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Quake II
2023
Classic 90s FPS action with some blemishes that has new life breathed into it by its 2023 remaster.
Playing Quake 2 immediately after Quake 1 makes the differences easily apparent. Besides the obvious setting change, the game play mechanics are more refined, levels are more advanced, open ended, and are divided into units allowing traversal between them. Additionally, Quake 2 does try to string together some semblance of a story through actual mission objectives albeit this is mostly just to facilitate the gameplay.
The weapon selection is generally stronger here over its predecessor, though the absence of the lightning gun is unfortunate. The machine gun and chain gun are more interesting to use over the nailguns and the railgun and BFG are welcome additions to the roster. Power ups return with the added bonus of being useable when you choose rather than as soon as you pick up, at the drawback of being more scarce.
The biggest issue Quake 2 has is that the levels tend to blend together. The sci-fi setting on display here tends to be less interesting than the gothic horror of the original and this is exacerbated by the lack of creativity in the levels. Quake 2's level design has a consistent level of quality throughout the campaign that doesn't really have any major lows, but also never really impresses. It's just fine, good even. This is more apparent after witnessing some of the more interesting missions offered in the expansions.
The cybernetic Strogg replace the demonic and otherwordly enemies of Quake 1. Overall there's a larger enemy variety in Quake 2 over its predecessor, though whether their designs are more or less interesting is up to debate. Quake 2 does massively improve on the first game, by having actual boss fights, especially in the expansions. These, while mostly still simple, are more interesting than those encountered in Quake 1.
The Reckoning expansion is mostly more of the same though it does add some new weapons and enemy types. The levels feel likes remixes of the base game's with the exception of the final stages that involve stowing away on a ship and culminating on the moon.
Ground Zero also doesn't deviate too much from the original game's theming while also adding a new selection of enemies and weapons. It does, however, significantly ramp up the difficult, almost too much so. The mines and hangars are the stand out levels here.
Included with the remaster is the N64 port of Quake 2. This is a simplified version of Quake 2 with shorter, less complicated levels, and some gameplay features absent such as crouching. Despite this, the quicker campaign was quite enjoyable. The level theming is much less grimy and industrial than the original, instead incorporating a cleaner, sleeker theme. After so many similar levels in the base game and first 2 expansions, this was a nice change of scenery.
Finally, the 2023 remaster includes an all new campaign, Call of the Machine. Featuring 6 level sets and a final boss fight, this is Quake 2 pushes to its fullest potential. Levels here sport a much wider variety of scenery, are more complex, and very challenging with a large number of boss fights. Nightdive did a fantastic job with this campaign. It was the highlight of the remaster for me.
Multiplayer is of course, a staple of the Quake franchise though the online servers don't have much of a community from what I could see. It was a titan back in the day, but you can still have a good deal of fun playing offline with bots. It's a shame that CTF doesn't work with bots though.
If you liked Quake, or liked old school shooters in general, the Quake 2 remaster has dozens of hours of content on offer. It has some issues with a somewhat generic theme and "safe" level design but that's not enough to detract from how polished and tight the gameplay is. A must play for any boomer shooter fan.
Playing Quake 2 immediately after Quake 1 makes the differences easily apparent. Besides the obvious setting change, the game play mechanics are more refined, levels are more advanced, open ended, and are divided into units allowing traversal between them. Additionally, Quake 2 does try to string together some semblance of a story through actual mission objectives albeit this is mostly just to facilitate the gameplay.
The weapon selection is generally stronger here over its predecessor, though the absence of the lightning gun is unfortunate. The machine gun and chain gun are more interesting to use over the nailguns and the railgun and BFG are welcome additions to the roster. Power ups return with the added bonus of being useable when you choose rather than as soon as you pick up, at the drawback of being more scarce.
The biggest issue Quake 2 has is that the levels tend to blend together. The sci-fi setting on display here tends to be less interesting than the gothic horror of the original and this is exacerbated by the lack of creativity in the levels. Quake 2's level design has a consistent level of quality throughout the campaign that doesn't really have any major lows, but also never really impresses. It's just fine, good even. This is more apparent after witnessing some of the more interesting missions offered in the expansions.
The cybernetic Strogg replace the demonic and otherwordly enemies of Quake 1. Overall there's a larger enemy variety in Quake 2 over its predecessor, though whether their designs are more or less interesting is up to debate. Quake 2 does massively improve on the first game, by having actual boss fights, especially in the expansions. These, while mostly still simple, are more interesting than those encountered in Quake 1.
The Reckoning expansion is mostly more of the same though it does add some new weapons and enemy types. The levels feel likes remixes of the base game's with the exception of the final stages that involve stowing away on a ship and culminating on the moon.
Ground Zero also doesn't deviate too much from the original game's theming while also adding a new selection of enemies and weapons. It does, however, significantly ramp up the difficult, almost too much so. The mines and hangars are the stand out levels here.
Included with the remaster is the N64 port of Quake 2. This is a simplified version of Quake 2 with shorter, less complicated levels, and some gameplay features absent such as crouching. Despite this, the quicker campaign was quite enjoyable. The level theming is much less grimy and industrial than the original, instead incorporating a cleaner, sleeker theme. After so many similar levels in the base game and first 2 expansions, this was a nice change of scenery.
Finally, the 2023 remaster includes an all new campaign, Call of the Machine. Featuring 6 level sets and a final boss fight, this is Quake 2 pushes to its fullest potential. Levels here sport a much wider variety of scenery, are more complex, and very challenging with a large number of boss fights. Nightdive did a fantastic job with this campaign. It was the highlight of the remaster for me.
Multiplayer is of course, a staple of the Quake franchise though the online servers don't have much of a community from what I could see. It was a titan back in the day, but you can still have a good deal of fun playing offline with bots. It's a shame that CTF doesn't work with bots though.
If you liked Quake, or liked old school shooters in general, the Quake 2 remaster has dozens of hours of content on offer. It has some issues with a somewhat generic theme and "safe" level design but that's not enough to detract from how polished and tight the gameplay is. A must play for any boomer shooter fan.
Quake
2021
The OG 3D FPS reaches near perfection with this 2021 remaster.
