J-Chiptunator's recent activity

  1. Comment on November 2024 Backlog Burner: Week 2 Discussion in ~games

    J-Chiptunator
    Link Parent
    My tendency to lengthy comments comes from piling up my write-ups from a document file over the last week, my sheer curiosity to game design and my drive to get others understanding the appeal...

    My tendency to lengthy comments comes from piling up my write-ups from a document file over the last week, my sheer curiosity to game design and my drive to get others understanding the appeal and/or indifference behind those games.
    Some games also lend particularly better to a deep dive than others, thanks to their intriguing game design elements that are integral to the experience and/or how they match well with a specific Flow category on my bingo card.

    6 votes

  2. Comment on November 2024 Backlog Burner: Week 2 Discussion in ~games

    J-Chiptunator
    (edited )
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    J-Chiptunator's Bingo Card (Standard/Flow, 6/25) Mode: Standard Bingo! Finished 6/25 Pride ✔ Pikmin 4 Balance Restoration Open Resistance Peace Belonging ✔ ActRaiser ✔ Part Time UFO ✔...
    • Exemplary
    J-Chiptunator's Bingo Card (Standard/Flow, 6/25)
    Mode: Standard Bingo! Finished 6/25
    Pride Quantity
    ✔ Pikmin 4    		 Balance Restoration Open
    Resistance Peace Belonging Faith
    ✔ ActRaiser    		 Organization
    ✔ Part Time UFO
    Abundance
    ✔ Mushihimesama    		 Complexity ★ Wildcard Distribution Creativity
    Exploration
    ✔ Affordable Space Adventures    		 Friction
    ✔ Jotun: Valhalla Edition    		 Perspective Silence Symmetry
    Repetition Choice Vulnerability Light Deception

    ActRaiser

    In the mid 90s, I was fiddling with ActRaiser at one of my uncle’s formerly-owned houses located next to a downward curvy neighborhood road of the now-merged Sainte-Foy sector of Québec City. Shortly after starting a new file, it stopped reading controller inputs when I accidentally overwrote the one and only save file and selected “No” when it prompted me to continue playing. I’ve never seen my cousin’s reaction at all, so I can’t tell if he minded about that fact.

    After acknowledging ActRaiser’s unique gameplay style decades later, I snagged its Virtual Console version before the day Wii Shop Channel officially stopped selling games, and ended up playing it recently. What I’ve experienced after completing the first region of the game’s world didn’t disappoint me.

    ActRaiser combines sidescrolling action-platforming stages and top-down perspective city building simulator areas together in a way that benefit each other. Act 1 and 2 has you clear the former phase, where the accumulated score from defeating enemies and collecting pickups influence how the region’s population will rise.
    You’re then sent back at the city in simulation phase to fulfill the reconstruction duties to restore the population’s faith after defeating a boss. In their gratitude, they will return your favor by increasing your HP and SP upon reaching certain total population thresholds alongside with offerings they come across by completing specific tasks. The latter can increase your total HP or SP, give you spells for use in the Action or Simulation phase.

    In addition to emphasizing the ever-growing faith, this genre mashup avoided its pitfalls by ensuring that each phase flows very nicely, at least in its original SNES version.
    The well-paced short stages of the action phase has you deal with fairly challenging but uncomplicated enemy placements, level design and boss fights, not too dissimilar to an average classic 2D sidescroller hack-and-slash. The only blemish I can think of is that some precision jumping sections can get annoying to overcome through.
    The simulation phase also won’t leave you severely underleveled for the upcoming acts to come, even with a basic understanding of the deceptively simple but effective city building mechanics. As an angel, you guide the citizens by telling them to construct structures and guide them with the large square grid cursor. Several of the magic spells are available right from the get-go in order to clear obstacles and monsters, alongside growing crops.
    In order to advance to the second act, magic circles must be sealed by the population. They rapidly spawn airborne monsters that can mess with your town progression by capturing people, destroying structures, and even hurt the angel in the hope of incapacitating him to temporarily disable the use of arrow. They can be defeated with the latter not only to regain MP faster, but also serves nicely as a busywork to keep the player occupied while the citizens to finish their job.

    All that sounds more complex than the action phase, but the brisk speed that the simulation phase goes by make the process a quick and smooth endeavor by comparison to its contemporaries. However, some believe that it could’ve been further fleshed out, to which the remake ActRaiser Renaissance apparently attempted to address. From what I’ve read, it added a tower defense elements on top of city building, which drags the pacing down while failing to expand upon the gameplay loop.

    Thanks to the SNES version’s sleek approach to the blend of sidescrolling hack-and-slash platformer and town rebuilding simulator, I’m going to continue this one sooner than later. The fact that Yuzo Koshiro himself composed religious-evoking musics here to showcase the SPC700 audio processor’s potential that also stood the test of time sealed the deal even further.

    The remake can be purchased through most modern game consoles, while the North American SNES original can only be found through secondhand market asking for a higher price tag.

    Part Time UFO

    After two very challenging games back-to-back and a middle-ground one, I’ll certainly welcome Part Time UFO as my first chill game of my November Backlog Burner journey.

    The premise here is that Jobski, the tiny sentient spaceship is, as the title suggests, seeking out for part-time jobs right after his first dibs. The goal here is to form a stable structure using objects that don’t necessarily share the same shape and weight, all by using Jobski’s UFO Catcher-like crane ability. Which calls for my organization skills!

    Although it can grapple onto any object and carries it anywhere as needed, the kicker is that this is a physics-based puzzle game. The angle which an object should be grabbed, velocity and weight should be taken into consideration, alongside the spaceship’s crane swinging inertia.
    Therefore, one has to carefully weave the flying saucer in order to control the object’s momentum and orientation more effectively. A reckless move can possibly topple the entire structure into shambles.

    Knowing how to manipulate physics well is essential to earn a good amount of medals needed to progress the game, although not all are required to reach to the credits screen. Oddly enough, both difficulty levels share the same medals, although clearing the latter counts toward 100% completion.

    So why do I consider Part Time UFO as a chill game? Well, the gameplay and objectives are easy to get hang of, most jobs don’t have a time limit outside the mandatory medal requirement, has family-friendly environment and character design, and a one-melody soundtrack evoking Sunday Driving vibe to me.

    Since I’ve got a soft spot for physics-based and that it executes it quite well, I shall continue playing that down the road until I at least collected all the medals. The slick and snappy UI makes it even harder to put it down!

    At the time of writing this Backlog Burner entry, the mobile version has been delisted last month, whereas the Switch one remains available on eShop. The latter has added extra content, such as the tower construction minigame that has you build the highest possible tower without a single collapse.

    Pikmin 4

    The Pikmin franchise is no stranger to the concept of resource and time management, and Pikmin 4 arguably pushes it even further. Like the previous instalments, you command a bunch of plant-like alien creatures called Pikmin to perform a variety of tasks, some of which requires specialties from a specific species.

