Living fossil.

Also on: @coelacanth@aggregatet.org @coelacanth@piefed.social @coelacanth@fedia.io

  • 0 Posts
  • 193 Comments
Joined 2 years ago
cake
Cake day: July 4th, 2023

help-circle

  • I just finished Mandragora: Whispers of the Witch Tree today, after having to go to bed last night in the midst of fighting the last boss and coming back fresh today. That second phase definitely took me for a spin, or at least it did my particular build. Maybe a ranged build would have had an easier time. It was still a cool fight though, and that first phase was pretty much perfect.

    I had a really good time with this game. The Soulslike Metroidvania with a PoE style skill tree ended up tickling me juuust right. I love theorycrafting and making builds, and it ended up being amazingly fun in this game. There is some interesting synergy you can setup by mixing and matching various classes’ skill trees, and I’m already thinking about a potential second playthrough. Though I’m actually equally tempted by going straight into NG+, as my Chaos daggers build with two teleport skills ended up being super fun to play.

    I definitely recommend it, especially if you like these kinds of games. My playtime ended up at just over 40h, though that was with me exploring basically 100% and finding all the optional bosses. Not bad for a €40 game, and if you can get it on sale I’d call it a bargain.


  • I have very mixed feelings about it. I also adored the art and setting, and I really appreciate the historical research that has gone into making it. And there were some well written characters in there.

    But man, the game is sloooooow. The last act in particular was like pulling teeth. Reading is fine when what you’re reading about is interesting. There were so many banal, shallow and uninteresting conversations in there that really tested my patience.



  • It stopped being a story with unpredictability and actual stakes. There was a time I felt like anyone was at risk, even “main characters”, and it was awesome. It just turned into more of a Sunday morning cartoon - which is fine - it’s just not for me.

    I also got sick and tired of them doing the “guess who’s back from the dead?” plotline a bazillion times.



  • I’m about halfway through Pentiment and I’m not sure what to think of it. There are lots of things I love about it: the art, the characters, the writing (mostly) and the historical research that’s gone into making it. All the running around and back tracking hasn’t been great. The first murder was also very unsatisfying, and it’s only now that I realise that that was the point. And I’m not sure what to think of that. It’s a strange game, with its central message seemingly being how powerless we are in the face of history and how restricted we are in our lives. Or at least people were back then. I’ll probably have to wait until I finish for my full judgement of it though.

    I also snagged Mandragora: Whispers of the Witch Tree on the Steam summer sale at 25% off. As a passionate VTM: Bloodlines fan I’ve been waiting for a reason to buy it. I’ve felt obliged to check it out as it was also written by Brian Mitsoda. Plus the game itself looked interesting. I’ve only just started playing it, but I’m enjoying it so far. The writing seems okay (not Bloodlines level) but the presentation is beautiful. I really like the splash art for characters and the cutscenes. It’s a Metroidvania Soulslike with a skill tree inspired by Path of Exile, and I can already tell I’ll have a lot of fun crafting builds here. Probably huge replayability too. The combat has felt solid so far, but I’m only at the beginning.









  • I’m back on my first playthrough of Deus Ex: Mankind Divided after a two-month break for Blue Prince, Clair Obscur and F.E.A.R… It’s a great game, but I think I did it a disservice by taking the long break, I can feel I’m so much less invested now than I was when I began playing it.

    It’s very unfortunate that the series ended on a cliffhanger, what they have here is really good and in many ways an upgrade on Human Revolution. A third game from the studio would have been a true masterpiece, I think.


  • Finished playing F.E.A.R. for the first time and am now about halfway through the first expansion Extraction Point. Man, it really holds up incredibly for a 20-year-old game.

    The particle effects look fantastic for their age, the lightly destructible environments add a beautiful layer of carnage and the gunplay is surprisingly great for such an old game. Every single gun feels satisfying to use (bar the bizarrely awful assault rifle), with the highlight of course being nailing people to the wall with the famous 10mm HV Penetrator.

    The AI is also just as good as people say and it continues to surprise me with shockingly good dynamic behaviour for again a game of this age. Especially the way they interact with the environment in unscripted ways impress me: closing doors behind them as they retreat to wait in ambush or smashing windows and vaulting over to charge you for example.

    The horror and story is actually the weak point, at least of the main game. It’s all pretty predictable, the horror is fairly mediocre and not even the jump scares really land. I will say it has been better in the expansion so far, though, even if it’s still only sort of okay.

    But that doesn’t really matter. The atmosphere does enough to sell its pseudo horror identity, but the fantastic gunplay across these well designed claustrophobic levels is worth experiencing. It’s a classic for a reason and I completely get why. And with it frequently being for sale for like a dollar on GOG it’s a must play, I think.

    Just make sure to install the EchoPatch!




  • I finished Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 a couple of days ago. I’m sure you’re tired of hearing people rave about it at this point. All I can say is: the hype is justified.

    It’s a beautiful piece of art, with a wonderful story, gorgeous visuals and absolutely unbelievable music. One of my favourite OSTs of all time, and there’s more than 8 fucking hours of it.

    It’s definitely within my top 10 games of all time. Thoroughly recommended, and a game I will still think about for a long time, even after putting it down.

    In fact, it’s one of those rare games where I’m seriously considering going immediately back in to a NG+ playthrough right after finishing it. Yes, it’s that good.