Despite Quake's influence on the genre, this was my first foray into the series. Likely due to being only a toddler when it originally released and having more of an interest in Unreal Tournament as I got older. Nevertheless, its hard to deny how impactful Quake was on the genre. Being the first true 3D FPS (in the sense as we know today), Quake sheds the restrictions associated with the Doom engine and allows for much more interesting level design and game play overall. Unfortunately, Quake would experience a somewhat tumultuous development cycle and this is reflected in the end product, at least in regards to the single player.
The 2021 remaster contains Quake and all 4 expansions, including a brand new expansion released in tandem. The original Quake campaign is broken up into 4 episodes each beginning with a similar sci-fi themed level before taking a slip gate into a series of levels loosely connected by theme, all of which draw heavily on dark fantasy aesthetics. The atmosphere of Quake is unique not just to the genre, but to its own series as it would swap to a much more sci-fi centered theme in later titles. These levels are well made though the lack of any end episode bosses outside of episode 1 is disappointing.
Expansion 1: Scourge of Armagon introduces new weapons and enemy types and utilizes more interesting level design with the entire first episode consisting of sci-fi themed levels. Unfortunately it seems that these levels were not designed with the new 50 health cap Nightdive has placed for nightmare difficulty where some sections involve near unavoidable environmental damage that can be very hard to survive.
Expansion 2: Dissolution of Eternity features an even wider selection of new enemies and a slew of new ammo types rather than new weapons. Split into 2 episodes, the first episode is mostly more of the same as the original Quake, but episode 2 has an ancient civilization theme and some very interesting levels such as the elemental trials. The end boss of this expansion was the most difficult fight in the entire game, ironically given that the rest of the expansion is pretty forgiving due to how overpowered some of the new ammo types are and how much ammo you are showered with.
Expansion 3: Dimension of the Past is probably the weakest point of the game featuring no new features and having levels that feel mostly like remixes of original Quake levels. There's no actual end boss leading to a rather anticlimactic experience overall. It's not bad, but I struggle to think of anything memorable about it when standing next to the rest of the content.
Expansion 4: Dimension of the Machine is new with the remaster and my personal favorite. While not including any new weapons or enemies, these levels showcase detail and complexity far beyond that of the base game or other expansions. The enemy counts on some of these levels are quite high making for some challenging but fair combat sequences. Cthon returns as a final boss for the expansion though is more engaing as a fight here than in base Quake.
Beyond this, Quake is known for having a vibrant modding community and the remaster features a dozen or so officially supported mods. Slave Zero X stands out as a complete overhaul of Quake to facilitate the cyberpunk theme these levels are designed around. Weapons and enemies are all new though sharing similarities with the default Quake.
Multiplayer seemed dead from what I could see, unsurprisingly, but you can setup matches with bots if you are looking for some classic arena shooter fun. There's also a new Horde mode that can be played with bots or other players in beautiful new maps designed by Nightdive.
This is probably one of the most content dense classic shooters I've played thus far. 30+ hours of single player goodness before you even entertain the thought of custom maps or mods. Not all the expansions hit a home run, but even the least memorable levels are solid. Quake holds up surprisingly well, at least partially thanks to Nightdive's excellent work on the remaster.Being the first FPS to be fully 3D but this revolution only served to make it more adventurous and imaginative in its design.
Despite Quake's influence on the genre, this was my first foray into the series. Likely due to being only a toddler when it originally released and having more of an interest in Unreal Tournament as I got older. Nevertheless, its hard to deny how impactful Quake was on the genre. Being the first true 3D FPS (in the sense as we know today), Quake sheds the restrictions associated with the Doom engine and allows for much more interesting level design and game play overall. Unfortunately, Quake would experience a somewhat tumultuous development cycle and this is reflected in the end product, at least in regards to the single player.
The 2021 remaster contains Quake and all 4 expansions, including a brand new expansion released in tandem. The original Quake campaign is broken up into 4 episodes each beginning with a similar sci-fi themed level before taking a slip gate into a series of levels loosely connected by theme, all of which draw heavily on dark fantasy aesthetics. The atmosphere of Quake is unique not just to the genre, but to its own series as it would swap to a much more sci-fi centered theme in later titles. These levels are well made though the lack of any end episode bosses outside of episode 1 is disappointing.
Expansion 1: Scourge of Armagon introduces new weapons and enemy types and utilizes more interesting level design with the entire first episode consisting of sci-fi themed levels. Unfortunately it seems that these levels were not designed with the new 50 health cap Nightdive has placed for nightmare difficulty where some sections involve near unavoidable environmental damage that can be very hard to survive.
Expansion 2: Dissolution of Eternity features an even wider selection of new enemies and a slew of new ammo types rather than new weapons. Split into 2 episodes, the first episode is mostly more of the same as the original Quake, but episode 2 has an ancient civilization theme and some very interesting levels such as the elemental trials. The end boss of this expansion was the most difficult fight in the entire game, ironically given that the rest of the expansion is pretty forgiving due to how overpowered some of the new ammo types are and how much ammo you are showered with.
Expansion 3: Dimension of the Past is probably the weakest point of the game featuring no new features and having levels that feel mostly like remixes of original Quake levels. There's no actual end boss leading to a rather anticlimactic experience overall. It's not bad, but I struggle to think of anything memorable about it when standing next to the rest of the content.
Expansion 4: Dimension of the Machine is new with the remaster and my personal favorite. While not including any new weapons or enemies, these levels showcase detail and complexity far beyond that of the base game or other expansions. The enemy counts on some of these levels are quite high making for some challenging but fair combat sequences. Cthon returns as a final boss for the expansion though is more engaing as a fight here than in base Quake.
Beyond this, Quake is known for having a vibrant modding community and the remaster features a dozen or so officially supported mods. Slave Zero X stands out as a complete overhaul of Quake to facilitate the cyberpunk theme these levels are designed around. Weapons and enemies are all new though sharing similarities with the default Quake.
Multiplayer seemed dead from what I could see, unsurprisingly, but you can setup matches with bots if you are looking for some classic arena shooter fun. There's also a new Horde mode that can be played with bots or other players in beautiful new maps designed by Nightdive.
