SnowWulF
Hello and welcome to the digest series November "not even close on time" edition!
Winter is here and it was certainly coming for me! When the month rolled over I got the flu and WOW, this time it good me good. A week full of headaches and high fever are no fun. Strength is slowly returning, but it scrambled all my near plans including this digest. Still, I hope you have fun reading about last months adventures.
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Monthly Bounty
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Mario Month has happened and I was excited, I really like the franchise as a whole and especially the support cast. Still there is a slight problem, I always need to persuade myself to play platformers, which is the main genre for Mario Games. Of course there are a lot of cool spinoff games, just don´t get your hopes up for a main-line game. Sorry.
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Mario Party 2
Switch - N64 VC
Finished
Time: 7h 12m
Rating: 7 out of 10
Well, we laughed, we cried, where confused and baffled. You never know what happens, you never know how things turn out. Only one thing is for sure ... that fricking Luigi NPC is always getting the best RNG and movement rolls, me and my girlfriend spend minutes screaming at the screen when he found another "random" star on a field.
It is strange, after a lot of thought I am still unsure if I like or dislike the game. For the few people on here who doesn´t know what a Mario Party game is: You play with a group of four players (real ones or AI) and try to get as many Stars as you can get your hands on. In between rounds there is always a Minigame which provides coins for the winner(s). You move over a big boardgame-esque overworld and diceroll your movements. Of course there are all sorts of eventfields which can be positive or negative.
That said, we played and won at least once at every map which did took us around seven hours. These seven hours where pure chaos. The NPCs on normal are super wonky, they are either completely OP or absolute trash. For whatever reason Wario was always super bad, Mario and Luigi unbelievably strong, which leads me to a little theory.
My theory is: The Switch version botches the randomizer... . Readers who follow along my monthly digest series and thoughts I leave on individual community tabs, may know that I harbor the feeling that the VC Apps on the Switch may not be as faithful as they should be on a hardware level. Every time when I use the VC on Switch, the back of my head is telling me that "something is not right". To be honest I didn´t play the original on the N64, so I am walking completely on presumption here. But this time something happened which is new, we managed to get the EXACT same random outcomes in one of the chance based minigames. That should simply not be possible and devalues the outcome of a match a great deal in my opinion.
Now, the question still stands, did we have fun? Yes. Did we started to celebrate when we defeated the last map? Yes. Did we scream out in disbelieve when we found out there is a hidden map? ... Yes.
In the end it is a love-hate relationship, we did have a great time, but we don´t plan on replaying the game in the near future.
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Dr. Mario 64
Switch - N64 VC
Aborted
Time: 2h +
Rating: 2 out of 10
Right out of the gate, I don´t like how the game plays. I like Tetris and its cast of games with that special spin on the classic gameplay. Dr. Mario 64 is the first one I couldn´t squeeze out any fun at all. The custom rules feel unbelievable inflexible opposed to the original Tetris, I hate how the game lets you wait when your opponent gets a streak going and the difficulty is way to high. Even when playing on easy, the NPCs (especially the last ones) are just cyborgs without limitations or flaws. You need to play perfect and that is simply no fun at the skill-level I am at.
So it is officially the first time I retire a game with no intention of ever touching it again. Maybe I would try the original game on the N64 because there is the possibility that the VC port is bad.
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Generic Bountys
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This month I finished only one generic game.
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Forza Motorsport (2023)
PC/Windows - Steam
Finished
Time: 91h 50m
Rating: 6 out of 10
Last month I did talk about some of the flaws the game has. I recommend reading that first, because it would be boring to repeat points.
Well, what can I say. I played every singeplayer race the game had to offer. Sadly the game is in such a bad state, that I can´t completionate it even though I would like to attempt to. After finishing the singleplayer I head-dived into the multiplayer experience, which to be honest, is a lot of fun.
Well, what is the problem then? I don´t know how to describe the situation. The game is one of these games where I say "Even I could do a better job than the actual developer!" and mean it. (Notice: I do have a degree in computer-science with emphasis on Game Creation but I am still bad at coding, so It does carry some meaning beyond simple nagging... I swear xD) They don´t hotfix stuff, they only patch once a month. This month after they "patched" the game my Gamecontroller isn´t supported anymore. Even Steam is confused and revoked their newly indicator. If a game is playable with your controller it shows on the gamepage, Steam changed that from "partially supported" back to "Unknown, awaiting new statement from developers". Turn 10 continues to disappoint. Now they managed that I can´t even give the recommendation for Gamepass users anymore.
Such a tragic tale, but a modern nonetheless. Remember, build from the ground up!
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Misc Games
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Random stuff. :D
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Rebel Inc: Escalation
PC/Windows - Steam
Unfinished - On Hold
Time at writing: 1h 3m
Rating: 6.5 out of 10
Rebel Inc: Escalation is from the same people who developed Plague Inc: Evolved. You play as an organization which is tasked to bring peace to a war torn region. Like in Plague you need to buy upgrades for your cause and watch as they are automatically deployed over time. Of course not everyone is happy with you being there, so be prepared to defend the people against terrorists, rebels and bad actors, while trying to maintain order and happiness for the citizens for their support.
A change they introduced is a more direct approach with you commanding military units to quell any unrest and destroying terrorist outposts and HQs. While I do like this change, I am not fond that you can only "displace" the terrorist instead of reducing their numbers. The only way to "kill" an enemy unit is to push them to a region and control all adjacent regions, so that they cannot flee after combat. Problem is: nearly all regions border at 4 or more other regions and your number of military units is capped around 4 - 6 in the endgame. So it is borderline impossible to kill the enemy when they decide to spawn in a region near the middle of the world map, which is frustrating.
Now, that is all I could find out in one hour, will definitely return to this game at a later point.
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For The King
PC/Windows - Epic
Unfinished
Time at writing: 19h 44m
Rating: 9 out of 10
Sometimes I play bad games, sometimes I play good games and there are times I find a GREAT game!
Lady´s and Gentlemen, let me present to you: For The King!
This game manages to grab our attentions and demands to be played on hours without end. In For The King you play a party of three adventurers, which can also be played in Coop (highly recommended!). There are multiple campaigns with their own story. You need to strategize on how to engage enemies in battle, weapons dictate your toolset on damage and effects, equipment needs to be chosen wisely to gain immunity´s and buffs to aid you on your journeys.
The game is unfair, you will die, ... a lot. Every time you manage to progress in the campaign you are granted lorebooks, which can be used to buy permanent upgrades for your next journey, bringing in that sweet rogue-lite element. If you think about it, there is nothing new here, no crazy mechanics, no crazy effects, but the balancing of all those elements is so good and satisfying.
Everything this game offers wants to be loved, the charming low poly graphics, the fun boardgame-esque overworld and the adorable character/creature designs, just everything. I can´t resist.
We will definitely playing this game further and check out all the campaigns. But for now it gets a big recommendation from me.
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Community Content
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My favorites this month:
- Arcinia´s post about his favorites this year, I always enjoy these kind of write ups. :)
AllTheTrophies
The GameCube Gauntlet #011 - Dance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix
- The poor Dance-Mat :(
moho_00
Series Review: Nightmare Creatures
- I always enjoy reading/watching the articles moho_00 produces, so don´t miss out on that!
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End Word
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Whew, even after the second week I still have problems keeping my thoughts together to form coherent sentences. (Also my grammar-check website died, so be prepared I guess xD) I hope I can get the next digest ready in time. Until then, stay safe. :D