    Quantity plays a big role in the game as to get any battle done reasonably quick and be able to pick loots off the ground. There’s nothing quite like pelting dozens after dozens of Pikmins at a giant Bulborb to decimate it within seconds and recycling it at the base zone to produce tonnes of Pikmins.
    In fact, this very idea of managing a horde came all the way back to the GameCube’s capability of rendering more than a hundred of polygon models at once as showcased by the Nintendo Space World 2000’s Super Mario 128 tech demo.

    New to this franchise is the Oatchi, a dog-like creature the brings some pretty useful features. Not only he functions as an all-around souped-up Pikmin with a charge attack, but also doubles as a secondary captain that’s at least on with player, if not better. These add more diverse strategies and multitasking potential worth considering, particularly when speedrunning the game.

    In Dandoori, the focus is at carrying as many creatures and valuables to the base onion as possible to earn a lot of points using only one type of Pikmin within a time limit. There’s also a VS variant occasionally found during the single-player campaign during where whoever score the highest amount wins. Although this mode doesn’t even compare to the chaotic and unpredictable nature of Pikmin 3’s Bingo Battle, it does a good job at further honing efficient resource gathering skills.

    I can’t comment on the night expeditions, given that I still don’t have access to it even after over 5 hours of gameplay in later, because I try collecting everything in a level. I’ve only played a couple of them, with less than 20% of progress done on the second level today with just an hour spent.

    Affordable Space Adventures

    Affordable Space Adventures is a notable indie Wii U exclusive that makes the most effective uses of the ill-marketed Wii U GamePad’s unique features according to the fans of the platform. So I went ahead and bought it way before eShop no longer allowed purchases.

    Here, you explore some distant planet and solve its puzzles along the way, as you slowly uncover it through the beauty of the cheap space traveling service.
    What makes this one expedition stand out is how it conveys the feeling you’re actually driving the spaceship straight out of infomercials, instead of just contenting with sticks, buttons and motion control.

    The touch screen on the Wii U GamePad serves as a control panel that lets you toggle the vehicle’s functions on/off, adjusting their strength level, review how much sound, electricity and heat they emit to avoid being detected and more. The level design even account on the fact that you will have to switch between the controller and TV monitor frequently, are there are plenty of safe areas for the vehicle to park in as long as the gravity strength is stable enough.

    Even the included electronic instruction manual explains in details like a real car manual, with a hint of condescension about every single feature it has. Too bad some of these weren’t actually implemented in the game to make it more hilarious, but understandably so given how it would further confuse players and disrupt the flow.

    I played 9 levels through the Tourist difficulty, which simplifies the puzzles a bit while still enjoying the unique and immersive control scheme, which is roughly ¼ of the main campaign. There’s also some free DLCs that add several more that are very difficult to solve. I need to experience the game more before I confidently put it into the standout tier, but what I saw so far was promising.

    7 votes

  3. Comment on November 2024 Backlog Burner: Week 1 Discussion in ~games

    J-Chiptunator
    Link Parent
    Jotun: Valhalla Edition Another day, another tough game that’s ideal for the Friction theme this time around. Jotun: Valhalla Edition, the first ever release from Thunder Lotus Games, is a short...

    Jotun: Valhalla Edition

    Another day, another tough game that’s ideal for the Friction theme this time around. Jotun: Valhalla Edition, the first ever release from Thunder Lotus Games, is a short action-adventure game that mainly focuses on pitting the human-sized Viking Warrior Thora against humongous damage-sponge bosses.

    Being primarily a Nintendo gamer back in 2015, I first acknowledged its existence due to it being among the more notable indie eShop titles to grace on the struggling Wii U. Particularly with its challenging gameplay, and visually stunning environment, character design and frame-by-frame animation inspired by the Norse mythology. Years later, I got its Steam version from The Thunder Lotus Collection bundle at a significantly discounted price back in summer 2022.

    Thora can perform a combo of up to 2 swings, or 3 when finished with a dodge and a stab. She can also perform the much stronger ground slam, albeit with a much longer buildup time than the already lengthy animation time of the axe slashes. And that's it, save for the occasional assistance of a limited amount of consumable spells.
    Such delays definitely got me to consider positioning my character, being much more deliberate at picking the right moment to strike, and having an intimate knowledge of the boss patterns. Although her restrictive movesets and pedestrian moving speed lent very well to the simple matter of attacking and dodging, it were also at the expense of dragging the demanding fights a tad too longer than needed.

    There's also a jarring disparity in difficulty between the bosses and the sparse and longish level design with minimal environmental puzzles and challenges.
    For instance, the forest area did teach the player about how the poison’s Area of Effect, aggressive spiky vines and tree roots work in general and would be reused for the main boss fight. Despite barely managing to not die even once during that part, the way and frequency setpieces were laid out earlier didn't quite adequately prepare for how complex, swift and somewhat messy the boss attack patterns are with all those combined alongside exclusive slam attack patterns and a meaty health bar.

    I might play Jotun again someday for the David vs Goliath dynamic behind the boss fights, but the rather glacial and inconsistent pacing alongside a significant difficulty spike puts quite a damper to my motivation of finishing it.

    3 votes

  4. Comment on November 2024 Backlog Burner: Week 1 Discussion in ~games

    J-Chiptunator
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    J-Chiptunator's Bingo Card (Standard/Flow, 2/25) Mode: Standard Bingo! Finished 1/25 Pride Quantity Balance Restoration Open Resistance Peace Belonging Faith Organization ✔ Mushihimesama...
    J-Chiptunator's Bingo Card (Standard/Flow, 2/25)
    Mode: Standard Bingo! Finished 1/25
    Pride Quantity Balance Restoration Open
    Resistance Peace Belonging Faith Organization
    Abundance
    ✔ Mushihimesama    		 Complexity ★ Wildcard Distribution Creativity
    Exploration Friction
    ✔ Jotun: Valhalla Edition    		 Perspective Silence Symmetry
    Repetition Choice Vulnerability Light Deception

    Mushihimesama

    Mushihimesama, a danmaku-style shoot 'em up, marks the explosive start of my Backlog Burner journey as a perfect fit for the Abundance theme. This insect-themed bullet hell game steadfastly emphasizes projectile avoidance, with higher difficulty modes like Ultra pushing this concept to astronomical levels.

    My introduction to the franchise came over a decade ago through a blurry YouTube video titled "THE HARDEST VIDEO GAME BOSS EVER!" While slightly exaggerated due to unlimited continues outside the Score Attack mode, it perfectly captured the game's overwhelming bullet-dodging challenge.

    Despite the unrelenting chaos, Mushihimesama employs clever design choices to keep the gameplay manageable:

    • The character's hitbox is much smaller than its sprite suggests
    • Bullets follow uniform movement patterns
    • Projectiles are consistently colored purple to stand out

    Although these elements ensure that careful manoeuvring remains fairly possible amidst the barrage of bullets, the player character can be difficult to spot at times.