This is probably one of the most content dense classic shooters I've played thus far. 30+ hours of single player goodness before you even entertain the thought of custom maps or mods. Not all the expansions hit a home run, but even the least memorable levels are solid. Quake holds up surprisingly well, at least partially thanks to Nightdive's excellent work on the remaster.Being the first FPS to be fully 3D but this revolution only served to make it more adventurous and imaginative in its design.
Fortnite Festival
2023
If you go on youtube you can actually just listen to the songs without having to do anything
babe, that's our song!!! I say to my beautiful wife while the DOS soundscape sputters and gurgles out the crustiest percussion samples of all time in the purest arrhythmic expression of ambience yet composed
my goons have been punching vines for a while now and I thought they were ready to take it to the next level when I ran into approximately 15+ brigands and rogues. their bitcrushed jeers and exotic slowdown-inducing dances were the last thing my party saw before the death screen hit with what can only be described as a screamer
better save before you open a door. save before you unlock a door. save before you even think of a door unless you want to be hunting down keys from rng drops from rng spawns from random encounters. I can hear dw bradley cackling in the distance as I jam the lock and reload the game again for the nth time in a row
you won't be going a single second without thinking of keys. copper keys, silver keys, iron keys, chrome keys, sour keys — if you're not sniffing for keys at any given time you're all fucked up and doing everything wrong. when you're laying in bed at night with your beautiful wife, thinking about that time the game played your song, you best be ready to start dreaming about keys
which is to say it gets real in the weeds with the circuitous adventure game stuff. of course, sir-tech knew that at the time which is why it came with a 104 page "clue book" complete with annotated maps, walls of hints, and puzzle solutions — we're talking a full on nintendo power guide. much as I'm not fond of the old Roberta Williams design philosophy of making everything as incoherent as possible on a lark, if you're gonna do it you might as well admit it up front and capitulate to common decency. I may be hexen's strongest soldier but even I have my limits
being the first "Save/Rest Anywhere" wizardry — the first where you don't need to make trips back and forth from town, afflicted with grisly ailments or saddled with corpses — marks a significant divergence from previous games. on its face it's more dungeon more of the time, but the lack of separation between the two poles makes for crawling that has a blurrier, softer focus, demolishing the wall between safe and unsafe, and making just about anywhere an acceptable rest spot if you reload your save often enough
the main counterbalance is that you get one save slot. so sure, you can save whenever, but you better think long and hard about it. the potential when hovering over the DISK menu to accidentally click SAVE GAME & QUIT instead of QUIT GAME - NOSAVE is the biggest source of tension in the game, and I think it's caused me to develop a greater level of mindfulness. I am vibrating significantly higher; more serene and in control of my destiny as I go from blitzing thru menus to moving at geological speed on a dime. so far I've only made an erroronce twice, and I felt terrible both times; sitting there wide eyed in the saddest stupor knowing I've sealed a dark, deserved fate for myself
the other wrench in the gears is that it allows itself to be completely unhinged more or less nonstop. there's a bit of a chicken and egg thing where it's hard to tell whether the game fucks you over constantly because you can save scum, or you're given the option to save scum cos it's constantly fucking you over. it bounces between such extremes that virtually any situation you find yourself in could be drastically different on a second go, be it enemy compositions, stat increases, items in chests, whatever. it's not a stretch to suggest that if you were inclined to min max (couldn't be me) you could find reason and method to shape nearly every situation you find yourself in toward your desired outcome
and really, some of the time you won't be given much of a choice. I don't care who you are, unless you're pulling metagame multiclass shenanigans and stacking hide/criticals you're probably not fighting four full stacks of nightgaunts — you're either reloading the second you see that unholy sight or wishing you did. after hours where six trillion mosquitos and goblins going bananas were the best case scenario I feel like I've seen the most callous design games have to offer. go easy on me fellas, I'm a dumb guy. you see my faerie samurai? the mark of a man with no clue what he's doing. he can't even wear his own gear! his little head is too tiny for kabuto!!!
of all wizary vi's changes and additions to the formula, dw bradley's writing is probably the most significant direct improvement... for the most part (foreshadowing). the game has like one unique tile that's used on every single wall of the castle, caves, river, forest, etc , but by the time I was done exploring each area and reading the sparse flavour text I felt like I had been there myself. quietly spooling just enough information for your imagination to paint it all together over time. you don't even realize how effective it is until it's wormed its way into having you imagine mundane stuff like furniture of your own volition; just sitting imagining the woodwork on some chair. the belfry in particular takes very simple, clean mapping and uses it to perfect effect by coupling it with a touch of descriptive text, onomatopoeia, environmental interaction, and handplaced encounters — all in the span of a couple minutes. it's fabulous, honestly, and while you may not like it, this is peak ambience
but then there's the amazulu. when they were introduced as "very strange looking black women" carrying spears and crossing ravines with vines I had a good idea of where this was going, but then I saw their sprite and then I heard the yipping sounds they make in combat. the internet tells me they're not racist but I am gonna say... seems pretty racist to me!
