Posts
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Ape–Crash Bang Boom–Out
The Ape escapes a cage, and pushes a man into a wall. A cymbal crashes. The man’s arms fly off. All that’s left is a pop of blood on the wall and ground. The Ape runs off, toms tapping out its gait. The Ape grabs a man with a gun. The gun goes off–POP–shooting others closing in on The Ape. They go down. Crash! The Ape tosses the man into a wall, and his arms fly off too. If you like Baby Driver or Birdman or Pepe Silvia w/Drums, Ape Out is for you.
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Minit - A Minute Majora
What if The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask was 1 minute instead of 3 days? Minit is the answer. There’s exploration, discovery, surprises. There’s action, items, progression. It’s an action adventure Zelda in under two hours. A compressed, fun one.
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Paratopic - A Weird One
This is a weird game! I really liked parts of it - jump cuts, snapping photos, wandering in a forest, really good music and sound effects, and interesting visuals. This game is like someone took 30 flights of loving and squished a PS1 horror game into it. After sorting my backlog by play time, it was a delightful surprise to find this at the top of the list.
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Final Fantasy 7
I’ve just recently finished up Final Fantasy 7 on the switch. Playing Final Fantasy 7 for the first time after Final Fantasy 7 Remake puts a lot of the story beats in the remake in a new light. I’m very interested in going back to play through Remake again, possibly on hard mode, to see how the story plays out. While I did know “Aerith Dies”, I didn’t know anything else about the original story. Square Enix seem to be planning on changing things up quite bit for further Remakes, but I’m really interested in seeing if they revisit and expand the Dyne storyline, and the stories of any of the other party members. Hanging out and learning stuff about the characters is the best part.
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2020 Games of the Year
Here are the games I’ve beaten or played along with an actionbutton.net-style thought attached to each.
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Cyberpunk 2077 Session 1 and 2
Due to having children and having to work normal hours I decided the first time I’d play Cyberpunk 2077 would be very early in on the morning after it came out. I got up at 4AM to play. Here are my impressions after about three hours.
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ATB in Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy 7 Remake
The battle systems in Final Fantasy 7 Remake and Chrono Trigger look very different, but their mechanics are almost identical. You have basic attacks, magic attacks, and items. The ATB gauge determines when you can attack. You also have to mange each character’s health. Most of the time, in both games, you’re watching your party members’ ATB meters, then setting off spells or abilities when the meters are full, and using healing items or abilities as needed. FF7R looks very different from Chrono Trigger but most of the time, you’re focusing on a little box in the corner of the screen which shares many resemblances to Chrono Trigger’s battle information. They both list HP, MP, and have an ATB gauge for each character.
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Lost Underworld
One of the more exciting surprises in Earthbound happens when you visit the lost underworld, a land of colorful geysers, palm trees, and huge dinosaurs. When you first arrive you’ll find the camera is zoomed out so that Ness and friends are a quarter of their normal size. Your movement speed has been similarly reduced so that it matches the scale. It really makes you feel like you’re exploring a huge ancient world. The enemy dinosaurs roaming the land remain a normal size and they tower over your characters. When you get into battle with them, their sprites are double the normal width of an enemy so they really appear to be gigantic.
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Dungeon Man
In Earthbound, you meet Brickroad, a man who becomes a dungeon, joins your party, gets stuck in some trees forever, then gives you a yellow submarine so you can cross a river.
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Death Stranding: The Good Parts
Death Stranding has lots of good. It kept my attention for over sixty hours. Here’s a quick list of what I liked most and will include spoilers.
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The Two Games of Death Stranding
There are two games in Death Stranding - the story game and the connection game. The story game is played by taking on “Orders for Sam” and will usually result in meeting someone new, advancing the story, or gaining new tools for interacting with the world. The connection game is played by delivering cargo somewhere and results in increasing your connection with the recipient. You’ll receive cosmetic, novelty, or resource rewards for your trouble.
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Walking in Death Stranding
The best parts of Death Stranding are the most mundane. Walking through the world and going slightly out of your way to walk between to knee-to-waist high boulders instead of trying to climb over them. Making sure to lean into turns by grabbing your backpack straps at the right times. Seeing what deliveries need to be made and picking the most optimal ones that you can fit within your weight limit, while still making room for the equipment you need to traverse the space.
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