    The Switch port I played offers four variations, each with three difficulty modes. Even the Novice version's Original Mode is no walk in the park, as it gradually ups the challenge by introducing players to increasingly complex bullet patterns. For instance, stage 2 features an interesting sequence where two lines of bullets confine the player to a tight space, requiring quick and precise dodging.

    I found the intense focus required by the core gameplay loop to be a bit much for me in a casual playthrough, despite only losing one life in the first two stages. Still, the engaging gameplay has me eager to attempt a one-credit run on Novice's Original and Maniac modes after I’m done with my Backlog Bingo.

    Mushihimesama's strategic difficulty curve and compelling gameplay make it an excellent entry point for newcomers to the bullet hell genre, while still offering white-knuckle depth for experienced players. While the Switch port is delisted, you can at least still get it for PC or Steam Deck, albeit with a separate Mushihimesama V1.5 DLC to purchase. Mushihimesama Futari, however, is locked behind the expensive Xbox 360 region-free port.

    5 votes

  5. Comment on Announcing the Tildes Backlog Burner event for November 2024: Shrink your unplayed games list this coming month! in ~games

    J-Chiptunator
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    Like I said in the final May 2024 Backlog Bingo thread, I'm going to partake in the fun with the newly-added Flow list. To spice things up, I was initially considering choosing the Golf mode over...

    Like I said in the final May 2024 Backlog Bingo thread, I'm going to partake in the fun with the newly-added Flow list. To spice things up, I was initially considering choosing the Golf mode over the Standard one, until yesterday when I noticed that there are two new Bingo lists this time around.
    So, Standard Bingo with Flow categories it is! I left every category checked due to not knowing the themes for each video game I own, filled all the cases with the most appropriate ones in advance and let the good ol' randomizer decide on what order I play them.

    Coming up with a relevant game for each category turned out to be much trickier than the classic Flux ones. Having a more intimate knowledge for each game becomes essential and can lead to spoilers if not being careful with the research process. To aid myself in this process, I let the Perplexity AI do the heavy lifting for me and picked a good chunk of previously-played games but haven't beat. Given it's been ages since I touched on some of them, I thought it might provide a fresh perspective.

    Many of my game choices won't take me over 20 hours to clear, so I should be able to understand very well the gist of them within no more than a couple of hours. Rather than play only one per day at minimum, I'll force myself with two at a time. That way, I should be less likely ending the month with games I've still yet to try, even when I wind up failing to meet that self-imposed requirement for a few days.

    By the way, here's what I got on my November 2024 Bingo Card:

    J-Chiptunator's November 2024 Backlog Bingo Card
    Mode: Standard Bingo! Finished 0/25
    Pride Quantity Balance Restoration Open
    Resistance Peace Belonging Faith Organization
    Abundance Complexity ★ Wildcard Distribution Creativity
    Exploration Friction Perspective Silence Symmetry
    Repetition Choice Vulnerability Light Deception

    With that out the way, see you on November 1st for my detailed write-up on my first few games!

    5 votes

  6. Comment on What are some fun/interesting websites that don't involve news or current events? in ~tech

    J-Chiptunator
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    Battle of the Bits is a community revolved around partaking in the many, many user-hosted battles, where you upload your music creation produced through one of the numerous retro game console...

    Battle of the Bits is a community revolved around partaking in the many, many user-hosted battles, where you upload your music creation produced through one of the numerous retro game console soundchips that fits within the specific criteria. The listeners will vote on how well yours performed in different aspects, and whichever earns the most points will be declared as the winner.

    You usually have little time at your disposal to come up with a good music, so don't always expect to consistently pump out masterpiece after masterpiece. But that is the beauty of the experimental nature of soundchip-produced sound, perhaps best demonstrated by Jakerson's SPC700 (SNES) piece, LightShow YEAH.
    In case you need feedback for improving your skills at churning out pieces, there's the dedicated BotB Discord server maintained by the site's owner for this purpose and more.

    Be warned, this site has some early 00s website design quirks, obtuse design choices and community-specific jargon that makes for a steep learning curve to navigate properly. It can be argued that this is done to require significantly more dedication on your part compared to the mainstream social medias, as a measure to weed out much of the undesirable Internet users away.

    3 votes

  7. Comment on Metroid Prime 4: Beyond | Announcement trailer in ~games

    J-Chiptunator
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    With the graphics being very detailed, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond can easily pass off as a PS4 (if not PS5) title. Wouldn't it be likely to receive a Switch 2 port, given that system might be...

    With the graphics being very detailed, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond can easily pass off as a PS4 (if not PS5) title. Wouldn't it be likely to receive a Switch 2 port, given that system might be released the same year as this game, according to the rumors?

    2 votes

  8. Comment on May 2024 Backlog Burner: Conclusion and Recap in ~games

    J-Chiptunator
    Link Parent
    The twin stick configuration that's standardized since the 6th video game generation of home consoles definitely isn't ideal for quick precision aiming, particularly if the reticle moves slowly....

    The twin stick configuration that's standardized since the 6th video game generation of home consoles definitely isn't ideal for quick precision aiming, particularly if the reticle moves slowly. That's where the IR pointer of the Wii remote and especially the motion sensor/right stick combo of the 8-9th gen controllers excels at, although I'm unsure if the latter is frequently used outside of Nintendo.

    Moving a playable with the WASD/Arrow keys in a 3D environment certainly took me a while to adjust to, even near the end of Portal's main campaign. I did eventually rely on pressing up while changing the camera's direction with the mouse to adjust the direction she's going to, unless when I need to keep facing at one direction while moving.

    1 vote

  9. Comment on May 2024 Backlog Burner: Conclusion and Recap in ~games

    J-Chiptunator
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    J-Chiptunator's Final Backlog Bingo Card (14/25) Mode: Standard Bingo! Finished 14/25 Has less than 13 achievements ✔ Bastion Great reviews, but not your usual type ✔ Retro City Rampage DX ✔ Baten...
    J-Chiptunator's Final Backlog Bingo Card (14/25)
    Mode: Standard Bingo! Finished 14/25
    Has less than 13 achievements Recommended by someone on Tildes
    ✔ Bastion    		 Great reviews, but not your usual type You got from a bundle
    ✔ Retro City Rampage DX    		 Randomness determines your fate
    ✔ Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean
    Is one of the oldest games you own
    ✔ Choplifter    		 Has a moody vibe Not found on any distribution service Is beatable without killing any enemies Has aliens
    ✔ Alien 3
    Known for its impact on gaming
    ✔ Portal    		 From a genre you find challenging ★ Wildcard
    ✔ Super Mario Bros. Wonder    		 Features a mystery
    ✔ The Longest Journey    		 Light and dark play a role
    You can complete it in only a few hours
    ✔ Enduro Racer    		 Has a weather system
    ✔ Animal Crossing: New Leaf    		 Has a fishing minigame Has driving
    ✔ Jak II    		 Uses a unique control scheme
    Is mostly text-based
    ✔ Radical Dreamers - Le Trésor Interdit -    		 Focuses on exploration
    ✔ Neutopia II    		 Considered a cult classic
    ✔ Asura's Wrath    		 From a different culture or country Has time manipulation
    My last game writeups as promised, because I played them at the last few hours of May 2024

    Enduro Racer

    Imagine the 2D sidescroller motorcycle racing of Excitebike, but this time on a slightly off-angle isometric perspective and temporary motorcycle upgrades purchasable at the end of each track.