even if we're being extremely charitable here and attribute some of the more suspect aspects of their portrayal toward the amazon half of the portmanteau + general fantasy schlock, deriving the name of your stereotypical "tribal" caricatures after a real ethnic group they have nothing in common with is real bad, and having them only exist to be monsters you do a wall-to-wall murder on so you can pillage and plunder their dungeon isn't helping things either
I'm here to delve into a spooky ooky cenotaph, give a lich the stone cold stunner, steal his favourite shirt, and smash two beers together like WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? and this is decidedly not that
eventually you move past that and return to the stuff you're here for: the crypts and temples, opaque npcs, incoherent quest item sequences, and tooth shattering random encounters. the last third really benefits from being leaner and more propulsive, and it helps that you finally get some idea of what the game's even about (a special pen, maybe incest) and what your goal is (kill dracula) and if you're a little smarter than I am your party's probably turned into a wrecking ball by then
alas, about three tiles away from the final dungeon I was struck by divine inspiration and sabotaged my samurai by changing his class to ninja without the gear required to make it worthwhile — and then to a monk to try to salvage the smoldering mess. naturally, this occurred after I was past the point of no return, after I relinquished all my gold, and after I lost access to all the equipment shops. not my best work, to be sure; I was so driven to capture EXO's missing potential that I lost sight of who he really was, and perhaps who I really was too
it's not about having 100 NINJUTSU and KIRIJUTSU on every character. it's not even about having a samurai that can wear armour. it's about exploring some of the greatest dungeon designs of all time, enjoying the robust character system, using your imagination, and the appreciating the friends who stand by your side while you do it
I can't shake the feeling that while wizardy vi wouldn't top my list of games in the series, nor games inspired by it, it's something I'll inevitably return to. perhaps the gorgeous SNES version, perhaps another go of the DOS version. who knows. there's a magnetism here that already has me wanting to try other party compositions, or to subject myself to Expert mode and finally break my spirit for good. maybe scam the multiclass system until the game absolutely crumples beneath it
hell of an adventure — sometimes for better, sometimes for worse. the binding thread between classic wizardry and the far more expansive, ambitious follow ups; a singular entry in both the series and genre that showcases dw bradley's immense talent as programmer, designer, and writer, and the transformative nature of his larger than life influence. might be a while til I get around to vii again, but I'm very much looking forward to whenever that may be :)
(no way I'm bringing these clowns with me when I do tho)
p.s.
I've reuploaded mad god's cosmic forge unicode editor because the original site is down and I couldn't find it until after my playthrough was over. while I'm not super familiar with all its functionality, it's quite robust and if nothing else could aid in sparing you from toiling in the reroll mines trying to get that faerie ninja or perfect valkyrie before you get thwomped by a Giant Rat or whatever
xoxo
my goons have been punching vines for a while now and I thought they were ready to take it to the next level when I ran into approximately 15+ brigands and rogues. their bitcrushed jeers and exotic slowdown-inducing dances were the last thing my party saw before the death screen hit with what can only be described as a screamer
better save before you open a door. save before you unlock a door. save before you even think of a door unless you want to be hunting down keys from rng drops from rng spawns from random encounters. I can hear dw bradley cackling in the distance as I jam the lock and reload the game again for the nth time in a row
you won't be going a single second without thinking of keys. copper keys, silver keys, iron keys, chrome keys, sour keys — if you're not sniffing for keys at any given time you're all fucked up and doing everything wrong. when you're laying in bed at night with your beautiful wife, thinking about that time the game played your song, you best be ready to start dreaming about keys
which is to say it gets real in the weeds with the circuitous adventure game stuff. of course, sir-tech knew that at the time which is why it came with a 104 page "clue book" complete with annotated maps, walls of hints, and puzzle solutions — we're talking a full on nintendo power guide. much as I'm not fond of the old Roberta Williams design philosophy of making everything as incoherent as possible on a lark, if you're gonna do it you might as well admit it up front and capitulate to common decency. I may be hexen's strongest soldier but even I have my limits
being the first "Save/Rest Anywhere" wizardry — the first where you don't need to make trips back and forth from town, afflicted with grisly ailments or saddled with corpses — marks a significant divergence from previous games. on its face it's more dungeon more of the time, but the lack of separation between the two poles makes for crawling that has a blurrier, softer focus, demolishing the wall between safe and unsafe, and making just about anywhere an acceptable rest spot if you reload your save often enough
the main counterbalance is that you get one save slot. so sure, you can save whenever, but you better think long and hard about it. the potential when hovering over the DISK menu to accidentally click SAVE GAME & QUIT instead of QUIT GAME - NOSAVE is the biggest source of tension in the game, and I think it's caused me to develop a greater level of mindfulness. I am vibrating significantly higher; more serene and in control of my destiny as I go from blitzing thru menus to moving at geological speed on a dime. so far I've only made an error
the other wrench in the gears is that it allows itself to be completely unhinged more or less nonstop. there's a bit of a chicken and egg thing where it's hard to tell whether the game fucks you over constantly because you can save scum, or you're given the option to save scum cos it's constantly fucking you over. it bounces between such extremes that virtually any situation you find yourself in could be drastically different on a second go, be it enemy compositions, stat increases, items in chests, whatever. it's not a stretch to suggest that if you were inclined to min max (couldn't be me) you could find reason and method to shape nearly every situation you find yourself in toward your desired outcome
and really, some of the time you won't be given much of a choice. I don't care who you are, unless you're pulling metagame multiclass shenanigans and stacking hide/criticals you're probably not fighting four full stacks of nightgaunts — you're either reloading the second you see that unholy sight or wishing you did. after hours where six trillion mosquitos and goblins going bananas were the best case scenario I feel like I've seen the most callous design games have to offer. go easy on me fellas, I'm a dumb guy. you see my faerie samurai? the mark of a man with no clue what he's doing. he can't even wear his own gear! his little head is too tiny for kabuto!!!
of all wizary vi's changes and additions to the formula, dw bradley's writing is probably the most significant direct improvement... for the most part (foreshadowing). the game has like one unique tile that's used on every single wall of the castle, caves, river, forest, etc , but by the time I was done exploring each area and reading the sparse flavour text I felt like I had been there myself. quietly spooling just enough information for your imagination to paint it all together over time. you don't even realize how effective it is until it's wormed its way into having you imagine mundane stuff like furniture of your own volition; just sitting imagining the woodwork on some chair. the belfry in particular takes very simple, clean mapping and uses it to perfect effect by coupling it with a touch of descriptive text, onomatopoeia, environmental interaction, and handplaced encounters — all in the span of a couple minutes. it's fabulous, honestly, and while you may not like it, this is peak ambience
but then there's the amazulu. when they were introduced as "very strange looking black women" carrying spears and crossing ravines with vines I had a good idea of where this was going, but then I saw their sprite and then I heard the yipping sounds they make in combat. the internet tells me they're not racist but I am gonna say... seems pretty racist to me!
