dungeons. That is what you do in B:TDR, and that is all you do. And this game is not easy. Not even remotely easy. B:TDR requires the player to pay full attention at all times as to what they are doing, or this game will kill the player without so much as blinking. Oh yes, you will die in B:TDR, you will die a lot. But every time you do, you'll likely bounce right back into the action, eager to clear just one more floor. What are you doing while you clear these floors? Fighting monsters, finding treasure, seeking keys, solving puzzles, drawing maps, falling in pits galore, setting off deadly traps, casting magic... yes, all that down home dungeon cookin' like Grammy use to make. Except you will die. A lot. Oh sure B:TDR doesn't start off too hard, but once you reach the Dark Zone, that is when the real game begins. And that's about 10 hours of crawling just to make it that far. Luckily you will find shop keepers to sell you upgraded equipment and items, and the occasional sidequest too. Did I mention your swords break? That there's invisible doors? That no matter how many levels you gain, spike traps and pit traps always take the same percentage of life away? Also, BOSSES. This game has bosses and they don't mess around. So why approach such madness? It's true, B:TDR is not for the average gamer. It's not even for the average RPG lover. This is a hardcore dungeon crawler for crazy people. But if you are crazy like me, you will love B:TDR. You will love the feeling of victory you get every time you clear a floor with your map 100% complete. You will relish figuring out the infamous tile puzzle in Tower 9F, all by yourself. This game is seriously fun for the far and few between gamers who are up to the challenge. Do I have any complaints? Let's see... I love the gameplay, controls are perfect, atmosphere is top notch, graphics are great, story is good, difficulty is excellent, and the music is amazing. Ah! The music. While the music is amazing, there aren't enough tracks to go around. You will hear the same music track for each area of the game, and that means you will hear it looping for hours on end sometimes. So yeah, there we go, my one complaint with B:TDR is that I wish there were three times as many music tracks. Anyway. If you enjoy tough dungeon crawlers and games that refuse to hold your hand, give Brandish: The Dark Revenant a try for PSP. The game even gives you a review sheet of your performance after you beat it, going so far as to give the player a custom completion title (mine was "calculating savant"). Ares mode took me 17 hours and 45 minutes to beat. Now I'm off to see why Dela was always so cranky.
Warning; lots of pics in spoiler. Man I loved this game. Possibly GOTY for me right here.
As I mentioned before, I've had this for a while, made it to mission 8 then lost my save and had to restart. The first time I played through I got stuck on mission 6. When I restarted I got stuck on mission 6. Then this morning I decided to take a break from getting my ass kicked in X-Wing and switch to getting my ass kicked by mission 6. But once that was down the rest of the game was a breeze by comparison. I had to restart a couple of the levels because I pissed away too much health early on, but each time it took only one restart.
On the one hand, it's a Star Wars FPS and it's really fun. On the other hand explosives utterly suck to use. They have way too much range and damage on them; the minimum throw on the thermal detonators will hit you with the blast radius unless you backpedal away, and the concussion rifle is pretty much unusable as an everyday weapon because the radius is huge and it strips 30 shields even on the edge of that. By comparison in Doom you can run around with the rocket launcher a lot and not worry about killing yourself.
Blizzard Entertainment Software Developer - All comments and views are my own and not representative of the company.
Been a while since I posted in this thread. Have 5 to add, 4 of which are part of my alphabet marathon.
1.Alien Isolation - Xbox One 2.Super Mario Bros. 3 - NES 3.Popful Mail - Sega CD 4.Final Fantasy - PSP 5.Super Mario 3D World - Wii U 6.Actraiser - Snes 7.Final Fantasy IV - PSP 8.Batman: Arkham Origins - Xbox 360 9.Contrast - Xbox 360 10.Deus Ex - PC
Actraiser
Game A
I played this one a little bit as a kid, but I didn't own it and never came close to finishing it.
Its a fun game. I love the action levels, and the simulation bits, simple as they are, are quite addicting.
Final Fantasy IV
The beautiful psp version marks the first time I've actually beaten this one, despite spending time with it on both the snes and ps1.
Its good to finally finish it, and I quite enjoyed it. Though some of the battles in the final dungeons grew very irritating with boss level monsters in random encounters. These fights weren't difficult, (in fact I'd say that the game as a whole is quite easy) but they were tedious time wasters in the final moments when I just wanted to get to the end.
Still, I loved the experience overall.
At the time I finished it, I was considering moving on to interlude and the After Years, but my enthusiasm for that idea has passed since then and I don't think I'll bother.
Batman: Arkham Origins
Game B
Honestly, its good on its own, but it just doesn't hold a candle to Asylum and City. I'm not the only one to say this, but combat has been tweaked somehow in a way that I can't my finger on, and it just doesn't feel the same. Couple that with occasionally wonky controls and responses (nothing like going for a ground takedown, watching Batman do the animation while standing in place, and taking a hit because nothing freaking happened) and it often became frustrating. Its hard to go from the perfection of City to the flawed experience of Origins.
Still, I enjoyed the game enough to complete it 3 times (and the Cold Cold Heart DLC, which I really liked), including the die and your save is gone I Am the Night mode. Lots of cool fights, some interesting side quests, a snowy backdrop, good times.
Contrast
Game C
I bought this 2 Christmases ago and never got around to playing it, so there we go. A fun but brief puzzle game with noir style. It was done in 2 hours, but the experience was wonderful.
The puzzles play with light and shadow, and are quite simple honestly, but still enjoyable. I feel the best part of the game though is the story, and the manner in which it is told, as all but two characters are represented as shadows on the walls. Some collectables flesh things out, if you take the time to find them (easy) and read them.
Kinda glitchy and clunky, but its not a game that requires a lot of precision, so that gets a pass. I liked it.
Its worth noting that my girlfriend was on her way to bed when I started this one up, but saw the first minutes and ended up watching the whole game with rapt attention. I think she liked it more than I did, and she never even touched the controller.
Deus Ex
Game D
There is an early game spoiler in this text. Just putting that out there.
Deus Ex has been something of a white whale for me the past couple of years. I could just never get the motivation to continue after starting. This time around, I managed to push through, and I've discovered what my problem was.
The beginning, maybe the first fifth of the game, sucks. Its tedious and annoying and it put me off multiple times.
But once you get past that, once you learn bits from Paul Denton about what's really going on and break away from UNATCO, suddenly things get interesting. The story improves, and the missions get a lot more fun.
There are things here I don't like, such as the often unnecessarily large areas that don't actually hold much, the stupid AI, and the stat system that doesn't really seem to matter.
But those are made up for by the interesting world, cool missions and areas, all the little details, and some fine music.
All that said, the level of hype that Deus Ex receives from its fans is mind boggling. Folks often talk about this game as though its a life changing experience.
Its not.
In fact, forgive me for using the "O" word, but its probably the most overrated game I've ever played.
But! Don't get me wrong. I did like it a lot. For me, it just ended up being an acquired taste.
For anyone curious, I went for the Dark Age ending. There really wasn't any alternative as far as I was concerned.
GameSack wrote:That's right, only Sega had the skill to make a proper Nintendo game.
the stat system that doesn't really seem to matter.
Ok, I need to take issue with this point because it's completely wrong. The way you invest your skill points and aug upgrades makes a big difference in how you approach the levels.
I, for one, welcomed our new AI overlords.
Blizzard Entertainment Software Developer - All comments and views are my own and not representative of the company.