    That sums up the Master System port of Enduro Racer, an endurance-based racer that’s certainly beatable way under 20 minutes on a good-enough run of 5 tracks repeated twice. Which I did, albeit with savestates courtesy of Master EverDrive X7 used only to restart the beginning of each checkpoint.

    Some people will insist on always avoiding ramps as often as possible, but this overlooks the speed boost and gap clearing potential benefited from popping a wheelie and then releasing the down button upon hitting these slopes. It’s much easier to pull these off using a controller with a plus-shaped D-Pad over the Master System one, as the latter’s flattened square pad is prone to trigger diagonal inputs that stops wheelies.

    As for the motorcycle upgrades, I recommend getting the Engine one, since the increased top speed can allow for soaring over quite a good chunk of obstacles off from a ramp, as well of overtaking nearly twice the amount of vehicles for more points to spend at upgrades. It’s also a lot of fun speeding through incredibly fast and seeing a big amount of excess time being carried over to the next race on top of the mandatory 60 seconds extension, albeit capped at 99 seconds.

    One aspect of the upgrade I dislike is the moment motorcycle takes too much damage, crashes or fall, they all get stripped out. Particularly annoying during some stages with its numerous obstacles are more plentiful and has a tendency of having the racetrack hugging on the rightmost edge of screen eating a lot of view up ahead.

    These design choice alongside with increased contestants on the already tricky 10th and final track made the opponent racer’s behavior impossible to react to at times, leading to unfair and curse-worthy moments.

    Apparently, the bigger ROM size of its Sega Mark III version (Japanese) replaces 5 reused tracks with 5 extra ones with in its own rearranged track lineup. But regardless, this doesn’t change the fact tight track design and heightened stakes are what make Enduro Racer a thrilling ride even at short bursts.

    Alien 3 - Sega Genesis

    How do I answer the Has alien category? With the aptly named Alien 3 of course! This tough 2D sidescrolling Sega Genesis adaptation of the movie tie-in revolves around rescuing all prisoners through labyrinthine stages before scouring for an exit. I went with the easy difficulty to extend the still strict timer and set the amount of lives to 9, although it’ll be missing an optional score bonus.

    The alien soldiers that populates throughout the game are nimble enough to move on and off-screen to the point of needing to shoot some ammo at every step or so to avoid being blindsided. Sometimes they lay themselves down, which requires crouching to even be able to hit on them unless when using hand grenades.

    After playing the few levels out of dozens and watching a YouTube video of a much later progression in the game, there isn’t much variety to be found between the levels. And thus, the gameplay quickly becomes repetitive.

    I’ve got many games to go through, so I’m far from being compelled to finish this movie tie-in. The rock and techno soundtrack from Matt Furniss, although unfitting to the ambient horror vibe it’s known for, is a banger particularly with the standout being Stage 4. Somehow, I kept thinking that one soundfont came from a cartoony 16-bit penguin walking.

    A great CRT filter like the aperture grill combined with horizontal scanlines and HDR injection output out of my Morph with a RetroTINK-5x Pro daisy-chained into made the drooling alien stage card spritework look more detailed. I’m impressed even with the RGB input, known for being the cleanest among 240p/480i analog signals.

    Animal Crossing: New Leaf

    I was initially going with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild for having a weather system in place, notable for its rainy ones breaking the game’s pacing a bit too often. But then, I found myself wanting some Animal Crossing nostalgia fix that also fits in this category, so I went with arguably the best entry in the franchise, New Leaf.

    It’s a life simulation game that’s not only a culmination of content and ideas from past instalments, but also adds way more on its own to further convince that this second life is worth living through. Most notably the only appearance of many minigames, including a full-fledged version of Puzzle League and Desert Island Escape.

    Despite the suddenly entrusted mayor role prominently touted as a main selling point, we only get to erect buildings and landmarks (aka Public Work Projects) and set one of the four ordinances that affect the way the game works. Having such a limited customization capability works in favor of the game, as the point of the franchise is simply cohabiting with villagers, quirks and all.

    This was further enhanced by fact I played the Japanese version of the game nearly 7 months preceding its international launch. Dealing with a completely different language alongside with tonnes of new additions really made me feel like I moved to a completely different world, with myself having memorized most of the hiragana and katakana letters through painstakingly translating Gulliver’s unique manner of speech.

    Sadly, New Horizons has undermined the appeal of cohabitation with villagers due to bringing too much agency on customization, mainly the powerful terraforming tools to alter much of the landscape and forcing overly saccharine villagers to move to a different spot. It’s a few steps too close at dictating how they conduct their lives.

    The mainstay tools even started to break beyond just the axes, as to encourage using the game’s engaging and varied crafting system. It constantly disrupts the flow the game even with the customization kit exploit, as I always have to count how many uses each individual tool has. That becomes stressful, which diminishes the franchise’s well-established relaxing vibe. And it’s still never fully addressed even after progressing much further into the island, obtaining the golden tools that actually break and a paltry chance of temporary durability boon from Katrina’s stand at Harv’s Island. Thankfully, New Leaf is spared from all of it.

    Like every other instalment that came before, it also has rain that brings quite a few advantages. Being able to catch the elusive and pricey coelacanth fish, instantly watering all flowers to prevent wilting and significantly increasing odds of growing a hybrid flower, and spawning buried gyroids the following day. That didn’t happen tonight at my launch day town, Poutine.

    After waking up from a month-long slumber (or rather, 5+ years), I’ve sold some ores at premium prices in the recycling shop, danced around at Club LOL, and cleared out unwanted flowers, weeds, clovers. I also took forever to find the Epona villager until I realized she really was literally nowhere to be found.

    Yes, I instinctively check every villager on a daily basis to see if any is considering moving, and I prevented Gaston from actually doing it after I said something along the lines of “no”. I purposefully keep every single personality in existence so to get every Public Work Projects quicker, alongside with waiting 5 minutes or so for a villager to ping on me. I’ve managed to get nearly all of them, and I still had to go through lots of repetitive and unrelated dialog boxes.

    Asura’s Wrath

    Asura’s Wrath is one of the cases where style trumps over function that might’ve not impressed the western critics as much as the Japanese ones back in 2012, but has managed to captivate quite a cult following.