even if we're being extremely charitable here and attribute some of the more suspect aspects of their portrayal toward the amazon half of the portmanteau + general fantasy schlock, deriving the name of your stereotypical "tribal" caricatures after a real ethnic group they have nothing in common with is real bad, and having them only exist to be monsters you do a wall-to-wall murder on so you can pillage and plunder their dungeon isn't helping things either
I'm here to delve into a spooky ooky cenotaph, give a lich the stone cold stunner, steal his favourite shirt, and smash two beers together like WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? and this is decidedly not that
eventually you move past that and return to the stuff you're here for: the crypts and temples, opaque npcs, incoherent quest item sequences, and tooth shattering random encounters. the last third really benefits from being leaner and more propulsive, and it helps that you finally get some idea of what the game's even about (a special pen, maybe incest) and what your goal is (kill dracula) and if you're a little smarter than I am your party's probably turned into a wrecking ball by then
alas, about three tiles away from the final dungeon I was struck by divine inspiration and sabotaged my samurai by changing his class to ninja without the gear required to make it worthwhile — and then to a monk to try to salvage the smoldering mess. naturally, this occurred after I was past the point of no return, after I relinquished all my gold, and after I lost access to all the equipment shops. not my best work, to be sure; I was so driven to capture EXO's missing potential that I lost sight of who he really was, and perhaps who I really was too
it's not about having 100 NINJUTSU and KIRIJUTSU on every character. it's not even about having a samurai that can wear armour. it's about exploring some of the greatest dungeon designs of all time, enjoying the robust character system, using your imagination, and the appreciating the friends who stand by your side while you do it
I can't shake the feeling that while wizardy vi wouldn't top my list of games in the series, nor games inspired by it, it's something I'll inevitably return to. perhaps the gorgeous SNES version, perhaps another go of the DOS version. who knows. there's a magnetism here that already has me wanting to try other party compositions, or to subject myself to Expert mode and finally break my spirit for good. maybe scam the multiclass system until the game absolutely crumples beneath it
hell of an adventure — sometimes for better, sometimes for worse. the binding thread between classic wizardry and the far more expansive, ambitious follow ups; a singular entry in both the series and genre that showcases dw bradley's immense talent as programmer, designer, and writer, and the transformative nature of his larger than life influence. might be a while til I get around to vii again, but I'm very much looking forward to whenever that may be :)
(no way I'm bringing these clowns with me when I do tho)
p.s.
I've reuploaded mad god's cosmic forge unicode editor because the original site is down and I couldn't find it until after my playthrough was over. while I'm not super familiar with all its functionality, it's quite robust and if nothing else could aid in sparing you from toiling in the reroll mines trying to get that faerie ninja or perfect valkyrie before you get thwomped by a Giant Rat or whatever
xoxo
ah shoot sorry I spilled my bottle of chromatic aberration look at this huge mess I have to clean up now no wait don't add halftone to it everything's just going to get more contrasted and blend together into one...
gorgeous...
illuminated whirlpool...
gorgeous...
illuminated whirlpool...
Another amazing remaster by Nightdive studios. Unfortunately, this time their efforts went towards a mid game. Turok 3 isn’t bad nor is it boring and tedious, it is however somewhat lifeless and uninspired. The level design in Turok 3 is generally good, but the exploration is way tuned down from Turok: DH and especially Seeds of Evil. This may sound appealing, but when you strip out Turok’s exploration, you start to realize that the combat can’t carry the entire experience. The weaponry is still great and the spectacle of the gore and dismember still leaves me in awe. I just feel the game never throws enough at the player. There’s not enough enemies, there’s not enough secrets, there’s not enough puzzles; it’s just all a bit plain outside of the visceral combat. Still worth a playthrough or two. It’s only 4 hours.
Venture
1981
BRO I LOVE VENTURE. I WOULD RATHER PLAY VENTURE THAN DO DRUGS
Catherine Classic
2019
struggling to finish this as i'm very uninterested in the story and just want to climb silly blocks
Awful. Not even the remaster's rebalancing could save this one. I'm baffled anyone even calls this good because this quite literally has some of the worst level and encounter design I've ever seen in an official id software campaign/expansion.
Do you like base shotgunning bulletsponge enemies that take 5 SHOTS EACH to kill? Because the first unit of this campaign has you do it again. and again. and again. You don't even get the SSG until halfway through the third unit, and you're almost done with the campaign by that point. This campaign too is so stingy with powerups and ammo it's not even funny.
New weapons are also flat out useless and become redundant quick. The Ion Ripper becomes useless the moment you find the Hyperblaster again, The Phalanx is a worse rocket launcher that you'll only use once or twice before the final boss when you just run out of rockets, and the traps are just there.
If you're gonna play this for the remaster achievements, either play on easy or do this in Coop with a friend or two. Other then that, stay FAR away from this one. Never touching this again.
Do you like base shotgunning bulletsponge enemies that take 5 SHOTS EACH to kill? Because the first unit of this campaign has you do it again. and again. and again. You don't even get the SSG until halfway through the third unit, and you're almost done with the campaign by that point. This campaign too is so stingy with powerups and ammo it's not even funny.
New weapons are also flat out useless and become redundant quick. The Ion Ripper becomes useless the moment you find the Hyperblaster again, The Phalanx is a worse rocket launcher that you'll only use once or twice before the final boss when you just run out of rockets, and the traps are just there.
If you're gonna play this for the remaster achievements, either play on easy or do this in Coop with a friend or two. Other then that, stay FAR away from this one. Never touching this again.
I Am Alive
2012
More people probably remember I Am Alive better for what it wasn't than what it was. Early concept trailers for the game suggested something truly exciting, but the game entered development hell for several years before finally emerging as a half-baked shadow of what we all had in mind. But despite its faults I still sort of liked my time with it.
Your unnamed protagonist has traversed the entire country and has returned to his home city a while after some unexplained disaster has struck the world, leaving a ruined and crumbling urban landscape. There are few survivors and society has completely broken down. The story is pretty simple and sparse as your character meets a few survivors in need and decides to help them, while running into some truly despicable gangs of murderous foes.
Gameplay is comprised mainly of traversal with the occasional combat scenario to break things up. While your character is an apt climber, the man does not have a lot of stamina and you have to deal with a constantly depleting bar as you try to make your way through the environment. Scaling a tall building can become a major challenge as you attempt to find ledges you can rest on while you make your way up. It's a little annoying to constantly have to worry about a draining stamina bar but it does add some tension when you are barely going to make it (or not).
