If the forum rule has changed then it's my time to shine.

guys guys, remember the forum rule: everyone's a dick.

Not a dick tho innit so last laugh's on you m8

Sometimes dicks fuck pussies...

In other news, not to get this thread back on track or anything, but...

The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (N64 via Switch Online)

It feels, and I mean this a good way, less a sequel to Ocarina, and more the world's greatest Ocarina ROM hack. Parts of it make no sense story-wise, but are great Zelda gameplay. (The passage under the well, for example.)

I think Nintendo were always kinda screwed on this one, on two fronts:

- If they did a simple Ocarina 2, people would've loved it more back in the day, but it wouldn't have stood the test of time quite as well. By flipping the Ocarina mood on its head and giving us something much darker, it's remained an interesting entry into the series.

- Graphically, they really pulled out all the stops, really punishing the N64. A great swansong for the system, but it was never going to stand up against the other titles coming out at the same time.

Bar the occasional moment that had me reaching for the google machine*, it was a ton of fun to play. I definitely didn't see everything - one dungeon's fairies remained un-rescued, because just getting to the exit of that particular maze was enough of a head-scratcher, and my mask screen in the inventory was less than half full.

While I don't feel the need to play through the N64 version again, it's only made me want to try the 3DS version more. Which is ironic, because this was meant to scratch MM off my list of games to play (which still includes FFVII, ffs) without having to pay for the increasingly pricey 3D remake.

Ah, well. If you'd have told teenage me, giving up in the face of MM's unrelentingly bleak and strange aesthetic, that one day I'd complete it on a Nintendo handheld that also works as a console, and that I'd download the game off the 'net in minutes, and that I'd play it using a wireless N64 pad I'd built myself... I'd have probably been quite happy to wait.

[8] masks collected from 10 disturbing characters.


*

Ooh do Minish Cap in between. It's fairly short for a Zelda game.

Heh, I asked my brother the same question, and he suggested I go straight to TotK.

Well, I’m an hour into TotK and it’s got its hooks in. Maybe Minish Cap will get started when the former starts to grate.

Rev wrote:

Sekiro. So this is definitely a "boy meets game, boy thinks game plays like other games by developer, game says no, boy hates game, boy gives up on game, boy gets next gen console, boy is now ready for game, game open arms, boy hugs back, game says gently "you just weren't ready yet", boy nods and cries" It's a wonderful piece of gaming that I'll probably return to again and again.  10

Similar tale from me, except mine included "boy buys game, boy sells game, boy buys game again" at some point in the chain. I can't recall if I've bought it twice or three times at this point.

Amazing experience in the end though.

Evan's Remains (SteamDeck)

Indie puzzler where you play through a series of "monoliths" which are basically one-screen platform/switch puzzles.

Quite enjoyed the puzzle form but didn't think it really had enough variants (despite only being a couple of hours long overall).

The story over the top was kinda fun but not sure it fully worked. Looked, sounded, played pretty well though. I think a reasonably solid [7].

Now, Fungus time...

Did I mention I completed Deus Ex: ManDiv? Can't remember. Maybe that's indicative. Anyway it was a solid 7/10 game that is narratively inferior to Human Revolution but that's not really high praise for HR. The Aug Lives Matter stuff was extremely badly judged but it's still a shame MD sold so badly Ubisoft basically put the entire franchise on ice.

Was Square, not Ubi, but I agree with all those points.

Ori and the will of the wisps (PC)

Great little metroidvania platformer. Fantastic audiovisual design, beautiful animation and engaging gameplay. Ticks all the boxes. They improved the main gripe I had with Ori1 and that's the combat which is now much more diverse.The only thing I slightly disliked were the frustating chase sequences but that is nitpicking. Solid 8, even a 9 if you don't mind the trial and error chase sequences.