    This action and cinematic game consists of run-of-the-mill rail shooting and ground combat segments, alongside with truck load of Quick Time Event (QTE) button prompts, at least on Easy difficulty. To rely on these to judge a game like I did in the past would be dismissing the numerous stylistic choices that went into turning the game into a very interactive and epic anime as mere cosmetics.

    Among them, we have camera angles that emphasize the emotion characters are conveying (more specifically wrath), high stakes storyline and the sheer volume of life-threatening threats compared to human-sized but ludicrously strong characters. All of these are structured episodically, even down to ~20 minutes length and intermission cards.

    So far I’m impressed, but I still have to play more than just the first episode to further shape my opinions.

    Choplifter

    Get to da choppa! Sorry, I couldn’t resist…

    Along with several other games I got for my recently purchased Master System, Choplifter is among them and is one of the oldest games I currently own. Originally published in 1982 on Apple II by Broderbund, Sega managed to port its 1985 coin-op arcade version to its latest 8-bit home console in 1986. Graphically and gameplay wise, this impressive conversion remained largely identical to its source material.

    The objective for each level is to bring at least 20 prisoners to your base, or 40 to trigger instant stage clear, all while not taking too long to the point of running out of fuel. It only takes one hit to the helicopter to crash and burn, as does with a too abrupt landing while trying to board prisoners.

    Controlling the helicopter is rather unintuitive. In order to turn around, the 2 button must be held and not merely tapped. Otherwise, it’ll switch between weapons, with the bomb only being useful at dispatching the tanks that appear while boarding prisoners.

    The square-shaped D-Pad only serve to strafe the vehicle, which is useful for continuing at shooting at one direction while moving. Its touchiness stems from the fact it doesn’t take long for the momentum to build up and become much harder to stop it, and therefore trickier to dodge the enemies and bullets.

    While the helicopter advances forward, it’ll shoot at a downward angle instead of straight ahead, ideal for taking down machines below the vehicle but struggles at hitting elsewhere. For that reason, I wouldn’t advise trying to hit any aircraft that’s hovering more than a bit above the ground.

    I really should get some kind of NES to DB-9 pin adapter for tough cookie games like Choplifter to take advantage of the much more stable D-Pad. I kept dying on the first level because of this alongside with its kinda steep learning curve striking right from the get go, but it got a promising gameplay loop. So for now, it’ll be shelved.

    Super Mario Bros. Wonder

    Finally, a brand-new entry to the real deal 2D platforming after a decade of no-show. This is my choice for the wildcard spot, and I did play it around the time of my first few bingo card spots. You might’ve already seen some of my points being touched on by someone else on Tildes in one of the weekly recurring What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? topics.

    The latest Super Mario Bros. instalment is a 2D sidescrolling hop and bop platformer that focuses more on providing elements of surprise. Not just the tried-and-true level design philosophy of the past 2D Mario games that’s largely reliant on reaching from point A to B, but also ones we’ve never seen before outside the Super Mario Maker sub-series.
    Some more successful at achieving what they set out to do and impact the game’s appeal than others, like the ones teaching how to use the newly-included badges that alters abilities or add another one.

    I also find that controlling Mario here is a notch snappier than the rest of the Super Mario Bros. series, perhaps outside of Super Mario World and its twitchy movement that many ROM hacks took advantage of. It does wonders to contribute to the tighter platforming feel that makes the tougher levels even more enjoyable.

    Part of what made the New Super Mario Bros. series rather sterile is how it’s just content on mostly reusing assets from the Wii era with just enough touch-ups to justify making a new game out of these. Wonder took the aesthetics playbook from the CRT era of 2D Mario and applied to 3D characters and set pieces, by abusing camera perspective tricks and exaggerating character expressions. It effectively livens up the game’s world by a lot.

    Portal

    The original Portal, a hit 3D puzzle-platform game initially thrown in the Orange Box compilation as a bonus that would go on becoming the influential highlight over the classic Half-Life 2 with both Episode DLCs and Team Fortress 2. In less than 4 years, the cultural icon also gets its own and pretty much the only sequel.

    As a console gamer, this is my first time experiencing with keyboard and mouse with a typical shooter control scheme on an actual game, despite regularly using these devices for other purposes. The pinpoint accuracy of mouse pointer proved to be extremely helpful on generating portals exactly where I wanted to warp to.

    The lateral thinking puzzles in the game involve clever usages of blue and orange portal generator that can be plopped any white-colored floor, wall and ceiling to create a literal gateway between the two areas. The minimalistic amount of set pieces found in the game alongside with the player character’s velocity complement with the main game mechanic by giving some nice degree of complexity.

    I’m almost at the end of the main campaign, and one complaint I have about the game so far. In some places of the first turret puzzle, I couldn’t see what’s ahead of me. Despite the past levels had conditioned me to examine my surroundings, I was pretty much forced to Leeroy Jenkins my way through bullets here and die in the trial and error process.

    Last month was when I had my first ever Backlog Burner, and it was a success at getting myself a good excuse for discovering games I would've overlooked otherwise. Due to a combination of my randomizer’s stingy RNG and my own procrastinating tendencies, I wasn’t able to get a single winning line despite going through 14 games.

    My games rule operated in Standard Game Mode similar to a typical physical bingo card, with the win condition bring filling either a row, column or diagonal of 5 tiles. I then let the randomizer deciding the exact game order to play, and had a few possible wins with one or more tiles away.

    If I pushed myself further through like what the RNG wants me to, that would be 3 more to fill a winning diagonal line. Those games are Stardew Valley, Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition and Pocket Card Jockey in that order.

    The star tile located in the middle acts as a wildcard reserved for any game of my choice without any specific category. This is the only spot I get to decide when I’ll play, so it functionally acts as a free tile.

    I spent some time thinking of possible games before allowing certain categories to be generated on my bingo card. No duplicate and similar ones are allowed on my bingo card, given the sheer amount of my backlog that hasn’t been cleared.

    Before starting my bingo card for real, I came up with a well-balanced variety of genres as far as my backlog goes to expand my gaming tastes beyond platforming and Animal Crossing. That way, I ended up discovering plenty of games that appealed to me, helping reinforce my love for my gaming and finding some duds to further appreciate the better games. Here's what I got:

    Standout games (2): Bastion, Portal
    Good enough to continue (6): Radical Dreamers - Le Trésor Interdit, Baiten Kaitos, Jak II, The Longest Journey, Super Mario Bros. Wonder, Asura’s Wrath
    Still good, but shelved (4): Enduro Racer (finished with save states), Retro City Rampage DX, Animal Crossing: New Leaf (finished), Choplifter
    Dropped (2): Neutopia II, Alien 3 – Sega Genesis
    Planned, but didn’t reach (11): Stardew Valley, Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition, Pocket Card Jockey, ARMS, The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, Wave Race: Blue Storm, Chrono Trigger, Okami HD, Dead Cells, ‘Splosion Man, LIMBO

