Retro Club - 8 & 16-bit puzzlers - The Bear and Badger

Moot_Geeza

That'll do for now. Just got back to the initial area but I don't think I have any new powers. Maybe there's a red door I missed. Anyway, beat by beat it's as great as I assumed it would be. Very satisfying combat.

Moot_Geeza

More thoughts then, slight more random.

I guess I can't get far in the clock tower yet.
Medusa heads FFS
Wolf thing I just picked up sounds interesting, no idea how to transform.
Not a clue where to spend all this coin I'm amassing.
Secondary weapons seem more powerful than your usual Castlevania pick ups at this stage
25% through apparently, which doesn't sound right after 65 minutes of play according to the game clock.

hunk

davyK wrote:

Moot_Geeza wrote:

That's one of the few I've played. Was surprised by the quality as I'd always mistakenly thought some of the Konami MD releases during that brief flurry were a bit half baked. In reality they were mostly top tier efforts slightly curtailed by 8 meg carts.

That's probably why I didn't pick it up. Konami and MD weren't a great combo especially compared to their SNES output.

The md output arguably rivals the stellar snes output. Konami's output was on point in the 16bit era.

nick_md

Does everything but bosses die in one hit in this game?

Only did a 20 mins stint to whet my whistle, so far so... I'm enjoying it, unsure where I'm going, just randomly picking directions.

hylian_elf

I envy those playing SotN for the first time.

That moment halfway through the game, so good. 18yo me felt so clever.

nick_md

Moot'll let us know in an hour.

nick_md

The character turn animation is indeed nice. I keep trying to tell if doing a quick turn>reverse-dash>forward is quicker than walking forward normally. I hope it is.

Moot_Geeza

I'm unexpectedly watching a Cyberpunk 2077 digital foundry thing now. Which isn't the sort of thing I'd usually do with my free time but damn it looks nice.

Moot_Geeza

Leadbetter just said ambient occlusion and I've Seinfeld gif'd it. Does look good though.

Back to Castlevania.

SpaceGazelle

The trouble with retro is the Indy stuff these days just does it better, as well it might. Nostalgia is fair enough but playing something retro you've not played before is generally a bit meh.

davyK

Or it could be I am right and SOTN isn't very good.

Moot_Geeza

SpaceGazelle wrote:

The trouble with retro is the Indy stuff these days just does it better, as well it might. Nostalgia is fair enough but playing something retro you've not played before is generally a bit meh.

Mostly agree tbh, it scratches a very particular itch though. I like trying to work out how good a game would've been at the time if I haven't played before.

Symphony of the Night does seem to be a bit of a belter, as the mechanics are so solid it'll all come down to the map and ability unlocks really.

hylian_elf

davyK wrote:

Or it could be I am right and SOTN isn't very good.

Nah, you’re most definitely wrong. Stick to shmups.

SpaceGazelle

It is good, it's just not Hollow Knight.

Moot_Geeza

The genre is pretty much dead going forward too if that's a dealbreaker though. HK is on its own level really.

hunk

SpaceGazelle wrote:

The trouble with retro is the Indy stuff these days just does it better, as well it might. Nostalgia is fair enough but playing something retro you've not played before is generally a bit meh.

Nah, it's good to know the reference points especially when exploring Indies. Makes you appreciate the accomplishments of the devs then and now even more.

retroking1981

Moot_Geeza wrote:

Wolf thing I just picked up sounds interesting, no idea how to transform.

L button.

SpaceGazelle

Moot_Geeza wrote:

The genre is pretty much dead going forward too if that's a dealbreaker though. HK is on its own level really.

It's on it's own level now but it will be bettered. That's the point.

Moot_Geeza

Possibly/probably, but not necessarily by its own sequel if the character doesn't feel right. HK plays a fairly basic hack and slash game screen by screen, it'd be hard to improve on that by adding more. The Ori template would've been easier to build on imo, and that was fudged that slightly for Wisps. Was expecting a lot more from that one post Hollow Knight. HK will be a tough one to topple, it doesn't seem to do anything wrong.

Tis a nice genre, glad I'm on board. It took about twenty years for Super Metroid and SotN to drop out of the top tier, many would argue they haven't.

SpaceGazelle

I'm not sure Super Metroid should drop out. The Metroid bit was always better than the Vania bit imo.

JonB

I think I'll still be up for replaying Super Metroid or SotN 20 years from now (a SM replay is long overdue actually). Hollow Knight, Ori etc. are slick and impressive, but I doubt I'll ever play them again.

davyK

hylian_elf wrote:

davyK wrote:

Or it could be I am right and SOTN isn't very good.

Nah, you’re most definitely wrong. Stick to shmups.

Heh. I used to love a platformer / run n gunner or slasher. Still love the Mario games and the older stuff like Castlevania, contra, metal slug. I dont like them over cooked though. I remember feeling in sotn that i would end up overpowered and i dont like having too many abilities. Super meatboy is prob more my bag.

nick_md

You played Shovel Knight, Davy? Reckon you may enjoy that. Mayber

Moot_Geeza

What a game. Straight ahead get-to-the-goal levels, simple and challenging. Sort of ties in with this theory:

SpaceGazelle wrote:

The trouble with retro is the Indy stuff these days just does it better, as well it might.

...as it's genuinely better than the handful of games it takes its cues from. It really is the bee's knees Davy.

davyK

nick_md wrote:

You played Shovel Knight, Davy? Reckon you may enjoy that. Mayber

I do fancy that.

My problem is I have just too much at the minute. I believe Gods got a remake on Steam.....loved that game.

Moot_Geeza

Right so I can open blue doors now, plus I found out where to spend all my money. Which I just spent on an expensive sword that was probably unnecessary. Not at all keen on the wolf controls but otherwise it plays well and I'm into the exploration. It doesn't seem to be a 'totally stumped' type at this stage anyway.

hylian_elf

It’s not. It’s a piss easy game with just one (hidden) not-piss-easy joss. The fun is the general exploration and uncovering of the map and experimenting with moves and weapon and armour sets etc.

Moot_Geeza

Yep, I've just found a sword with the same attack stats as the one I paid 4000g for

Moot_Geeza

hylian_elf wrote:

It’s not. It’s a piss easy game with just one (hidden) not-piss-easy joss. The fun is the general exploration and uncovering of the map and experimenting with moves and weapon and armour sets etc.

Did notice the bosses can be brute forced first time quite easily. Just squished a triple snake head water cavern one.

retroking1981

hylian_elf wrote:

It’s not. It’s a piss easy game with just one (hidden) not-piss-easy boss.

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