The game has a limited retry system for chapters which means you don't want to get too fancy with your exploration, which probably works to the game's favor because even the game's more open areas seem pretty limited in scope. You'll pick up resources that might be climbing picks to create a rest point mid-climb, health and stamina boosters, and the occasional weaponry.
Combat encounters are interesting at first but all play out the same quickly. You'll want to quickly dispatch of any foes with your pistol by shooting them via the auto-lock on system, and then take out the rest with a combination of button mashing QTE melee or getting them to back up to a cliff or fire that you can push them to their demise with. I thought the bow mechanics were pretty fun when you get that weapon, but it comes pretty late in the experience.
I Am Alive is short which works in the game's favor because the gameplay is pretty shallow and lacking many ideas. Ultimately, the whole project feels unfinished, dumping you into an abrupt and unsatisfying conclusion that suggests a sequel that never came right after contending with a pretty fun combat arena to finish the game.
I Am Alive wasn't given the budget or attention it deserved, but I suppose the final game is better than nothing despite being a somewhat medicore experience.
Your unnamed protagonist has traversed the entire country and has returned to his home city a while after some unexplained disaster has struck the world, leaving a ruined and crumbling urban landscape. There are few survivors and society has completely broken down. The story is pretty simple and sparse as your character meets a few survivors in need and decides to help them, while running into some truly despicable gangs of murderous foes.
Gameplay is comprised mainly of traversal with the occasional combat scenario to break things up. While your character is an apt climber, the man does not have a lot of stamina and you have to deal with a constantly depleting bar as you try to make your way through the environment. Scaling a tall building can become a major challenge as you attempt to find ledges you can rest on while you make your way up. It's a little annoying to constantly have to worry about a draining stamina bar but it does add some tension when you are barely going to make it (or not).
The game has a limited retry system for chapters which means you don't want to get too fancy with your exploration, which probably works to the game's favor because even the game's more open areas seem pretty limited in scope. You'll pick up resources that might be climbing picks to create a rest point mid-climb, health and stamina boosters, and the occasional weaponry.
Combat encounters are interesting at first but all play out the same quickly. You'll want to quickly dispatch of any foes with your pistol by shooting them via the auto-lock on system, and then take out the rest with a combination of button mashing QTE melee or getting them to back up to a cliff or fire that you can push them to their demise with. I thought the bow mechanics were pretty fun when you get that weapon, but it comes pretty late in the experience.
I Am Alive is short which works in the game's favor because the gameplay is pretty shallow and lacking many ideas. Ultimately, the whole project feels unfinished, dumping you into an abrupt and unsatisfying conclusion that suggests a sequel that never came right after contending with a pretty fun combat arena to finish the game.
I Am Alive wasn't given the budget or attention it deserved, but I suppose the final game is better than nothing despite being a somewhat medicore experience.
Resident Evil Village (RE8) is a very good entry in the RE series with some flaws that prevent it from reaching the greatness of RE2, 4, or 7 due in part to a weaker second half.
The first half of the game consisting of the Lady D's Castle and House Beneviento are by far the strongest parts of the game. The castle really nails the signature RE gameplay of dumping you into a location with all sorts of secrets and mysteries to unfold (all the while being pursued by an unstoppable force). The castle is beautiful and a delight to explore and Lady D alongside her 3 daughters serve as excellent antagonists during this section.
House Beneviento, on the other hand, leans much more into psychological horror, hosting one of the most nerve-wracking sequences in the franchise. It's probably the shortest of the sections unfortunately with the least time spent fleshing out its antagonist.
The 3rd section with the reservoir and the half-fish man, Moreau, was my least favorite section due to it being somewhat bland though I will say the boss fight with Moreau himself is my favorite in the game.
From here onward, the game leans heavily into the action elements of past titles such as RE4 or RE5 where it puts you up against gauntlets of enemies. While not my favorite parts of the RE games, this could be overlooked if Heisenberg's factory itself was less linear. The factory's inhabitants and aesthetic are quite creepy, but it just pales in comparison to the openness of Lady D's castle.
The mercenaries mode, like past iterations, is plain old fun and the offerings of the shop along with the blue orb power-ups make for good replay value as you optimize your run.
As with all RE games, there's also a lot of replay value whether through doing a knife-only run or playing on the Village of Shadows difficulty, unlocked only upon beating the game.
In short, I believe Village has some of the highest highs in the series such as that first time exploring Castle Dimitrescu but with some inoffensive lows that bring down the experience a bit. Nothing on offer here is truly awful, luckily, which is why I still place RE8 in the upper echelons of the long-running franchise and thoroughly recommend it to RE and horror fans alike.
The first half of the game consisting of the Lady D's Castle and House Beneviento are by far the strongest parts of the game. The castle really nails the signature RE gameplay of dumping you into a location with all sorts of secrets and mysteries to unfold (all the while being pursued by an unstoppable force). The castle is beautiful and a delight to explore and Lady D alongside her 3 daughters serve as excellent antagonists during this section.
House Beneviento, on the other hand, leans much more into psychological horror, hosting one of the most nerve-wracking sequences in the franchise. It's probably the shortest of the sections unfortunately with the least time spent fleshing out its antagonist.
The 3rd section with the reservoir and the half-fish man, Moreau, was my least favorite section due to it being somewhat bland though I will say the boss fight with Moreau himself is my favorite in the game.
From here onward, the game leans heavily into the action elements of past titles such as RE4 or RE5 where it puts you up against gauntlets of enemies. While not my favorite parts of the RE games, this could be overlooked if Heisenberg's factory itself was less linear. The factory's inhabitants and aesthetic are quite creepy, but it just pales in comparison to the openness of Lady D's castle.
The mercenaries mode, like past iterations, is plain old fun and the offerings of the shop along with the blue orb power-ups make for good replay value as you optimize your run.
As with all RE games, there's also a lot of replay value whether through doing a knife-only run or playing on the Village of Shadows difficulty, unlocked only upon beating the game.