    And here's a look at what my backlog bingo card could've been if fully completed
    Mode: Standard Winning Bingo! Finished 25/25
    Has less than 13 achievements
    ✔ 'Splosion Man    		 Recommended by someone on Tildes
    ✔ Bastion    		 Great reviews, but not your usual type
    ✔ Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition    		 You got from a bundle
    ✔ Retro City Rampage DX    		 Randomness determines your fate
    ✔ Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean
    Is one of the oldest games you own
    ✔ Choplifter    		 Has a moody vibe
    ✔ LIMBO    		 Not found on any distribution service
    ✔ Wave Race : Blue Storm    		 Is beatable without killing any enemies
    ✔ Pocket Card Jockey    		 Has aliens
    ✔ Alien 3
    Known for its impact on gaming
    ✔ Portal    		 From a genre you find challenging
    ✔ Dead Cells    		 ★ Wildcard
    ✔ Super Mario Bros. Wonder    		 Features a mystery
    ✔ The Longest Journey    		 Light and dark play a role
    ✔ The Legend of Zelda : A Link Between Worlds
    You can complete it in only a few hours
    ✔ Enduro Racer    		 Has a weather system
    ✔ Animal Crossing: New Leaf    		 Has a fishing minigame
    ✔ Stardew Valley    		 Has driving
    ✔ Jak II    		 Uses a unique control scheme
    ✔ ARMS
    Is mostly text-based
    ✔ Radical Dreamers - Le Trésor Interdit -    		 Focuses on exploration
    ✔ Neutopia II    		 Considered a cult classic
    ✔ Asura's Wrath    		 From a different culture or country
    ✔ Okami HD    		 Has time manipulation
    ✔ Chrono Trigger

    And that pretty much concludes my last month's Backlog Burner run. I'll check out the remaining games in the coming days and then finish the ones I deem worthy of my time, alongside dropping my writeups on a certain weekly gaming thread. Maybe I'll also generate another bingo card with the same rulesets, but this time over the course of 3 months and with the requirement of beating a game to fill out a space.

    See you guys on the November Backlog Burner event!

    4 votes

  10. Comment on May 2024 Backlog Burner: Week 5(ish) Discussion in ~games

    J-Chiptunator
    Link Parent
    Tonight's the last day of Backlog Bingo of the month, and I sadly ran out of time to actually get a bingo. So, I'll go ahead and show my last bingo card. J-Chiptunator's Backlog Bingo Card (14/25)...

    Tonight's the last day of Backlog Bingo of the month, and I sadly ran out of time to actually get a bingo. So, I'll go ahead and show my last bingo card.

    J-Chiptunator's Backlog Bingo Card (14/25)
    Mode: Standard Bingo! Finished 14/25
    Has less than 13 achievements Recommended by someone on Tildes
    ✔ Bastion    		 Great reviews, but not your usual type You got from a bundle
    ✔ Retro City Rampage DX    		 Randomness determines your fate
    ✔ Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean
    Is one of the oldest games you own
    ✔ Choplifter    		 Has a moody vibe Not found on any distribution service Is beatable without killing any enemies Has aliens
    ✔ Alien 3
    Known for its impact on gaming
    ✔ Portal    		 From a genre you find challenging ★ Wildcard
    ✔ Super Mario Bros. Wonder    		 Features a mystery
    ✔ The Longest Journey    		 Light and dark play a role
    You can complete it in only a few hours
    ✔ Enduro Racer    		 Has a weather system
    ✔ Animal Crossing: New Leaf    		 Has a fishing minigame Has driving
    ✔ Jak II    		 Uses a unique control scheme
    Is mostly text-based
    ✔ Radical Dreamers - Le Trésor Interdit -    		 Focuses on exploration
    ✔ Neutopia II    		 Considered a cult classic
    ✔ Asura's Wrath    		 From a different culture or country Has time manipulation

    Since I posted it at the very last minute and that I'll take a very long while conjuring with my detailed thoughts for the games I played after my previous report, I'll post about those on the final recap topic.

  11. Comment on May 2024 Backlog Burner: Week 5(ish) Discussion in ~games

    J-Chiptunator
    Link Parent
    Thanks for finding out a few workarounds! I'll try those, just in case I couldn't progress smoothly enough. I planned many of my Backlog Burner games to play before you got around to playing Jak &...

    Thanks for finding out a few workarounds! I'll try those, just in case I couldn't progress smoothly enough.

    I planned many of my Backlog Burner games to play before you got around to playing Jak & Daxter, so myself taking on Jak II afterwards is certainly a coincidence.

    1 vote

  12. Comment on May 2024 Backlog Burner: Week 5(ish) Discussion in ~games

    J-Chiptunator
    (edited )
    Link
    J-Chiptunator's Backlog Bingo Card (7/25) Mode: Standard Bingo! Finished 7/25 Has less than 13 achievements ✔ Bastion Great reviews, but not your usual type ✔ Retro City Rampage DX ✔ Baten Kaitos:...
    J-Chiptunator's Backlog Bingo Card (7/25)
    Mode: Standard Bingo! Finished 7/25
    Has less than 13 achievements Recommended by someone on Tildes
    ✔ Bastion    		 Great reviews, but not your usual type You got from a bundle
    ✔ Retro City Rampage DX    		 Randomness determines your fate
    ✔ Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean
    Is one of the oldest games you own Has a moody vibe Not found on any distribution service Is beatable without killing any enemies Has aliens
    Known for its impact on gaming From a genre you find challenging ★ Wildcard Features a mystery
    ✔ The Longest Journey    		 Light and dark play a role
    You can complete it in only a few hours Has a weather system Has a fishing minigame Has driving
    ✔ Jak II    		 Uses a unique control scheme
    Is mostly text-based
    ✔ Radical Dreamers - Le Trésor Interdit -    		 Focuses on exploration
    ✔ Neutopia II    		 Considered a cult classic From a different culture or country Has time manipulation

    We're almost at the end of the event, and I haven't finished half of my bingo card. If I don't manage to quickly blast through the rest in 3 days, I won't even have a full row or column. Either way, I can claim that I played more games seriously than I did for the past 5 years, so that's definitely progress in my books.
    Anyway, let's get the business rolling as usual.

    Jak II

    The previous instalment, Jak and Daxter: The Precursor of Legacy, had players lamenting on the low overall difficulty. Which might’ve been the impetus for Naughty Dog upping it for Jak II, perhaps a tad too much given the amount of complaints alongside with stingy checkpoint placement.

    Among the few levels I played, the platforming segments aren’t anything special, but they’re well-constructed in a manner that it’s easy to figure out what to do while offering fairly high challenge. At least, for someone’s who got a lot of experience on platformers.

    One standout among them is the second visit to fortress on a mission called Blow Up Ammo at Fortress. It’s got a very good mix of tension and relax segments through judicious uses of moving platform setpieces and the not-so-aggressive red Krimzon guards.

