I don't agree that the character's jump / fall speed is a problem. Brad showed it off and explained why he didn't like it, but he immediately followed it up by showing a remedy to the problem (holding the jump button). So you can either quick fall with a tap, or slow fall by holding the button down. That just seems like the devs giving the player options and adding a little depth?
@thursday1977: The map system is divisive, but I loved it. New areas were uncharted territory. I paid close attention to where I was going, and where I'd been. Finding Cornifer was always a huge relief. It's weird to hear that people reacted so negatively to it, and it's the type of design choice that a larger studio probably would have focus grouped out of the game. But I'm really glad they didn't.
Ben should commit to playing Hollow Knight. I think he'd like it. I agree that it gets better and better as it goes on, but I don't think it takes 10 hours to get there by any means.
@gundato:I generally use a fight stick, but when I play fighting games with modern controllers I end up using the thumb sticks. I find them much more consistent for DPs and circular motions, and they don't end up giving me blisters like the d-pad does.
The key to this game is that it's actually a grind fest. Crank out some levels and any challenge becomes much easier. The character gimmick is cute, but the primary loop is continually getting stronger and going through NG+ after NG+.
My X-box one controller's d-pad busted after a few months of use. It doesn't register diagonal up right or diagonal up left consistently anymore. It also registers holding up as a series of taps instead of a consistent input. Celeste was pretty frustrating until I figured this out. I've since switched to using a PS4 controller, which works fine 99% of the time without needing third party drivers.
I put about six hours into this around a year ago. It looks like they've added a ton of stuff to it, and ow I'm excited to jump back in. The combat had some elements that bothered me--it was way too easy (and optimal) to get a turret, throw it on the ground, and then get to another platform that enemies couldn't reach. This is the problem with having time-based cool-downs for abilities in games like this, rather than going the Enter the Gungeon route and tying cool-down to dealing damage to enemies.
This is also a much different game than Hollow Knight. Hollow Knight has bespoke levels and it's not run-based or rogue-lite or whatever. It has a lot more in common with Super Metroid and it gets a lot more mileage out of its exploration and platforming challenges. Dead Cells is more combat focused, and its Metroidvania elements are so light that they're barely worth mentioning. They're very different games.
Battle Fantasia looks pretty cool; I hadn't heard of it before this. The devs could have gone deeper with the RPG trappings. As it stands, it adopts the JRPG aesthetic and UI elements, as well as some character tropes, but it doesn't incorporate much into its systems. It would have been fun if they made leveling more of a thing (instead of using it as one character's gimmick), added a job system, etc. It's still a neat-looking game, though.
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