@zombiepie: Stranger's Wrath was my first Oddworld game and until I read this blog I would have told you not to play it because the mechanics aren't as impressive in a modern context. However, I think Dan's reading adds a whole lot of context to a game that I didn't really enjoy otherwise. So maybe play Stranger's Wrath?
Did you play this game as a result of the upcoming Deep Listens podcast on it or did our game playing schedules somehow synch up in this weird, specific way?
@dochaus: Thanks! I really enjoyed playing Mark of the Ninja. It's a game that knows its strengths and doesn't overstay its welcome. It had some of the tightest controls I've ever seen in a 2D game and you need every bit of that control.
@slag: I can't even bring it up for my podcast GOTY because it isn't a game and I don't need hate mail in my life. This thing represented 4 lost hours I'm never getting back.
As someone who suffered alongside @zombiepie, this thing is not a game. It is a visual novel in the truest sense. There is no interactivity other than clicking to move the dialog forward and saving. Unless turning pages in a book and throwing in a bookmark is gameplay, Nekopara is not a game. This thing is repugnant on a lot of levels, from pedophelia to slavery to incest to human trafficking to the constant, creepy praise that the game throws at the player for doing nothing to the terrible story with almost no action to the repeated animations, art, and music to the grating voice acting.
But at the end of the day, there is a reason people don't review pornography: all of that shit is mostly besides the point. The worst part of this experience is that if cat girls are your thing and you literally give zero shits about anything other than seeing drawings of naked cat girls (LITERAL NAKED CARTOON #$%@*), then the version we played is still terrible because it doesn't even have that. The only positive thing I have to say about Nekopara is that the catgirl trading cards sell for a lot on steam. That is the only thing.
@zombiepie you are so playing FFIX when it comes out on PC. And the GBCER is going to be fun this year.
@julius: Undyne doesn't, but every other non-Asgore boss has enough health that they will be ready to surrender by the time you damage them to the point of surrender. Undyne is the least intuitive fight in the game, but it is pretty clear that she's not a bad person when you're fighting her.
@julius: You have the option to spare almost every enemy before you kill them if you decide to use force. Most monsters will turn yellow if you hurt them enough. So you can respond with force in most situations. The game just draws a hard line at killing.
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