    Its main gimmick isn’t overused either, as the pressure added by the stalking spiky bulldozer tank never reaches to an overwhelming degree. It attempts to score a hit on Jak with its targeting reticle, and for one early section of the level, also applies its somewhat warbled visor overlay over of the gameplay screen and forces autoscrolling. At the very end, you get to trick the tank destroying parts of the ammo and complete the level with an explosive escape.

    This game loves throwing lots of aggressive enemies in a tight spot that tend to lead to off-screen strong attacks thanks to the camera’s rather sluggish speed. I suppose such design choices are to justify the newly-added firearm weaponry as to further increase Jak’s offensive capabilities beyond his close-ranged melee moves. But I’m nearly an hour in, and I’m really feeling the need for weapons.

    What makes Jak II fit to the Has driving criteria, is the abundance of hovering vehicles found on its hubworld and are prominently used in the missions. It’s practically impossible to drive without triggering the crime alert by accidentally hitting one of the Krimzon guards or killing a civilian, so I default to abusing the rolling jump’s speed.

    The Longest Journey

    While I was scouring for used items at a recycling store, I saw a cheap used copy of The Longest Journey, whose cover is evocative of the Y2K era. A time when 90s CGI renders were commonplace, and that I often played a few pre-Steam PC games playable with just a mouse before sticking to console gaming for over a decade. For nostalgia's sake, I went ahead and downloaded it.

    This point and click adventure game follows the mysterious tale of an unlikely heroine, the minimum wage waitress and starving art student April Ryan, who recently moved to Newport. It seems like that the genre savvy’s bizarre dream might have a connection to the real world she currently is in, acting as an indication that there definitely is more than meets her eyes. A lot, actually.

    I’m bad at memorizing stuff when there are pages and pages worth of text for my not-so-great attention span. Thankfully, there’s her diary providing a nice and personalized synopsis of what happened in the game’s expansive storyline thus far, should I undergo through a hiatus.

    Many of its puzzles are intuitive to solve, with some of them not being necessary for further progression. Its contemporaries back from the 90s would rely more on trial and error just to figure out a solution, often leading to tedious moments.

    I cut much of the struggle that might've come into getting the game running on a modern desktop by simply opting with the GOG.com version instead. After installing it to a drive other than C:/, I had to execute the included TLJRegFix.exe executable to change to another installation folder. The only issue I ran into during gameplay is that the prompt windows for saving is completely whited out, but for now pressing the Enter key on my keyboard gets the job done.

    On build 142 however, the version that GOG.com sold with, be careful of a glitch that prevents from progressing in Chapter 2 if you didn’t clear a certain puzzle on the first chapter.

    SpoilersSpecifically, the rubber ducky on.

    Because of this, I'll be forced to redo the entire Chapter 1 with no other save file than the one I was playing with. Not much of an issue due to the ESC key's blazingly fast speedup function, but still worth pointing it out.

    Neutopia II

    Neutopia II, like its predecessor that came before, is Hudson Soft’s take on The Legend of Zelda 1. It looks and play identically, with better graphics and some quality-of-life adjustments like being able to move and attack in all 8 directions. That alongside being able to walk while swinging a weapon help on defeating foes with ease.

    I’ve chosen this game specifically because I was interested on how this TurboGrafx-16/PC-Engine game handles exploration. What I found is a case of how the joy of discovery is undermined by its linear-to-a-fault progression and forgettable content.

    Clearing a dungeon is mandatory for unlocking a portion of the map that leads to the next one, rendering any kind of out-of-order progression impossible. No matter which way you go, you’ll inevitably end up reaching the next dungeon without much happening along the way.

    Many of the visible and hidden caves are very easily found and are so unrewarding they become a chore in the process, including even the occasional infinite full heal or save point. Humans from those places and dungeons are also so good at providing hints, they might as well straight-up tell how to beat the game.

    What about the puzzles? Neutopia II doesn’t even try beyond killing all enemies and/or finding a push-able block in a rarely clever terrain layout, alongside bombing at obviously suspicious walls. The enemy and weapon variety, while not lacking, never encourage strategizing on how to wipe foes to a significant degree.

    It's a short game that takes 7 hours or so to beat it, and I managed to conquer the first two dungeons within roughly an hour. If you'd like to listen to its epic chiptunes without needing to load up a YouTube video, there exists a cheat code to be inputted at the password screen.

    Retro City Rampage DX

    There’s not a lot to say about this game that's part of a Humble Bundle purchase. Initially developed for the NES, it’s an 8-bit take on the Grand Theft Auto 1-2 formula, chock-full of late 80s video gaming homages to be found throughout storytelling, levels, character abilities and even the minigames. For instance, being able to stomp on pedestrians by jumping on them.

    The simplicity of plowing through pedestrians, vehicles and objects with cops being increasingly pursuing the more you commit crimes 8-bit flavor lend very well to its pick-up-and-play nature, especially on handhelds. Free Roaming Mode in particular gives you max amount of money and all weapons to toy around with its game world without risking at impeding a Story Mode file progress.

    Despite the game’s attempt at shifting the camera to help further seeing ahead as I speed, I still tend to bump on walls at turns around due to the playing field of view being limited by the low pixel density and the very zoomed in camera.

    5 votes

  13. Comment on May 2024 Backlog Burner: Week 4 Discussion in ~games

    J-Chiptunator
    (edited )
    Link
    J-Chiptunator's Backlog Bingo Card (3/25) Mode: Standard Bingo! Finished 3/25 Has less than 13 achievements ✔ Bastion Great reviews, but not your usual type You got from a bundle ✔ Baten Kaitos:...
    J-Chiptunator's Backlog Bingo Card (3/25)
    Mode: Standard Bingo! Finished 3/25
    Has less than 13 achievements Recommended by someone on Tildes
    ✔ Bastion    		 Great reviews, but not your usual type You got from a bundle Randomness determines your fate
    ✔ Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean
    Is one of the oldest games you own Has a moody vibe Not found on any distribution service Is beatable without killing any enemies Has aliens
    Known for its impact on gaming From a genre you find challenging ★ Wildcard Features a mystery Light and dark play a role
    You can complete it in only a few hours Has a weather system Has a fishing minigame Has driving Uses a unique control scheme
    Is mostly text-based
    ✔ Radical Dreamers - Le Trésor Interdit -    		 Focuses on exploration Considered a cult classic From a different culture or country Has time manipulation

    I'm back for Week 4, this time with Monolith Soft's Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean. It's an unconventional JRPG where game mechanics heavily rely on cards, which is referred to as Magnus.

    At the beginning of a battle, each party member will receive a handful of non-consumable battle Magnus at random from their customizable deck instead of a command list. After targeting a foe/friend and confirming with a card, the combo system will engage and allows choosing one or more card under a time limit. At the end of a combo, how much damage a character give or take will be applied.
    Be mindful of the elemental variables at play, as it's possible to wind up nullifying its benefit by picking opposing elements during an attack phase or not opting for a dominant element during a defense phase.
    Some Magnus will alter itself depending on how long it's sitting on the inventory, like a monster one taken from doing the photo move that will eventually be developed into full colors. They fetch much better prices than just 1G from practically every other Magnus.