In short, I believe Village has some of the highest highs in the series such as that first time exploring Castle Dimitrescu but with some inoffensive lows that bring down the experience a bit. Nothing on offer here is truly awful, luckily, which is why I still place RE8 in the upper echelons of the long-running franchise and thoroughly recommend it to RE and horror fans alike.
Morenatsu
2007
A few years back, I was made aware of a Ren'Py remake of this game which was functionally complete if equally unfinished. So why not check out the ur-text of the furry visual novel?
For all of the brief praising air that's made over works like Katawa Shoujo and The Death of Pablo, this is closer to the average chanboard project, be it image or text-based or western or non-western. But it's still on the more 'successful' half, because they managed to get past the "We'll start with the logo!"-Idea Guy stage.
What was originally concieved of as a gay parody of some popular eroge at the time or whatever. Standard japanese vacation to rural village, but this time everyone but the player is a homosexual beastman. The player is just gay, no anthro element there.
The writing is more miss than hit, in that any competent route or plot point feels accidental. Even if the last anime I watched was in 2010, many of the same archetypes are all here, with unique characterization fitting more as window dressing. Characters like Kouya and Shin have serviceable plot beats and pacing, with unique CG. And I do not have the time or patience to get into just how messy the other 6-7 characters are. Kind of like how the volunteer developers got tired of creating 8(-9?) different character routes, including the allegedly canon path. But that Morenatsu was able to be more than half complete before being dropped is something I must give credit to all of those involved. Because I doubt anybody was getting paid to create this. There were even pre-rendered FMVs for some of the endings! And the characters are public domain, so stuff like unofficial comics and the full-blown remake by western devs are fully viable.
Beyond influencing a handful of non-western and western developers to make their own work, the character artist and project lead also went on to do more in standalone art and another game. Another game that I'm also not too fond of.
For what is such an unstable foundation, it's impressive to see this inspire the amount of people it has. Still wouldn't recommend it, just not good.
For all of the brief praising air that's made over works like Katawa Shoujo and The Death of Pablo, this is closer to the average chanboard project, be it image or text-based or western or non-western. But it's still on the more 'successful' half, because they managed to get past the "We'll start with the logo!"-Idea Guy stage.
What was originally concieved of as a gay parody of some popular eroge at the time or whatever. Standard japanese vacation to rural village, but this time everyone but the player is a homosexual beastman. The player is just gay, no anthro element there.
The writing is more miss than hit, in that any competent route or plot point feels accidental. Even if the last anime I watched was in 2010, many of the same archetypes are all here, with unique characterization fitting more as window dressing. Characters like Kouya and Shin have serviceable plot beats and pacing, with unique CG. And I do not have the time or patience to get into just how messy the other 6-7 characters are. Kind of like how the volunteer developers got tired of creating 8(-9?) different character routes, including the allegedly canon path. But that Morenatsu was able to be more than half complete before being dropped is something I must give credit to all of those involved. Because I doubt anybody was getting paid to create this. There were even pre-rendered FMVs for some of the endings! And the characters are public domain, so stuff like unofficial comics and the full-blown remake by western devs are fully viable.
Beyond influencing a handful of non-western and western developers to make their own work, the character artist and project lead also went on to do more in standalone art and another game. Another game that I'm also not too fond of.
For what is such an unstable foundation, it's impressive to see this inspire the amount of people it has. Still wouldn't recommend it, just not good.
Digital Eclipse levels up their production bigtime here with a new format that presents the games alongside all of the supplementary material in a comprehensive timeline. This is essentially how I wished they'd done these things from the start, because while I didn't overly mind having to go into separate archive menus to peruse all the interesting stuff they pack these collections with, I did find myself jumping back and forth between those and playing the games in chronological order, effectively constructing the timeline for myself (this was especially necessary with the recent TMNT collection). This linear presentation of all of the material together (with the option to just go to another menu and play all the games whenever, of course) is an important evolution for their projects, I think.
The games and the story of Atari themselves as depicted here is engaging enough to carry this as its own thing, although the fun does peter off significantly when you get into the latter-day stuff because, um, the Jaguar is dogshit. However, for someone like me with absolutely no experience with the Atari of old and the desire for a curated entry point, this really fit the bill. I feel like I learned a lot!
There's no way to avoid lots of stuff being left out and the realities of securing some of the more notable titles, but I think this is probably the absolute best this collection could be while keeping in mind what must be a lot of limitations. As always, very excited to see where Digital Eclipse goes next - they continue to move in exciting directions.
The games and the story of Atari themselves as depicted here is engaging enough to carry this as its own thing, although the fun does peter off significantly when you get into the latter-day stuff because, um, the Jaguar is dogshit. However, for someone like me with absolutely no experience with the Atari of old and the desire for a curated entry point, this really fit the bill. I feel like I learned a lot!
There's no way to avoid lots of stuff being left out and the realities of securing some of the more notable titles, but I think this is probably the absolute best this collection could be while keeping in mind what must be a lot of limitations. As always, very excited to see where Digital Eclipse goes next - they continue to move in exciting directions.
