PixlBit

After a breaking from games for a while, I've felt like playing something. Not sure what, if anything, I want to commit to, so I've been briefly revisiting some old favorites I've had on my mind, and trying out some titles I've been interested in, through demos or...other means

Metal Slug X (Mame)

My favorite MS, favorite run-and-gun, probably my favorite arcade action game overall. But I never"mastered" it and am considering putting in the time to do so.  These days I'm not normally into straight action games, but arcade games like this are short enough to keep my interest throughout. And I can fit them next to the more complex and lengthier games I'm most interested in currently.

Metal Slug 3

Commonly believed to be the best in the series. With branching paths and the longest duration in the series, it's not hard to see why. But I'm not a fan of having a bunch of creatures/animals in a Metal Slug game. Otherwise it is, along with X, peak Metal Slug, and therefore a great classic.

Strider (Mame*)

If not MSX, this may be my favorite arcade game.  Deserves it's own blog to talk about what is unique and timeless about this game.  I like to think of the game as "a sci-fi, prog rock opera." The game is comprised of set piece after set piece, decades before Uncharted. I'm playing the arcade version, as I've only played the Genesis one, which is great in it's own right, but being a 16-bit port it is missing some things. And I made sure to get the rom with soundtrack revision 2, as the original arcade board has less stage music tracks than rev2 AND the Genesis version, and some of my favorite ones at that. Also considering trying to master this one.

Genshin Impact (PC, free to play)

Been thinking about this game for a while, as an alternative to BoTW since I don't have a Switch or Wii U. Finally downloaded it last week.  Pretty full featured for a free-to-play game. It features a more extensive combat than the game that inspired it, and an elemental magic system, with the ability to swap various characters on the fly. So it does do its own thing, not what I'd call a BotW clone. Fans of kawaii anime characters will be in heaven. Lots of menus of stuff, so fairly complex.  Although a gacha game, there is plenty of free content to enjoy.

Speaking of Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (CEMU) inspiration 

So soon after messing with Genshin, I said screw it and downloaded a...demo** of BotW. Not very far yet, but the Nintendo quality is tangible***.  Seamless design, control, presentation, as is typical for the company. Genshin Impact does a pretty good emulating the game in some respects (again, for a free game), but it doesn't have near the same level of atmosphere, sense of place, and, I guess you could say, immersion. That's a major difference and a point in BotW's favor, if I had to choose. Can't say much more about it. Not sure how far I'll go with it, depends what there is besides fighting and simple puzzles, which aren't enough to hold my attention these days. But I look forward to finding out

Dragon Quest 11 S demo (PC, Steam)

Beautiful presentation, stunning even, and tried and true JRPG design. Full of heart and charm. But ultimately too simplistic for my tastes in RPGs, right now. Maybe some day. A no brainer for DQ and traditional JRPG fans though.

Doom (2016) demo (PC, Steam)

Finally got a taste of this one. Aside from the fact that the game looks like when they kill Gary Busey in slow motion at the end of Lethal Weapon, on my machine, I feel mostly indifferent about what I played. Not a crime against the old games like a lot of these recent sequels and 'reboots', but not a vision of Doom that I exactly agree with either. Was surprised that I liked, or at least didn't mind, the narrative aspects. Cheesy, but there is some B-movie level amusement.  Again, not much more there than whacking moles, which isn't my flavor right now (even if I had hardware that could run it)

Songs of Syx demo (PC, Steam)

Now this is more my speed. Fantasy city builder that I've had my eye on since I saw the trailer last year. From the jump I loved how the game looked , even though many people would probably say it looks primitive or even ugly. But the mega cities I've seen in the trailer and by players look awesome to me. Populations counts reaching into the tens of thousands . Intuitive interface makes it easy to get a grip on the many features and controls required to manage your empire.  This one is a must buy, no question.

What I'm playing for real:

Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead (PC, free, experimental build)

This open world, survival horror roguelike  has, in the last few years, easily become one of my favorite games of all time, maybe even a top 10 contender.  The amount of details, options, interactions, and emergent gampelay possibilites is insane, and right up my alley. Surely one of the most complex games of all time, certainly one of the most robust survival sims ever created.   I'd like mainstream "survival horror" to evolve towards games like this, but it will never happen due to the difficulty, workload, and cost of providing physics and animations for nearly every physical object in the game, with the level of  graphics that people expect.

Current run is a character with starting skills in archery and survival, good Dexterity and Perception. He has improved night vision (which receives a bonus from PER), and a bonus to movement speed. But he also has a fast metabolism and high thirst, so he has to eat and drink constantly to avoid maluses to his abilities. Somewhat annoying.  Also he is slow to heal, so I have to be careful not to accrue too many wounds.  I started this world out in a remote farm, away from immediate threats. A lot of errands into town every night where I can use the darkness, and the extended sight radius from my Night Vision perk to my advantage. 

There is a war going on between the zombie hordes in the largest (and thus the one worth raiding) city and a grove of triffids right on the edge of town. The triffids are more than a match for the zombies (and me, until I get my combat skills and gear up), and are laying waste to scores of them, which works to my advantage as zombies are distracted by the ensuing melee, drawn to the sounds of combat. Only problem is that in this game, zombies reanimate if you don't smash or dissect their corpses, and there are far too many laying around to do it myself. So they keep getting back up and can eventually take a triffid, which doesn't reanimate, down via attrition. I'm not sure if the triffid lair has a spawn limit or not, so I could eventually lose the advantages this fracas are affording me.

That's it for now. I just dl'd the Prey (2017) (PC, Steam) demo last night. System Shock 2 is a top ten game for me, so I've been wanting to try this game since it came out. Don't know if I can run it, but that's why demos are great: can sample the game for free and not wait for a full game to download. I used to play the hell out of Playstation demo disks and PC demos through Fileplanet, and I'm glad they are making a comeback.

L8rs

*Also tried the Capcom Classics Collection 2 version on a PS2 emulator, but the sound was jacked the f up for whatever reason. And the PS1 version, that came with Strider 2, on a PSX emulator. Both are arcade ports, and perfect minus the mentioned sound issues, and loading screens in the PS1 port.

**Any full playthrough will be with a physical copy of the game on either on a used WiiU or Switch/the next Switch

***despite only getting 20fps on my laptop