    I've chosen this game for two reasons. One, it fits with the Randomness determines your fate criteria, where an unlucky string of wrong Magnus could wipe your party members out. And two, this was recommended by one of my friends for looking for an engaging JRPG that's nowhere near as overwhelming as Xenoblade Chronicles 1, for someone whose experience on JRPG outside of Mario is limited and tend to overthink about variables.
    It worked out in the end, since I've managed to figure out the mechanics and its appeal fairly quickly through a few tutorials and little trial and error. 2 hours into the game and I'm looking forward to more of this.

    Although I got the Baten Kaitos I & II HD Remaster on my Nintendo Switch, I opted for the GameCube original to effortlessly avoid potentially some game-breaking technical issues and experience the corny English voiceover that better fit with the game's not-so-serious vibe and made me laugh at times.

    3 votes

  14. Comment on May 2024 Backlog Burner: Week 2 Discussion in ~games

    J-Chiptunator
    Link
    J-Chiptunator's Backlog Bingo Card (2/25) Mode: Standard Bingo! Finished 2/25 Has less than 13 achievements ✔ Bastion Great reviews, but not your usual type You got from a bundle Randomness...
    J-Chiptunator's Backlog Bingo Card (2/25)
    Mode: Standard Bingo! Finished 2/25
    Has less than 13 achievements Recommended by someone on Tildes
    ✔ Bastion    		 Great reviews, but not your usual type You got from a bundle Randomness determines your fate
    Is one of the oldest games you own Has a moody vibe Not found on any distribution service Is beatable without killing any enemies Has aliens
    Known for its impact on gaming From a genre you find challenging ★ Wildcard Features a mystery Light and dark play a role
    You can complete it in only a few hours Has a weather system Has a fishing minigame Has driving Uses a unique control scheme
    Is mostly text-based
    ✔ Radical Dreamers - Le Trésor Interdit -    		 Focuses on exploration Considered a cult classic From a different culture or country Has time manipulation

    Continuing towards the second week of Backlog Bingo, this time with Radical Dreamers - Le Trésor Interdit - that's playable from Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition right out of the gate. It's a rather dark text-based visual novel originally released in 1996 for the Satellaview peripheral for Super Famicom, which of course largely consist of reading befitting of the Is mostly text-based category.

    As far as my knowledge of the Chrono series goes, I never played much Trigger and Cross, so I'm going blind into Radical Dreamers lorewise. So far, I'm almost halfway into the game, more specifically...

    Spoilers

    ... at the point where I found an imprisoned rambling old man who needs some item to get him to speak much more clearly. Earlier on, I got a good laugh at throwing Kid's knickknacks at the Mouth of Truth just to get it and Kid to react in different ways, but disappointed at the fact that used items won't be removed from the list of choices. And thus, rendering Kid's (over)reaction meaningless.

    Seeing as it takes 3 hours to beat it on average and 7 hours to complete according to HowLongToBeat, I assume it will have multiple endings. No idea on how the ramification from the choices I've made outside do-or-die situations would influence the story in any shape or form. Maybe I'll find out in one of those endings.

    The combats and perilous situations I've encountered both uses the hidden timer that will force skipping the choice option if you wait for too long. There's even a Game Over should you manage to get yourself killed by a death trap, but I'm unsure if that's even possible during battles, having never died in any of these so far. Overcoming through all these aforementioned situations are generally an intuitive process despite the lack of UI commonly found in today's visual novels.

    For old time's sake, I played with a wired SNES Classic Controller directly connected to the obscure RetroPad32 device plugged into Switch dock's USB port. Turns out, it's among the accessories that add as little as 0.711ms according to MisterAddons Input Lag page. One frame of input lag is 16.67ms on a 60FPS gameplay, and human players can indeed perceive the difference in input responsiveness starting at half-frame. For many of the action and reaction-oriented games on Switch and PC, this is how I'm going to roll going forward.

    7 votes

  15. Comment on May 2024 Backlog Burner: Week 1 Discussion in ~games

    J-Chiptunator
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    What a more interesting way to start off the bingo card is with Supergiant Games's first indie title, Bastion, to fill the Recommended by someone on Tildes category. Given that I recently joined...

    What a more interesting way to start off the bingo card is with Supergiant Games's first indie title, Bastion, to fill the Recommended by someone on Tildes category. Given that I recently joined this website, I had to search for a post about game recommendations to stumble across of one that I actually own.

    It's an action RPG game where hand drawn worlds materialize as the protagonist marches on while the narrator dynamically (and sometimes cheekily) commentate on what's happening around him, even down to weaponry skills and implicitly pointing out where to go.

    I like how the game keeps me on toes by overwhelming me with seemingly chock-full of enemies, yet manageable with effective tactics such as hitting with a close range weapon and dodging. Which makes for an engaging gameplay experience without necessarily being difficult.

    The only complaint I came across while playing, is that the camera for the most part is a bit too zoomed out, which can make distinguishing certain foes and objects trickier on busy-looking areas. Was it originally designed to play right next to a PC monitor? Perhaps...

    So far, I cleared two stages and reached Level 2 and have yet to see more gameplay elements, enemy variety, and whatever else the game has to offer. Since I appreciated everything I experienced during the first hour, I'll consider beating Bastion sooner than later, which will last around 8 hours for the main campaign according to HowLongToBeat.

    7 votes

  16. Comment on May 2024 Backlog Burner: Week 1 Discussion in ~games

    J-Chiptunator
    (edited )
    Link
    It's been a long while since I last played video games, perhaps due to my Internet addiction. So maybe participating in this year's Backlog Bingo will reignite the gaming spark within me....

    It's been a long while since I last played video games, perhaps due to my Internet addiction. So maybe participating in this year's Backlog Bingo will reignite the gaming spark within me.

    J-Chiptunator's Backlog Bingo Card (1/25)
    Mode: Standard Bingo! Finished 1/25
    Has less than 13 achievements Recommended by someone on Tildes
    ✔ Bastion    		 Great reviews, but not your usual type You got from a bundle Randomness determines your fate
    Is one of the oldest games you own Has a moody vibe Not found on any distribution service Is beatable without killing any enemies Has aliens
    Known for its impact on gaming From a genre you find challenging ★ Wildcard Features a mystery Light and dark play a role
    You can complete it in only a few hours Has a weather system Has a fishing minigame Has driving Uses a unique control scheme
    Is mostly text-based Focuses on exploration Considered a cult classic From a different culture or country Has time manipulation

    Not being content on simply picking a category from that bingo card to play on my own, I'll let a randomizer decide one at a time, akin to a real life bingo game. I've also spent some time choosing video games to the correspond categories. For someone who's fond of the platforming genre, I've managed to get a well-rounded lineup with well-known and obscure games ranging from the late 80s all the way to around late 2019.

    5 votes