everyone deems this game as one of the greatest of all times and I think this time I really have to agree
a link to the past feels grand revolutionary and awe inspiring even after 30 something years from its release and honestly it's something that I can't really say for a lot of games from this time they'd always end up being clunky or obtuse to play them today but for some reason I found none of that in this one so i can only imagine how incredible it would've been to play this game in 1991
after the very first zelda for NES (great but antiquated nowadays) and zelda II (haven't played it yet but I know it's a fucking chore) they went back to the winning formula of the NES era and greatly expanded on it on every level of existence and its not a surprise that this was the blueprint for ocarina of time and many zelda titles to come
story in this one is as simple as it gets zelda seeks help through the power of telepathy and link goes to help her shenanigans happen here and there and she gets kidnapped like a stupid ass so basically the main gameplay loop of the game is 3 + 7 dungeons going back and forth from the dark world until you get to the last dungeon and beat the shit out of ganon the end
its not really the most convoluted story ever in the universe but the atmosphere themes and vibes are absolutely unmatched the scene where you free zelda and run away with her is something so incredible I cannot put it into words its like I was reliving ICO all over again and I was really surprised they got rid of this sequence in a link between worlds like what were you thinking
the main lore is told by some different characters here and there like the legend of ganon and shit like that and thats also pretty jnteresting but the main meat of the game is pretty straightforward go to a dungeon get the dungeon item beat the dungeon rinse and repeat
playing this game is an absolute fucking blast and I was absolutely stunned at how many different weapons and accessories and upgrades and items there are here its kind of weird like theres probably 20+ items because the dungeon items are already a lot and then you get some extra items from exploring and shit like that so yeah
the overworld is absolutely incredible and traversing it is a fucking blast moving link around feels good and there's always rewarding you for exploring its useless to explain the main gameplay because it's fucking zelda I should not explain it but I gotta say that the dungeons range from fun to absolutely fucking ??? like I cannot explain it but ??? I had to open a guide most of the times because theres some stuff that made me go crazy im not joking funnily enough the ice palace didn't really give me a problem as much as the fucking mine did that dungeon is incredibly 1 boring 2 dumb 3 frustrating and i had to do it 3 times because first I didnt know I needed the ice rod so I had to take the ice rod and redo it and then I realised I also needed a magic bottle because my default magic tank wasn't enough what the FUCK were they smoking in the meeting room
and thats probably my main crutch in this games the fact that most of the time you won't know what the fuck you have to do now I do really enjoy exploring its world and defeating enemies or whatever but going around the overworld 99+ times without nothing new happening gets boring really fast and also some stuff is truly impossible if you don't open a guide like how am I supposed to know that to get the ocarina I need to dig a very specific square in a point that NO NPC told me about do I look like a fucking clown to you anyway apart from that? this game is perfect
using this variety of items is the most fun I had with gimmicks items in zelda coming and going to the dark world even tho a chore sometimes really gets the theme across and all the while listening to the bomb music
now art department ? this shit is insane the art style is incredible this chibified yet detailed kind of style for the sprites drives home the entirety of the game with the characters blending perfectly with the environments theyre in plus theres sexy alligators trying to fuck your ass and id honestly let them
music is also unmatched and every single thing is a bop and most of the tracks here will become staples of the series throughout the years but a personal favorite from this score is the dark world theme this shit is absolutely jawdropping yall don't even get me started the first time I listened to it I was sweating profusely for the love of everything holy
so umh for my current marathon in which I played two (2) games I can say that this one is my favorite one of the bunch now if you tell me do you prefere this or twilight princess I will smack you on the face and call you slurs try me
bring pink haired link back I'll become homicidal
a link to the past feels grand revolutionary and awe inspiring even after 30 something years from its release and honestly it's something that I can't really say for a lot of games from this time they'd always end up being clunky or obtuse to play them today but for some reason I found none of that in this one so i can only imagine how incredible it would've been to play this game in 1991
after the very first zelda for NES (great but antiquated nowadays) and zelda II (haven't played it yet but I know it's a fucking chore) they went back to the winning formula of the NES era and greatly expanded on it on every level of existence and its not a surprise that this was the blueprint for ocarina of time and many zelda titles to come
story in this one is as simple as it gets zelda seeks help through the power of telepathy and link goes to help her shenanigans happen here and there and she gets kidnapped like a stupid ass so basically the main gameplay loop of the game is 3 + 7 dungeons going back and forth from the dark world until you get to the last dungeon and beat the shit out of ganon the end
its not really the most convoluted story ever in the universe but the atmosphere themes and vibes are absolutely unmatched the scene where you free zelda and run away with her is something so incredible I cannot put it into words its like I was reliving ICO all over again and I was really surprised they got rid of this sequence in a link between worlds like what were you thinking
the main lore is told by some different characters here and there like the legend of ganon and shit like that and thats also pretty jnteresting but the main meat of the game is pretty straightforward go to a dungeon get the dungeon item beat the dungeon rinse and repeat
playing this game is an absolute fucking blast and I was absolutely stunned at how many different weapons and accessories and upgrades and items there are here its kind of weird like theres probably 20+ items because the dungeon items are already a lot and then you get some extra items from exploring and shit like that so yeah
the overworld is absolutely incredible and traversing it is a fucking blast moving link around feels good and there's always rewarding you for exploring its useless to explain the main gameplay because it's fucking zelda I should not explain it but I gotta say that the dungeons range from fun to absolutely fucking ??? like I cannot explain it but ??? I had to open a guide most of the times because theres some stuff that made me go crazy im not joking funnily enough the ice palace didn't really give me a problem as much as the fucking mine did that dungeon is incredibly 1 boring 2 dumb 3 frustrating and i had to do it 3 times because first I didnt know I needed the ice rod so I had to take the ice rod and redo it and then I realised I also needed a magic bottle because my default magic tank wasn't enough what the FUCK were they smoking in the meeting room
and thats probably my main crutch in this games the fact that most of the time you won't know what the fuck you have to do now I do really enjoy exploring its world and defeating enemies or whatever but going around the overworld 99+ times without nothing new happening gets boring really fast and also some stuff is truly impossible if you don't open a guide like how am I supposed to know that to get the ocarina I need to dig a very specific square in a point that NO NPC told me about do I look like a fucking clown to you anyway apart from that? this game is perfect
using this variety of items is the most fun I had with gimmicks items in zelda coming and going to the dark world even tho a chore sometimes really gets the theme across and all the while listening to the bomb music
now art department ? this shit is insane the art style is incredible this chibified yet detailed kind of style for the sprites drives home the entirety of the game with the characters blending perfectly with the environments theyre in plus theres sexy alligators trying to fuck your ass and id honestly let them
music is also unmatched and every single thing is a bop and most of the tracks here will become staples of the series throughout the years but a personal favorite from this score is the dark world theme this shit is absolutely jawdropping yall don't even get me started the first time I listened to it I was sweating profusely for the love of everything holy
so umh for my current marathon in which I played two (2) games I can say that this one is my favorite one of the bunch now if you tell me do you prefere this or twilight princess I will smack you on the face and call you slurs try me
bring pink haired link back I'll become homicidal
Demons to Diamonds
1982
I have literally nothing to say about this game. It's just another vertical shooter, with nothing to make it stand out from other games in the genre. It's good for being an Atari game, but there is nothing else here to get attached to.
Game #211
Game #211