Moot_Geeza wrote:

acemuzzy wrote:

Just over twenty minutes

If you've replaced hours with minutes for comic effect I reckon I'd be able to stomach that. Can't say I've played many games over 20hrs long that I haven't wished were shorter though. Grid tactics stuff gets a pass, Zelda games are usually quite lengthy too.

I was quoting the WR speedrun in fact.  For a debut effort, I suspect 20h would be at the decidedly quick end, particularly if figuring stuff out for yourself - maybe with a guide tho, but as above, that kinda spoils things a bit.

The Demon's offer remains... you can see a good chunk of stuff with it (cos "levels" open and you can access them all), plus a guide might just suggest the order through them rather than wider stuff than that... Plus it looks and plays great in the Remaster.

Or got Switch games galore, I've kept all those.

28: Cuphead (Switch) 9/10

Ended up enjoying this game a little more the second time I played it.  I remember it as being frustratingly hard and it took me quite a lot longer to beat it than the average playthrough (around 20 hours back on release.  This time, well, it still probably took me a little longer than average, and I died an awful lot on the 2nd last boss and the DLC levels, but it never really felt unfair.  Not sure if I'm more used to harder old school games now, or if I let my frustration get to me back in the day, but I had a lot more fun.  I mostly just picked the homing bullets and concentrated on not getting hit.

That's not to say I wouldn't have enjoyed this game even more if it were cruisy.  The challenge is absolutely not a draw.  The controls are tight but I'm 90% into this for the graphics.  If easy mode let you finish the game properly I absolutely would have played on that.  I just want to see the next boss.  This is still gorgeous stuff that you can not see in any other computer game, predictably it has not aged a day and it was a real treat to revisit on Switch, and the new stuff is up to scratch.  A real delight and the Switch mostly holds up.  There's the odd bit of slowdown (which I don't think I could blame for any of my deaths) and the loading's kinda long (which really does hurt one of the boss fights) but other than that it felt pretty close to perfect.

I don't really want to bag it out much.  I reckon the only graphical blemish is the fingergun bullets.  They are garish, which is good in a way since you can follow them better, but like I wish you just had a few actual weapons and the bullets suited the graphics style a bit better.  Failing that, I wish it was just like a laid back platformer with no bullets and you just jumped on peoples' heads mostly ie a completely different game.  I would be happy for it to not be hard and just mainly let you soak in the graphics.  Still though, a great game and a little better than I remember it being.

From don't do difficulty settings

Example: Returnal is, at last count, my 5th favourite game of all time. I think the difficulty is pitched absolutely perfectly. It has no accessibility options or difficulty settings. Adding optional assists would improve the overall package, and I don't see how anyone could claim it wouldn't. Don't use them and nothing changes, but if they're tucked away in the options for those who want them, more people will enjoy the game.

Rogues are catching on these days, which is great. There tend to be accessibility options all over the shop of late. Some even let you tinker with deep level stuff. Look at SIFU too - it went from being something I swooned over with a sulky face to somehing I bought (and loved) as soon as the breezy mode was patched in. It's not doing anyone any harm.

Death by a thousand cuts. Played Hades on God mode and did a shit on the floor.

I did play the first level on Simple, before it tells you you can't properly finish it if you do.  Yeah, it's a bit silly.  I don't see the point.  Especially when Easy could just be 'The boss shoots at you less and dies quicker'.  Bit wanky.

Think SOR4 was the last time I went Hard voluntarily, and that was after playing it a bunch on Normal.  

Reckon I'd play a new From on Normal, if they had the option, but drop down to easy for the second run, where I just want to look around without dying much.

Moot_Geeza wrote:

Example: Returnal is, at last count, my 5th favourite game of all time. I think the difficulty is pitched absolutely perfectly. It has no accessibility options or difficulty settings. Adding optional assists would improve the overall package, and I don't see how anyone could claim it wouldn't. Don't use them and nothing changes, but if they're tucked away in the options for those who want them, more people will enjoy the game.

Rogues are catching on these days, which is great. There tend to be accessibility options all over the shop of late. Some even let you tinker with deep level stuff. Look at SIFU too - it went from being something I swooned over with a sulky face to somehing I bought (and loved) as soon as the breezy mode was patched in. It's not doing anyone any harm.

I don’t disagree with you in theory, although it is worth bearing in mind that additional accessibility options mean more play-testing, more time balancing and a longer and more expensive QA process, all of which needs to be paid for out of the game’s initial budget.

It’s all very well and good saying Returnal was great, wouldn’t it be great if it had more difficulty options, but the Returnal you played wouldn’t exist if other difficulty options were prioritised over the features that were added to the game.

@Yoss I get that to an extent, but why devote time to balancing something you're essentially allowing the player to break to one degree or another? (I'm talking accessibility options here, rather than difficulty settings.) Rogue Legacy 2 offers house rules with sliders for various things like your HP, enemy HP, damage dealt, damage received. Even the ability to fly iirc. If you fuck with the sliders you've got to expect to unbalance the game (either a bit or a lot), so I don't see why devs need to counter balance it as long as the default settings are on point. Accessibility options are kinda like modern cheat codes.

Fair. It might be worth the investment to attract less staunch players though. I would've bought Elden Ring at launch if it had babyman options, was almost getting sucked up in the hype at one point.

Sticking to the no scrubs approach and thumbing their nose at the likes of me has paid off with those games for sure. Doesn't stop me being a bit jel though (or hoping for an uncharacteristic 'oh go on then' patch).

If they were shorter I'd probably be up for the challenge. Kena was tough, almost all bosses put up a good fight (as it should be), but the only one that resisted a walloping long enough to irritate me was the penultimate one. I reckon I could do the Souls games with practice/patience (maybe not Sekiro, even DS said that one's evil), but I'm pretty sure I'd enjoy them more if they were easier. ER took Elf 180hrs, other badgers have put way more hours in than that. I could finish 50 moot games in that time. It's their size as much as difficulty that puts me off. Less resistance would make the longer-than-my-usual adventure more palatable.

Anyway, can I borrow Dark Souls pls?

That's the one I meant. The shiny next gen only one.

Demon's was first

Moot_Geeza wrote:

Which came first, out of interest, Dark or Demon's? Vaguely remember Edge getting an import review spot on (based on subsequent feedback from everyone else).

They didn’t get it spot on. They gave it a 9, should’ve been a 10.